Considers a selection of Shakespeare's plays in the context of the dramatist's explorations of the possibilities of theatricality. Examines how theater is represented in his work and how his work lends itself to production in theater and film today. Students view video versions, visit Paris theaters, and travel to London and Stratford-on-Avon to see the Royal Shakespeare Company in performance.
Code
CL3038
Name
SHAKESPEARE IN CONTEXT
Credits
4
Pre-requisites
None
Co-requisites
None
Equivalencies
Can be taken twice for credit?
No
Discipline
CL (Comparative Literature)
Level
Undergraduate
Type
Regular
CAMS ID
2654
Last update with CAMS
A global comprehension of Shakespeare’s works and world.
Reading mythology to understand art (Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Renaissance art, and Shakespeare).
A global comprehension of European Renaissance history (and literature) from the autumn of the Middle Ages (1348) to the advent of the Baroque period (Shakespeare’s own day), including the Great Discoveries, the printing press, the crisis of faith, heretics and martyrs, witchcraft, monsters, prophecies, magic, Early Modern philosophy and the Protestant Reformation.
An understanding of how to view a text: the study of ekphrasis or descriptive sketches, as a counterpart to the Renaissance graphic world, from De Vinci to Bosch, from Brueghel to Michelangelo.
Elements of the language of late 16th- and early 17th-century England such as linguistic shifts, contractions and grammar; as well as the language of thought, including received ideas or popular errors.
The ability to read Shakespeare’s plays.