Welcome to English 4543, "Shakespeare and Co.," also known more prosaically as Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama.
“The
playhouses were a wonder of Renaissance London
The goal of this course is to explore the cultural and historical world that gave birth to Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare himself, and the golden age of English theater. However, this really isn't just a class about Shakespeare, but rather, a class that examines him as merely one aspect (perhaps the most attractive aspect) of a brilliant tapestry full of actors, plays, kings, queens, and other less savory characters. In teaching this course, I want to discuss why Elizabeth's reign seemed to usher in a universal love of theater, and how this relatively new art form came to symbolize Elizabethan (and later Jacobean) society. In exploring this, we'll learn why a handful of playwrights became immortalized while hundreds of others were performed and forgotten. What makes great art at this time--or at any time? And how could someone like Shakespeare write so effectively for his own time, yet still remain so appealing and universal hundreds of years later?
Naturally, we'll talk a lot about the theater, and what makes a play a distinct art form from a poem or a novel. What are its strengths and limitations? Why, in some ways, is a play the ultimate time capsule to bequeath to future generations?
Be sure to buy all of the following books for class as soon as possible--we'll start reading next week!
REQUIRED
TEXTS: (a-b) Marlowe, Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta (in
Penguin, Complete Plays or other edition); (c-d) Shakespeare, Titus
Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice (Folger or other edition);
(e-f) Middleton, A Chaste Maid at Cheapside and The Revenger’s
Tragedy (Penguin Five Plays or other edition);
(g) Hackett,
English Renaissance Drama
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