“…he doth bestride the narrow world / Like a colossus, and we petty men, / Walk under his huge legs and peep about / To find ourselves dishonourable graves” (Julius Caesar I.ii.135-8)

“…such stuff / As dreams are made on” (The Tempest IV.i.157-8)

A course entitled “Shakespeare” carries with it hundreds of years of accumulated cultural baggage; this quarter, we’ll both perpetuate and interrogate the cultural monolith SHAKESPEARE by pursuing two primary goals. The first is that, through close reading and analysis, you’ll understand and be in a position to enjoy and appreciate (or to explain from an educated, critical, analytical perspective why you dislike) the dramatic works of Shakespeare. We’ll read plays from each genre, treating them as subjects of literary analysis by doing in-depth readings of specific passages both in class discussion and your independent writing, as well as addressing important strategies for reading the plays, including understanding meter and scansion, dramatic structure, sources and contexts, etc. We’ll also try to keep in mind the fact that the plays were written primarily for stage performance, and should be read and considered as such. We may return to certain recurring themes in our selected plays, such as: civilization vs. wildness, theatricality and illusion, family, and the many others that you’ll begin to notice in your reading.

The second goal is that, as scholars and readers, you will learn to interrogate your assumptions about Shakespeare as a cultural god; as a means towards this end, we’ll look at the historical trajectory of how Shakespeare became what he is today. This line of study will address how Shakespeare has been received and treated in various periods—including the liberal adaptations of the eighteenth century, the delightfully derogatory criticism of authors like Tolstoy, Shaw, and T.S. Eliot, children’s Shakespeares, performances of Shakespeare in modern prisons, film adaptations, and more. Other areas which have contributed to the production of modern Shakespeare studies (for example: biography, the authorship debate, critical approaches, textual issues and editing, etc.) will be explored through research projects and presentations. You will also be required to act in a group performance of a scene from one of our course texts, and to attend a performance of a Shakespeare play in the community (or on campus, if applicable).

Through this dynamic approach, and your efforts toward critical thinking, analysis, and argumentation, we’ll work towards rescuing Shakespeare from his own oppressive image of literary domination and the heavy handed readings often imposed on students, and get back to the fun, passion, violence, sexuality, terror, beauty, and endurance of the language of Shakespeare’s plays.

This course meets the university “W” requirement, which means that students must produce 10-15 pages of graded, out-of-class writing, which must be significantly revised. (For more specific W-course criteria, please see http://www.washington.edu/uaa/gateway/advising/degreeplanning/writreqs.php). Besides these papers (probably multiple shorter papers of 5-7 pages or fewer), course work may include discussion leading, electronic postings, reading quizzes and exams, response papers, research work, presentations, scene performances, etc. Plays will include Twelfth Night, or What You Will, As You Like It, Othello, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, and Henry V. There will also be a required course pack.