Introduction to Shakespeare

Catalog description

This course will study selected comedies and tragedies of Shakespeare, from the early 1590s through the late period of 1608-10. Written as popular commercial entertainment, Shakespeare plays were meant to be performed as theater, not only read as literary texts. Accordingly, the course will include updated film versions such as Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 Romeo and Juliet and the 2006 adaptation of Twelfth Night, She’s the Man. Since the cultural realities of Tudor England are unfamiliar to most, the course will provide contemporary parallels to enhance comprehension. Students will write critical essays and create visual presentations.