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Shakespearean Pain—The Inaugural John R. Knott, Jr. Collegiate Professorship in English Literature Lecture was given by Professor Michael Schoenfeldt on January 24, 2013. If you missed your chance to attend in person that lecture is available online through Rackham.

About the Lecture:
Perhaps like no other sensation, pain unites us with our past. Shakespeare’s works are littered with characters in various forms of agony. This paper will explore just what it means in Shakespeare’s poems and plays, and in his culture, to experience pain, to observe the pain of others, to cause pain to others, and to relieve pain in others. It will also ask why some of our purportedly highest cultural achievements continue to involve watching others suffer.