Shakespeare
Class Information
Instructor: Connally, Kenneth
CRN: 73969
Time: MTW 12:10-1:50
Location: 1130 Bainer
GE Areas: World Cultures Writing Experience
Description
While most great playwrights have specialized in a single genre, one of the many extraordinary things about Shakespeare is that he produced masterpieces in all the major dramatic genres of his day. In this course, we will read examples from five Shakespearean genres: comedy, tragedy, English history play, "problem play," and late romance. As we appreciate Shakespeare's playful subversion and combination of various genres, we will also explore how his work reflected and responded to early modern ideas about gender, sexuality, race, political authority, and religious experience--and how it speaks to us today.
I've ordered good, inexpensive student editions of the plays from the bookstore (all from Penguin's Pelican Shakespeare series). But feel free to get any good student edition of the plays. The important thing is NOT to rely on an edition that lacks footnotes, as Shakespeare's language is quite challenging and you *will* need the notes to understand it. If you think you might want to keep reading Shakespeare after this class, I recommend getting "The Complete Pelican Shakespeare" (ISBN: 978-0141000589), which combines all the editions I'm assigning with equally good editions of every other Shakespeare play for just a few dollars more than the price of buying our 5 plays individually.
Grading
Quizzes: 10%
Midterm: 10%
Final Exam: 15%
Short Essays: 30%
Term Paper: 35%
Texts
Richard II, William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare
Othello, William Shakespeare
Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare
The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare