SHAKESPEARE

Text:                 David Bevington, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, 2004

Requirements:                                                            Grading:

Assignments:
 

Jan.
 12         Introduction to Course: Shakespeare's World: The Elizabethan Age.   Reading Shakespeare has effect on the brain
 14        Bevington, xii-xxv, xlviii-lxvii. Go to the Timeline and review the significant events in Shakespeare's life.
             Read: "Shakespeare Evidence" (on-line) click here
             Read:  Shakespeare's Theatre.  Read the Chorus' "Prologue" in Henry V.   Read: The Analysis of Character

 19       MLK Birthday.
 21       Taming of the Shrew "Induction" and Acts I & II. (also Bevington’s Introduction and Sources of the play in the Appendix)
             Screenplay: 10 Things I Hate About You

 26         cont. Taming of the Shrew. Finish the play, Act III - Act V.  Theatre review
 28         Read: “Taming of the Shrew: Women, Acting, and Power” (e-reserves). Hand-in: Summary of Dusinberre’s thesis about the
                           apprentice actor and the power of women in the play.

Feb   
  2       Midsummer Night’s Dream, I-II.   Read Bevington's Introduction and Sources and Performance History in Appendix.
  4       cont. Dream, III-V.  (see Study Questions above)
           Read: “Imagination in Midsummer Night’s Dream (e-reserves).  Hand-in summary of Dent’s argument about the role of perception  
                        and illusion in the play.
  
  9        The Merchant of Venice, Acts I & II.  Bevington's Introduction, etc.
11        cont. Merchant, Acts III -V.  Read Hand-out and summarize the changing representations of Shylock on the stage over the years.

16        As You Like It, Acts I - II.
18        cont. As You Like It, Acts III-V        Read: Comedy     Song: It Was A Lover And His Lass   Song

23       Henry IV, Part I, Acts 1-II
25       Henry IV, Part I, Acts III-V.    The Analysis of Character
 
                                                                          
Mar
   2       Discuss Presentation/performances
   4      Hamlet, Act I-II.   Bevington, lxvii-lxxiii
  
            SPRING BREAK

16        cont. Hamlet, Act III-IV. 
18        cont. Hamlet, Act V.    Read: “The World of Hamlet” (e-reserves). Hand-in summary of Mack’s assessment of the poison and decay
                                                               imagery in Hamlet.
            Terence & Philip do Hamlet: video     Shakespeare Baseball Game
23        Othello, Acts I - V. Read the entire play.
25         cont. Othello

30        Macbeth, I-III      

Apr
  1      cont. Macbeth, IV-V

  6      King Lear, Act I-III
  8      cont. King Lear, Act IV-V

13      Cymbeline. Acts I-III.  Read:  Bevington, lxxi-lxxii ("The Late Years: 1608-1616")
15      cont. Cymbeline, Acts IV-V.  More study questions here. Truth & Time

20     The Tempest, Acts I-V
22      cont. The Tempest.   Shakespeare's Birthday Celebration!!

27      Review for Final Exam.      Paper due.    
 

Videos: Shakespeare Baseball Game
              Canadian Shakespeare Parodies

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course students should have an increased appreciation of Shakespeare’s achievements as a dramatist, as well as a clearer understanding of the stage for which he wrote, the genres in which he worked, the timeless relevance of his themes, and the depth of his human wisdom.

This semester’s focus will be on the function of language and imagery in establishing setting, creating character, and revealing theme in the plays.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

QUIZZES. The quizzes will generally cover the material assigned for the day on which they are given, but they can include material read and discussed earlier in the week. You can expect a quiz, without fail, on the first day we begin a play and over Bevington's "Introduction" to the play. The format of the quizzes will be multiple choice, short answer, and quotation identification (who is the speaker?). There may be quizzes on other days as well, including the web material. Quizzes will take no more than 5 minutes of class time. Do not be late!! There are no make-ups for missed quizzes. The two lowest quizzes will be dropped when computing your final quiz average.

CHARACTER RESPONSIBILITY.  During the semester you will be responsible for various characters in the plays to whom you will pay special attention as you read the play and prepare for class discussion.  You should be prepared to:

        1. inform the class about your character -- provide a character sketch (personality, motives, goals, defining characteristics,
            eccentricities, etc.)
        2. identify speeches by your character and by others in the play that reveal something about your character.  Be prepared to
            point the class to these speeches (know where they are in the play!).
        3. assess your character's function in the play -- how does your character contribute to plot, to theme, etc.? What would be lost to
            the play if your character was taken out?

EXAMS. The Mid-Term will be short answer, commentary on quotations (how they reveal character, how they relate to the "character" of the play as a whole, i.e. thematic imagery), and essay (relating to issues of language, character, theme, and Shakespeare's theater in general). The Final Exam will be comprehensive with a focus on the material since the Mid-Term. There will be short essays (dealing with specific interpretative problems relating to language, character, and theme), quotations to recognize and comment on, and longer essays that will require you to compare and contrast characters and plays. You may also be asked to analyze a scene (open book) to show how it develops character and how the language is "suited to the action" and to the characters.

