"Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature. . . . Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirrour of manners and of life. . . . Shakespeare's plays are not in the rigorous and critical sense either tragedies or comedies, but compositions of a distinct kind; exhibiting the real state of sublunary nature, which partakes of good and evil, joy and sorrow, mingled with endless variety of proportion and innumerable modes of combination; and expressing the course of the world, in which the loss of one is the gain of another; in which, at the same time, the reveler is hasting to his wine, and the mourner burying his friend; in which the malignity of one is sometimes defeated by the frolick of another; and many mischiefs and many benefits are done and hindered without design." Samuel Johnson, 1765

Course description: This is first and foremost a course in reading: developing the skills requisite to meet the challenges of reading--with comprehension, appreciation, and pleasure--highly artificial work written by a genius in antique English. In order to achieve this comprehension, we’ll look at the language itself, the figures of speech, themes, and the literary conventions and cultural context of the works. We’ll attend both to the ways in which Shakespeare is our contemporary as an early modern and the ways in which his work and culture are utterly alien. In particular, we’ll discuss the ways in which Shakespeare experiments with the genres of comedy, tragedy, and romance, and the innovative techniques he uses in order to produce subjectivities susceptible to modern analysis. Readings of six plays (three comedies, a tragedy, a history, and a romance) will be supplemented with screenings of a variety of productions. Discussion and informal lecture format. Regular attendance and timely completion of assignments essential. Students will keep reading journals and a commonplace book, respond to study questions, participate in an email discussion list between class meetings, take quizzes, and complete midterm and final examinations. THIS COURSE SATISFIES THE FOUR-HOUR DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENT IN LITERATURE.

Texts: Shakespeare, Richard III (Folger); The Comedy of Errors (Folger); Much Ado About Nothing (Folger);Measure for Measure (Signet); King Lear (Signet); The Winter’s Tale (Folger).

Policies: Faithful attendance and regular participation in class are expected. To provide motivation when it is lacking, unannounced quizzes may be given. Quizzes cannot be made up without prior permission or documentation of a legitimate excuse for absence. No quiz grades will be dropped.

Students with special needs are welcome to discuss them with me. Some services for students with special needs are available through the Office of Disability Support Services, 157 NFH, x3266.

No alternative examination dates will be available.

The grade of Incomplete is available only to students who have demonstrated regular and steady progress in the course but for whom unforeseeable and uncontrollable circumstances make impossible the timely completion of the course.

Students suspected of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Students for consideration of the Academic Conduct Committee of the University Senate. Cheating on any course assignment may result in failure for the course and suspension or expulsion from the University. Representing anybody else's work as your own is a form of academic dishonesty. For further information, please see the section on "Academic Conduct" in the undergraduate catalogue.

Classroom Decorum: Everyone in the class is responsible for ensuring that the classroom supports learning: Please arrive on time; try not to distract others; turn off your cell phone; address your comments to the class at large. You are encouraged to participate vigorously, even passionately, in class discussion, but always respectfully to your classmates and your instructor. Please plan to remain in class for the entire class meeting each day.

Major Assignments:

The following simple formula will determine your final grade for the course:

Some extra credit assignmentts are also available.

Some links of interest:

Visit the University of Reading's Globe Theatre Research Site.

Study Guides for each play are available from Spark Notes. These won't substitute for actually READING the plays, but they may be helpful.

Historical, cultural, and biographical information, along with plot synopses, is available at The Shakespeare Resource Center.

Schedule: Unless we get very tired very fast, we will adhere to the following schedule. If a class meeting is canceled for any reason please continue reading according to the schedule.

September

M 9 Orientation: Matters Logistical. Who/What is Shakespeare? Practice in reading. Beginning of screening of Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard.

F 13 Extra credit opportunity! Poet Laureate Billy Collins reads from his work at 4:00 in Varner Recital Hall. Deadline for signing onto Shakespeare2-L, the email discussion list. Send an email message to majordomo@oakland.edu, with the message: subscribe shakespeare2-L

M 16 “Shakespeare’s Richard III” (xiii-xiv); “Reading Shakespeare’s Language: Richard III” (xv-xxv); “Shakespeare’s Life,” (xxv-xxxiv); “An Introduction to this Text” (xlviii-lix). Richard III, Acts 1-5. You may want to consult the geneological chart on pp. 2-3. Information on the background to the play is available on The War of the Roses website; you may also be interested in the corrections to Shakespeare's representation of Richard offered by the American Branch of the Richard III Society. Send questions about these and other matters to the discussion list at shakespeare2-L@oakland.edu.

M 23 “Shakespeare’s Theatre,” (xxxv-xliii); “The Publication of Shakespeare’s Plays” (xliii-xlvii); and Phyllis Rackin’s “Richard IIIR3.

M 30 Comedy of Errors. Journals and commonplace books will be collected.

October

M 7 Arthur F. Kinney’s “The Comedy of Errors: A Modern Perspective” (179-195). Read “A Note on the Anti-Stratfordians . . .” in Measure for Measure (xi-xv). For a more extensive statement of the Anti-Stratfordian case and the rebuttal, see the Oxford Society's website. Screening of excerpts from The Comedy of Errors.

M 14* Much Ado about Nothing, Acts 1-5. Journals and commonplace books will be collected.

Below: Claudio, Deceived by Don John, Accuses Hero by Marcus Stone

F 18 Extra-credit opportunity: Marge Piercy reads from her work at 4:00 in 201 Dodge Hall.

M 21 Gail Kern Paster’s “Much Ado about Nothing: A Modern Perspective” in Much Ado (213-230) Read “The Play Text as a Collaboration,” “Editing Texts,” and “Shakespeare on the Stage” in Measure for Measure (xliii-Lix).

M* 28 Midterm Examination: Please bring a blue examination booklet.

November

M 4 Measure for Measure, Acts 1-5.

M 11 S. Nagurajan’s “Introduction” to Measure for Measure (lxiii-lxiv Marcia Riefer Poulsen’s “‘Instruments of Some More Mightier Member’: The Construction of Female Power in Measure for Measure,” in MM (153-172); Ruth Nevo’s “Complex Sexuality,” in MM (173-179) Screening of excerpts from Measure for Measure.

M 18 King Lear, Acts 1-5. For fun (or comic relief), see Richard Nathan's parody of King Lear, "How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth"

M 25 A.C. Bradley, from Shakespearean Tragedy, in KL (190-207). Harley Granville-Barker, from Prefaces to Shakespeare, in KL (208-224). Maynard Mack, from “King Lear in Our Time,” in KL (225-234).

December

M 2* Winter's Tale, Acts 1-5. Journals and commonplace books will be collected.

Below: John Fawcett as Autolycus in "The Winter's Tale" by Thomas Charles Wageman, 1828

M 9 Stephen Orgel, “The Winter’s Tale: A Modern Perspective” in WT 257-272

M 16* Final exam – 7:00-10:00 PM. Bring a blue examination booklet.

T 17 and afterward: Have happy literate lives!

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