In this course we will examine Shakespeare’s later works, including his four great tragedies (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth), plus two of his late romances (The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest). To better understand the tragedies we will be reading the classic “take” on them by A.C. Bradley, and we will be viewing modern films of all the plays to understand how they have been staged in recent times.
Coursework: three quizzes and a class presentation.

Texts:

• Stephen Greenblatt. The Norton Shakespeare, Based on the Oxford Edition, Second Edition: Volume 2: Later Plays. second edition, 2008. [0393931455]
• A.C. Bradley. Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. Penguin Classics, 1991. [0140530193]
• Russ McDonald. The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare. 2001. [0312248806]