This course will explore the dramaturgy of William Shakespeare, beginning early in his career with The Comedy of Errors and ending with Othello. Classes will explore the remarkable and lasting achievements that Shakespeare made on the page: his conjuring of enduring and indelible characters, his astounding development of images and metaphors, his playful experiments in tone and genre, and his poignant reflections on human failings and life more generally. In discussing the plays, each work will typically be paired with a larger set of questions meant to submerge that work within its cultural, and intellectual, surround. Thus, Romeo and Juliet will be presented in relation to the early modern period's fascination with the Neoplatonic theory of love, while Twelfth Night will be assessed with Renaissance theories of sex and gender in mind. Other topics with which we will engage will include philosophical skepticism (Hamlet), and ethnic, racial, and religiously inflected conceptualizations of difference (The Merchant of Venice and Othello). In that Shakespeare routinely returns to certain topics again and again, we too will circle around these issues, including the institution of marriage, the bonds that constitute friendship and family, and the broader questions of what it means to think historically and nationalistically as a writer.

Major Requirement: Pre-1642

Course Requirements:

Two papers will be assigned, with students being encouraged to engage with Shakespeare's works in ways that interest them. There is no midterm in this course; neither is there a final exam.