ENGLISH 353
Age of Shakespeare: Tragedy
Please note: this is archived course information from 2018 for ENGLISH 353.
Description
Hamlet with the skull; Cleopatra with the asp; King Lear with his Fool; Doctor Faustus with the Devil. These are some of the most famous and enduring dramatic images in the repertory of world drama, at the heart of plays that have fascinated, compelled and terrified audiences for centuries.
In this course we will read a selection of the most exciting of these plays written between 1590 and 1625, both by Shakespeare and by some of his contemporaries, in a period where tragedy was a powerful and intensely-watched form of drama (we will want to ask why this was). The course will consider both how these plays are complex pieces of writing and also how their theatricality is managed as experience on the stage. Of particular interest will be the relations among different kinds of tragedy we can trace between plays and playwrights, including revenge tragedy, religious tragedy, domestic tragedy and political tragedies. Black comedy, camp and other ironic and satiric aspects of tragedy will also be examined, and parallels drawn with modern theatrical and film cutlure.
By the end of this course students should
- Have an enhanced ability to read and understand early modern English verse and prose;
- Be aware of traditions of stage performance in early modern England
- Be able to recognise and discuss some important features and changes in English society and culture across this period
- Have familiarity with typical features and structures of early modern tragedies
- Have an advanced ability to discuss and compare literature from this period using critical and scholarly resources, including electronic databases and research tools
- Understand the principles of scholarly citation
Stage Three students will also give consideration to some of the way literary critical discussion has addressed these plays and the issues they raise.
Availability 2018
Semester 1
Lecturer(s)
Lecturer(s) Professor Tom Bishop
Dr Sophie Tomlinson
Reading/Texts
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, ed. Roma Gill (New Mermaids)
Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. G.R. Hibbard (Oxford)
Brian Gibbons (ed.), The Revenger's Tragedy (New Mermaids)
Shakespeare, Othello, ed. Michael Neill (Oxford)
Shakespeare, King Lear, ed. R.A. Foakes (Arden)
Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, ed. Michael Neill (Oxford)
Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, ed. Brian Gibbons (New Mermaids)
Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling, ed. Michael Neill (New Mermaids)
Recommended Reading
Recommended Reading
Andrew McRae, Renaissance Drama (Arnold)
Andrew Gurr, The Shakespearean Stage, 4th ed. (Cambridge)
Sean McEvoy, Shakespeare: The Basics (Routledge)
Russ McDonald, ed., The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction With Documents (Bedford/St Martins).
Assessment
Coursework + exam
Points
ENGLISH 353: 15 points
Prerequisites
30 points at Stage II in English or Drama
Restrictions
ENGLISH 213