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English 213: Introduction to Shakespeare This course introduces students to the characteristic methods and concerns of Shakespeare's plays and the culture in which he wrote. It is particularly aimed at students who are not majoring in English, but who are interested in Shakespeare and who have had at least one college-level English course. (English majors are welcome, though it does not count toward the major author requirement.) I'm particularly concerned with the ways in which Shakespeare embodies his meaning on the Elizabethan stage, through words, action and visual spectacle. The plays we read will include Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra and The Winter's Tale. These represent the various genres in which Shakespeare wrote-histories, comedies, tragedies, romances-and the class will consider the ways in which each of these genres tends to embrace a certain vision of the world, and to ask certain kinds of questions. As a group the plays consider in different ways the problematic nature of love, and the course will return to the way in which the works understand and present erotic experience. As may be evident, I have chosen some of these plays because they have interesting film-versions, and I'll probably show (optional) films of all the plays, two in the case of King Lear. It's my present plan to lecture on Monday and Wednesday and on Friday to split the class, if necessary, into two discussion groups meeting at 9:00 and at 10:00. While this will not be a writing-intensive course, I think that writing is a useful way of coming to know any writer. I'm not yet sure-and won't be until I know how many people sign up-how much formal writing there will be, but there's likely to be a series of one-page ungraded reaction papers and some combination of short formal essays and exams. |
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