This topic will focus on the plays of William Shakespeare both as a window onto the richness of Renaissance culture and as works of current timeliness.
Students will be encouraged to imagine the plays both in their historical context and in the context of their own lives and concerns. We will study plays from all the major genres (comedy, history, tragedy, and romance), and explore the ways character, spectacle, poetry, and genre shape the experience of Shakespearean drama.
Special attention will be paid to the 'hot' issues in recent debates about Shakespeare, and students will have the opportunity to become acquainted with some of the scholarship surrounding this most famous of English writers.
This topic aims to:
Timetable details for 2021 are no longer published.