English 445: William Shakespeare (3-week summer session, May 23 –June 9)
(Monday –Friday, 9 a.m. to noon)
This course will be an intensive introduction to the works of William Shakespeare, focusing on six representatiive masterpieces of comedy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), history (Richard II, Henry IV Part One), tragedy (Macbeth), Roman play (Antony and Cleopatra), and romance (The Winter’s Tale). After an introductory class on Shakespeare’s life within the context of early modern English language, poetry, theatrical traditions and a viewing and discussion of our first play, we will cover one play every two days by going through it scene by scene (about one hour a scene, including film excerpts in some cases). By the end of our three weeks together, I trust that each of you will realize the ways in which, as Ben Jonson wrote in 1623, Shakespeare—meaning the body of work produced by this late Renaissance playwright and its endless reinterpretations, performances, and productions—was “not for an age / but for all time,” even as you come to recognize how these plays reflect the values and preoccupations of Shakespeare’s own time.
TEXTS:
Bantam Shakespeare editions of the six plays listed above
Shakespeare Alive! ed. Joseph Papp and Elizabeth Kirkland
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance 10 points
Class participation 10 points
Post-discussion quiz on each play 20 points
Digital research exercise on early modern books 5 points
Comparative video analysis (4–6 full pages) 20 points
Play comparison paper (5-7 full pages) 20 points
Final examination 15 points
FURTHER INFORMATION? Contact Professor Mark A. Heberle
Kuykendall 315
956-3032 / heberle@hawaii.edu