William Shakespeare

This course studies
chronologically a variety of Shakespeare’s plays in all genres, all of which
have been given memorable cinematic (or even operatic) treatments
subsequently.  It will enable you to
perceptively read and enjoy productions of these works. Video excerpts will be
interspersed with lectures and group and classwide discussions.  You will be responsible for two papers on the
plays and one comparative analysis of a play and two video productions, as well
as a group performance of a scene and some digital responses to instructor and
student questions.  By the end of the
course, we should all appreciate more fully the ways in which, as Ben Jonson
wrote in 1616, Shakespeare’s works were “not for an age / but for all
time,” even as we recognize how these plays reflect the values,
preoccupations, and limitations of the playwright’s own moment in time.

 

Course requirements

  • Attendance
  • In-class discussion participation (individual
    and group)
  • Electronic class discussion
  • Group performance of scene
  • Mid-term exam
  • Final exam
  • Comparative video analysis paper
  • Scene and character analysis

 

Required texts (Bantam Shakespeares)

            Richard III

            A Midsummer’s
Night’s Dream

             Romeo and Juliet

            Much
Ado About Nothing

            Henry
IV, Part One

            Henry
V

            Hamlet

            Othello

            Julius
Caesar

            The
Tempest

            Shakespeare
Alive!