Shakespeare Adaptations (Then and Now)

Convinced that they knew Shakespeare’s original texts nineteenth and early Twentieth century critics reacted with horror at any attempts to adapt them. Today critics are more likely to find adaptations interesting as responses to particular social, political, or theatrical conditions, or as examples of implicit Shakespeare criticism. We will consider adaptations of a select group of Shakespeare’s plays—Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, The Tempest, and Henry V. We will have an opportunity to reexamine the notion of a single, original Shakespeare text, to investigate the survival of adaptations of his plays from the early seventeenth century, and to examine the social, political, theatrical, and critical contexts for Restoration and eighteenth century adaptations on stage and late twentieth and twenty first century adaptations on film.

Requirements: Collaborate with one or more of your colleagues in leading the discussion on a scheduled seminar topic. Write a critical essay of medium length on a course related topic (any period, any medium). Proposal due 15 November. The course is adaptable to a wide variety of interests and methodologies.

Required Books: A course pack and your favorite collected edition of Shakespeare’s works. If you do not own an edition you may be able to pick up a used one cheaply on line . For our purposes the best student editions are Riverside, Bevington, Pelican, and the old Penguin editions. The New Pelican and the Norton contain the texts of Q1 and F1 King Lear, but this is available cheaply enough in Orgel, ed., King Lear: the 1608 and 1623 Texts (Penguin) at the Bookstore.


2. English 323a, Shakespeare to 1603

Use standard course desription. I will use Bevington. ed. Complete Works of Shakesepare (any edition)