Tragic Visions

Catalog description

This course studies the nature of the tragic form in dramatic literature and performance, as well as its role in human existence. Focusing on two of the great periods of tragedy in Western literature and culture—ancient Greece and Renaissance England—we read selected tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Shakespeare as well as philosophical considerations of the tragic such as Aristotle's Poetics. We examine these works in their social, political, and cultural contexts, while considering questions of the role of the Other, Patriarchal power, gender, class, fate, free will, and the origins and evolution of tragedy as a literary and political genre. Readings might include, for example, Aeschylus', Agamemnon; Sophocles' Antigone or Oedipus; Euripides' Medea, as well as Shakespearean tragedies such as Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, or King Lear. Special attention is paid to the Greek and Shakespearean theater and practice, as well as performance. If we can, we will also attend a live performance.