English 189-2 - Spring, 2013

Seminar in Literary Studies

Topic: Shakespeare

Class Information

Instructor: Friedlander, Robert
CRN: 62596
Time: MW 10:30-11:50
Location: 248 Voorhies

Description

Sexuality, Embodiment, and Power in Shakespeare

In this course, we will explore the relationship between sexuality, embodiment, and power by reading a number of Shakespeare’s early plays – including comedies, histories, and tragedies – that privilege the body as a site for the negotiation of sexual, gendered, and socio-political order. Questions we will consider include: What kinds of bodies are found in Shakespeare? How do they look and act? What do they desire and fear? How are they constructed through representations of gender, sexuality, disability, and social status? This seminar will provide students an opportunity to study Shakespeare’s plays and the culture in which they were produced, as well as to learn critical methodologies pertaining to the study of embodiment, class, gender, sexuality, and disability.

Plays we will read may include: The Taming of the Shrew; Titus Andronicus; Richard III; The Merchant of Venice; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry V; and Twelfth Night.

Our small class will be discussion-based and student-centered, feeding off of the energy and enthusiasm students bring to class. Consequently, students will collaboratively produce an online discussion forum and a class wiki. There will also be one short paper based on our work with the Oxford English Dictionary, and one longer research paper.

We will be using The Norton Shakespeare, Volume 1: Early Plays and Poems, ed. Stephen Greenblatt, Jean Howard, Katherine Eisamen Maus, Walter Cohen.