Shakespeare II En 214

The Chandos Portrait PIcasso's Drawing of Shakespeare by Picasso

Shakespeare II

En 214 (formerly En 356)

Dr. Richard Regan

Spring 2013

Course Objectives (IDEA Center)

Essential: Gaining a broader understanding and appreciation of intellectual/cultural activity (#7)
Important: Learning to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view (#11)
Important: Developing skill in expressing yourself in writing (#8)

This course studies the second half of the career of William Shakespeare, generally considered the greatest writer in the English language. We focus on mature comedies, sonnets, tragedies, and Shakespeare's final form, the romances. Shakespeare is a great wordsmith, and we concentrate on his language through a multimedia style of presentation. I'll project the text on one screen while we watch a production on another, next to the text. The books I have chosen (the Signet Classics) also give us a clear focus on the words of the play, and have helpful notes at the bottom of each page.

Each week I'll ask you to email me a short response paper where you evaluate 3 points made by a critic (or critics), essays found in the back of the individual Signet editions. And if you mark passages in your books as we do them in class, you'll have notes on all you need to study for the quote tests which form the major part of your grade. Another major project is an optional "contract" paper where you explore your own ideas about a play, its characters, or dramatic structure. Completion of this paper makes you eligible for a grade of A or A- in the course.

Shakespeare's work teaches us about our own human natures. As many psychologists, philosophers, theologians, historians, and scientists have observed, Shakespeare has acute powers of observation. We see in his plays how people behave, how they feel. how they act politically. And we understand ourselves and our own world better, even as we learn about the Renaissance, or Early Modern era.

Office hours: Monday 3-4, Wednesday 3-4*, Thursday 3-4, and by appointment.
* committee meetings cancel some Wednesdays

Texts: Signet Classic editions of the plays listed below.

Grading: Three tests and an optional paper, each of equal weight in the final grade.

Modified contract: an 8-10 page optional paper to be eligible for a grade of A or A-. Papers may be rewritten after a conference. Topics must be in writing and approved in conference.

Required: 1) two tests based closely on the texts of the plays and a final exam; 2) weekly summaries/responses to critical articles or WWW sites. These are graded as quizzes and can raise or lower the final grade.

Attendance: for every three cuts, a point will be deducted from your semester average. Excused absences may be arranged with the professor. Excessive absences may result in a failing grade.

You should submit your papers electronically, written in Microsoft Word. Word has a feature called Track Changes which we can use to write comments on papers (in color). Click here to download a document that contains some suggestions for writing in Word and for emailing papers as attachments.

Final Exam: essays and passages for analysis.

Students with documented learning disabilities, please see me. Alternative methods of testing and evaluation are available.

Course description:

In the second half of Shakespeare's career, we study an amazing variety of sonnets, mature comedies, tragedies, and romances which express both the spirit of the Jacobean age and their own identities as different genres which reference each other. As You Like It, Twelfth Night, the Sonnets and Julius Caesar begin the course as a preparation got the great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. Antony and Cleopatra is a fascinating bridge between tragedy and the last plays, the romances. We will learn how critics have approached Shakespeare in many different ways, and how to evaluate and respond to critical opinion. Multimedia presentations will show how performance and text combined enrich our understanding of this great writer.

Some fine Shakespeare productions can be viewed from this Library link:
http://ativ.alexanderstreet.com.libdb.fairfield.edu/Search/PersonID/219589/tab/video

Macbeth, with Anthony Sher
Measure for Measure, 2006 film
Hamlet, with Kevin Kline
The Taming of the Shrew, American Conservatory Theater
King Lear, with James Earl Jones
Much Ado About Nothing, New York Shakespeare Festival

Powerpoint Slide Shows from Hardy Cook and the Shaksper archives

Shakespeare's Life

Shakespeare's Theater

Shakespeare's Texts

The Elizabethan World Picture

Theater related websites

Shakespeare's Staging

Shakespeare's Globe Online

"The Elizabethan Theatre": a lecture with slides

Designing Shakespeare (home)

Designing Shakespeare (digital resources)

Royal Shakespeare Company

Shakespeare in Performance Institute Acting Exercises

Interactive Shakespeare Project

Shakespeare at Hampton Court

Touchstone: Shakespeare in Performance

Internet MetaSites for Shakespeare

Terry Gray's Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet

SH:in:E

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Early Modern Literary Studies

Was Shakespeare Shakespeare? The Authorship Controversy

The Shakespeare Discussion List Archive

Shaksper Website

Teachers First

Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historica (1555)

Surfing with the Bard

Podcasts

American Shakespeare Center

The ASC offers a number of different podcasts, including This Week at the Blackfriars, the Blackfriars Backstage Pass, the American Shakespeare Center Chronicles, and Doctor Ralph Reveals All.
You can find links to all of these podcasts at the American Shakespeare Center's Podcast Central; you can also subscribe to all ASC podcasts through the iTunes Music Store Podcast Directory, or through any number of web-based podcasting sites, including Podcast Pickle.

American Shakespeare Podcast Central (Blackfriars Playhouse)

Mobile Phone Shakespeare

iTunes Store: Search <Shakespeare> for a free app for the iPhone with searchable text

Mobile Open Source Shakespeare

Here are the instructions for viewing the Class pages and video clips. You'll need a password from Dr. Regan: rjregan@mail.fairfield.edu

Streaming video is a part of the course because I've written classes to be interactive with excerpts from performances. You will need a broadband internet connection. Cable or DSL will work. Satellite is probably OK too. Dialup is too slow for video.

As you scroll down the course page, for each of the plays you will see a link called "Click." That will take you to the Class, and when you click on a video clip you will see a password box. The password will be given out in class, a security measure because the TEACH Act passed by Congress in 2002 allows only enrolled students to have access to copyrighted materials for educational purposes. Our method of streaming will open the clip on your computer in QuickTime, though if you are a Windows user RealPlayer may open it instead. QuickTime comes standard on Macs, and if you Windows users do not have it, you can download it (bundled with iTunes) from:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download.

These video clips are also available from iTunes University, together with audio podcasts of our classes and some documents for each play. The clips can be expanded to full screen. Documents can be viewed as .pdf files only in iTunes, but the audio and video files can be synched to your iPod. If you are on the class roster, you have access through:

http://itunes.fairfield.edu

Enter your NetID number as your user name. The password is your NetID password. This login will work as soon as the class begins.

If you are a Windows user, you can get iTunes free at:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ (scroll to the Windows links)

Schedule

Week of:

January 21 - Introduction to Comic Theory and As You Like It
(Monday is MLK Day)

Shakespeare's Sources

Read the Works of Shakespeare at MIT

Open Source Shakespeare

Shakespeare Searched

The Internet Shakespeare Editions