This course studies chronologically a variety of Shakespeare’s plays in all genres, some 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 some digital responses to the plays, a comparison of two video/film versions of the play, a longer essay comparing two plays, mid-term exam, and final. 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
- Mid-term exam
- Final exam
- Comparative video analysis paper
- Comparison of two plays
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
Julius Caesar
Hamlet
Othello
The Tempest
Shakespeare Alive!