English 450.01, Age of Shakespeare
Greenville College, Spring Semester 2005
Dr. Donna J. Hart
225 Hogue Hall
Phone: Office: 644-6805; Home: 664-3863
Office Hours: MWF, 2:30 - 4:30; T, 9:30 - 11:30; No office hours on Thursday.
Email: donna.hart@greenville.edu
Course Description:
Each year, this course does a close reading of 12 - 15 Shakespearean dramatic texts—3 - 4 history, 3 tragedy, 3 comedy, and 2 - 3 of the romances, as time permits. We understand these texts better as we place them in the context of Shakespeare’s life and times. We also understand them better as we approach them through various critical lenses—formal, new historical, feminist, psychoanalytic, postmodernist, etc.
We make every effort to assure that Shakespeare’s texts are seen and heard. Therefore, we will do frequent in-class reading of passages, watch portions of most plays in video performance, and attend every live performance that is available to us, either in St. Louis or in Chicago.
We assume that teacher and student have access to at least four ways of “knowing”: reason, experience, Scripture, and tradition. No one of these is sufficient alone to support a good argument, but each strengthens the other three.
Course Texts:
Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The
Norton Shakespeare: Histories. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
(ISBN: 0-393-97671-8)
Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The
Norton Shakespeare: Comedies. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
(ISBN: 0-393-97670-X)
Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The
Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
(ISBN: 0-393-97672-6)
Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The
Norton Shakespeare: Romances and Poems. New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
1997. (ISBN: 0-393-97673-4)
Course Objectives: The student should be able to--
1. do a close reading of an unfamiliar Shakespearean text with a high degree
of understanding and appreciation.
2. correctly answer factual recall questions and interpretive questions of plot,
setting, character, theme, dramatic technique, and poetry.
3. better understand Shakespeare’s use of a variety of language devices
in the plays—simile, metaphor, allusion, imagery, symbolism, malapropism,
pun, double entendre, etc.
4. elicit differences in interpretation a visual “text” of the play
may make as compared to his/her personal interpretation of the written text
or as compared to another visual performance and be able to make some supportable
value judgments as to which is the "better" interpretation.
5. examine how contemporary culture affects the interpretation and performance
of a Shakespeare text.
6. evaluate what benefits for Shakespeare study might accrue from use of electronic
resources (online Shakespeare texts or websites) and be able to determine which
sites are qualitatively “good” or “bad” ones.
7. become comfortable with the sound of Renaissance English.
8. approach a play or portions of a play from varying critical perspectives.
9. complete a major research project, attempting to answer a significant question
about some Shakespeare text.
Assessments:
1. Objectives 1, 2, and 3 are assessed by the student’s completion of
daily reading assignments and our informal question and answer sessions in class.
They are assessed more formally by periodic quizzes and unit tests.
2. Objectives 4 and 5 are assessed through informal class discussion and through
assigned writing, either as formal papers or as impromptu in-class essays.
3. Objective 6 is assessed through a formal assignment, requiring students to
do an online search for their 10 best Shakespeare sites and compiling them into
an annotated bibliography, using MLA format. It is also assessed by our using,
for part of a class period, an online text of one play.
4. Objective 7 is assessed by frequent reading aloud of passages from plays,
both by professor and by students. The degree to which students become more
comfortable and facile with the language is the measure.
5. Objectives 8 and 9 are assessed through informal class discussion and, more
formally, through the major research project. The research paper has a section
which reviews the major literature on their chosen subject, and the following
section requires their use of various critical voices in order to support their
own answer to the research question with which they started.
Attendance, Late Papers, Plagiarism, Grading, and Study Expectations:
For my expectations regarding attendance, see attendance. For expectations regarding late papers, see late papers. For expectations regarding avoidance of plagiarism, see plagiarism. For an explanation of my grading system, see grading. For study expectations, see study expectations.
Tentative Class Schedule:
Week One: January 27--
Introduction to the class, syllabus,
Blackboard, etc.
Powerpoint presentation(s) regarding
the history behind the Shakespeare life and plays.
Week Two: February 3--
TAKE THE READING QUIZ ON BLACKBOARD
BEFORE YOU COME TO CLASS.
Richard II.
Week Three: February 10--
BLACKBOARD READING QUIZ BEFORE
CLASS.
Henry IV, Part I.
Week Four: February 17--
We'll watch movie version of
Henry V.
Week Five: February 24--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
Richard III.
Take-home test over the History
plays.
Working Bibliography of at least
20 sources that you might use for your research paper. Post to the Digital Dropbox
by Friday at 4:00 p.m.
Week Six: March 3--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
Taming of the Shrew.
Week Seven: March 10--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
Merchant of Venice.
Week Eight: March 17--
ALL-DAY TRIP TO CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE
THEATER ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16. We'll see Measure for Measure.
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
Measure for Measure.
Take-home test over the Comedy
Plays.
Two-page summaries of any 3 of
your research paper sources. Post to DDB any time during next week.
Week Nine: March 24--
NO CLASS. Spring Break begins
at 5:30 p.m.
Week Ten: March 31--
NO CLASS. Spring Break ends at
7:30 a.m. on April 4.
Week Eleven: April 7--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
Othello
Week Twelve: April 14--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
Hamlet.
Week Thirteen: April 21--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
King Lear.
Week Fourteen: April 28--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
The Tempest.
Week Fifteen: May 5--
BLACKBOARD QUIZ.
The Winter's Tale.
Week Sixteen: May 12--
THE EXAM! Will include some few
things from the whole course, but focus mostly on the tragedies and romances.