THE PAPER. There will be one short analytical paper for the semester, about 5-7 pages. Use a scene we have not discussed in class from one of the plays we have read and do one of the following:

1. Analyze the function of language in the scene -- how it develops the character of the speakers (both in what they say and the way the say it, i.e. the images, allusions, metaphors, and other rhetorical devices they use), and how the images in the speeches contribute to larger image patterns in the play that have thematic significance. You objective is to determine how the language in a single scene contributes to the linguistic environment of the entire play.

2. Consider the language in a scene as a text for performance, which of course is what it is. View a video (two or three if possible) of the play and analyze how the scene you have chosen is "performed." Based on your reading of the language of the scene, how do the performers you observe carry it off, how do they interpret the language and bring it alive? Are there any changes in the text as written in the performance? Any omissions or deletions? How do you explain these changes?

3. Shakespeare often uses similar devices in different plays, as different as a comedy and a tragedy, for different effects (both obvious and subtle).  Such devices, often the focus of a single scene in a play, include: confrontations between fathers and daughters; an argument between husband and wife; overhearing or seeing something and mistaking its meaning; the performance of a play within a play.  Examining such a scene in a comedy and in a tragedy can help us understand the difference between these forms and appreciate Shakespeare's ability to wring different effects from similar situations.  With this purpose in mind, analyze and compare one of the following pairs of scenes:

        1. Overhearing:   Much Ado  II, iii; IV, i   and  Othello  IV, i

        2. Father and Daughter: Taming, I, i; II, i   and   Hamlet, I, iii, or Othello, I, iii,  or Lear, I, i; II, iv

        3. Play within a Play: MSND, V, i  and   Hamlet, III, ii

        4. Marital Spat:  Taming, IV, iii,  or  MSND, II, i  and  Othello, III, iii; IV, iii,  or  Macbeth, I, vii; II, ii

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Shakespeare 2006

Jan.
10       Introduction to Course: Shakespeare's World

12       Bevington, xii-xxv, xlviii-lxvii.  Go to the Timeline above and review  the significant
           events in Shakespeare's life.
           Shakespeare's Theatre.  Read the Chorus' "Prologue" in Henry V.

17     MLK Birthday.     No class but begin researching The Authorship Question. 
         The Earl of Oxford (Edward de Vere) is Shakespeare
         The Man From Stratford is Shakespeare.
         To read the Moot Court case argued in front of Supreme Court Justices click here.

19     Use these materials to build your case on the topic you have been assigned. You should read
         both sides of the issue.
        The Case for Oxford by Tom Bethell                 These two articles are up and running now
         The Case for Shakespeare by Irvin Matus 
         Update: The Stratfordian Argument by Bevington
         Update: The Anti-Stratfordian/Oxfordian Argument by Anderson
         Response to Charlton Ogburn & Matus's Shakespeare In Fact: A Review

24      Taming of the Shrew "Induction" and Acts I & II.
          Also read Bevington's Introduction to the play and the Appendix on Sources.

26      cont. Taming of the Shrew. Finish the play, Act III - Act V.

31      Midsummer Night’s Dream, I-II.
          Read Bevington's Introduction and Sources and Performance History in Appendix.

Feb  
 2       cont. Dream, III-V (see Study Questions above)

 7      The Merchant of Venice, Acts I & II. Bevington's Introduction, etc.

 9       cont. Merchant, Acts III -V.   Read: Comedy

14       Much Ado About Nothing , Acts I & II.

16     Much Ado About Nothing, Acts III-V.

21     Measure For Measure, entire play    Listen: "Hoist by your own petard"  
       
23      cont. Measure For Measure
  
28     Mid-Term Exam

Mar
2        Hamlet, Act I-II
          Bevington, lxvii-lxxiii

7        cont. Hamlet, Act III-IV

9        cont. Hamlet, Act V

SPRING BREAK

21      Henry V

23      cont. Henry V.  Be sure to read the hand-out material on Shakespeare on film.  Re-read these scenes we will watch on film: I (Prologue); I, 2; II, 2; III (Prologue), III, 1; III, 3; IV, 1; IV, 3, and V, 2 (Henry & Katherine).  Think about how each of these scenes illuminates one or more of the play's central concerns, themes, issues, etc., particularly the issue of Henry's  character ("Mirror of all Christian kings" or cynical warmonger).  In class we will watch film interpretations of these scenes to see how the filmmaker "interprets" these concerns, issues, etc.

                            Limbourg Brothers

28      Antony & Cleopatra.  Read the whole play!  Venus & Mars

30      cont. Antony & Cleopatra.

Apr
4        King Lear, Act I-III

6        cont.  King Lear, Act IV-V

11      cont. King Lear.