What does a playwright do after writing a work like Hamlet? In Shakespeare’s
case, totally explode the conventions of romantic comedy and tragedy that he had
mastered the decade before (while irreverently rewriting Homer), probe the
psychological mechanics of irrational hatred and jealousy with unprecedented
realism, undermine the tenets of received religion in a tragedy that questions
the competence and existence of the gods, and pen a profound meditation on the
uncanny power of art to mitigate the inevitability of suffering and loss. In
other words, Shakespeare was not about to rest on his proverbial laurels. The
four plays we will examine this quarter – Troilus and Cressida, Othello, King
Lear, and The Winter’s Tale – rank among his most philosophically daring and
stylistically experimental.

Beyond familiarizing students with the plotlines and over-arching themes of the
plays, this course will also boldly wade into current critical debates swirling
around them: their sexual, spiritual, environmental and racial politics, their
performance and textual history, the ways they reward or resist
historicist/cultural materialist analysis. In addition students will learn to
recognize and savor the distinctive aesthetic charms of Shakespeare’s late
style. Course work will include 2 short response essays (2 pages each), an
annotated bibliography, and a longer research paper (7-8 pages). Some prior
experience with Shakespeare or pre-1800 literature is recommended; intellectual
curiosity is the only prerequisite.