English 121, Intro to Shakespeare
Spring 2014

Monday, January 20

First day: Introductions and course outline

• Read Marjorie Garber's introduction to Shakespeare After All.

Class will not meet today. Instead of class, we will have individual introductory conferences.

• Film: from John Barton's 1979 Playing Shakespeare: Trevor Nunn and David Suchet on Sonnet 138

• Film: from John Barton's 1982 Playing Shakespeare: Using the Verse

• Read Connections on The Sonnet

• Read Connections on Scansion

• And if you want to brush up on poetic terminology more general, have a look around the Terms section.
  • Hunter Davis as Ian McKellen as Popeye
  • Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet, an all-purpose site maintained by Terry A. Gray

  • ERIC (English Renaissance in Context) from the Penn Libraries

Come to class prepared to apply the film and readings to a discussion of one of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Note: here and throughout this syllabus, the first (less indented) reading or link is required, while the second (more indented) reading or link is supplemental and optional. Here, for example, the film viewing and Connections links are required, whereas exploring the other websites is optional.

• Read Shakespeare's sonnets 1, 2, 3, 5, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

• Close reading handout
  • Sir John Gielgud reads the sonnets

  • The excellent BBC podcast In Our Time on Shakespeare's Life

Using the close reading handout as a guide, write a paragraph about something unusual and interesting you find in one of the sonnets. We will discuss some of your paragraphs in class, and I will collect them all.

• Shakespeare's "Young Man" sonnets (selections): 20, 30, 37, 62, 76, 84, 93, 115, 116, and 123

• And the "Dark Lady" sonnets (selections): 42, 127, 130, 133, 138, 144, 147, 148, and 152

Group 1: Write a response connecting some small issue you find in a close reading of one of these sonnets to one of the broader concerns that Garber raises about interpreting Shakespeare's works. The key to this assignment lies in conveying that connection between a few small details and the big issues or questions of Shakespeare criticism.

• Five Ways of Looking at a Thesis (handout)
  • If you want to see more of what I say about writing papers, you are welcome (but not required) to look through the Writing section of Connections.

Come to class with a draft thesis for your sonnet analysis. We will do an in-class exercise about thesis construction, at the end of which you will reflect on your own draft thesis.

• Much Ado about Nothing, Act I

• Parker on New Criticism

Group 2: Stage-setting response

• Much Ado about Nothing, Acts II and III

Group 3: Middle acts response

SONNET EXPLICATION DUE OUTSIDE MY
OFFICE DOOR AT 4:00 P.M.

• Much Ado about Nothing, Acts IV and V

• Russ McDonald, "Theater à la Mode: Shakespeare and the Kinds of Drama"

Group 4: Final acts response

• Film: Kenneth Branagh, Much Ado about Nothing (1993)
  • The film's IMDB page

  • And its MRQE page

Group 5: Film response

• Richard III, Act I
  • Shakespeare's Works in online texts from MIT

  • In Our Time on Shakespeare's Work

Group 6: Stage-setting response

• Richard III, Acts II and III

Group 1: Middle acts response

• Richard III, Acts IV and V

• Russ McDonald, "Theater à la Mode: Shakespeare and the Kinds of Drama"

  • ERIC (English Renaissance in Context) has a tutorial on Richard III

Group 2: Final acts response

• Richard Loncraine, Richard III (1995)
  • The film's IMDB page

  • And its MRQE page

Group 3: Film response

Writing day: we will do an in-class exercise on transitions and organization.

• Hamlet, Act I
  • Facebook Hamlet

Group 4: Scene-setting response

• Hamlet, Acts II and III

Group 5: Middle acts response

• Complete the Treasure Hunt of the MIND (handout) and bring your findings to the library for class.

Library day!

• Hamlet, Acts IV and V

• Critical history of Hamlet

Group 6: Last acts response, incorporating some aspect of the critical history as well

PAPER PROSPECTUS DUE IN CLASS

• Parker on feminism
• Elaine Showalter, "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism"
  • In Our Time on Shakespeare and Literary Criticism

Group 1: Write a response that finds some way of tying together the two readings for today.

• Parker on historicism and cultural studies

• Stephen Greenblatt, from Hamlet in Purgatory

• The Merchant of Venice, Act I

• Parker on queer studies
  • ERIC (English Renaissance in Context) has a tutorial on The Merchant of Venice

Group 3: Stage-setting response

PAPER DUE OUTSIDE MY OFFICE BY 3:00

• The Merchant of Venice, Acts II and III

• Contextual readings on finance

Group 4: Middle acts response

• The Merchant of Venice, Acts IV and V

• Contextual readings on religion

Group 5: Last acts response

• The annotated bibliography assignment (handout)

We will do an in-class workshop on sample bibliography entries.

• Film: Michael Radford, The Merchant of Venice (2004)

• Film: Barton, section 4 of Playing Shakespeare: Exploring a Character (on Shylock)
• The Radford film's IMDB page

• And its MRQE page

Group 6: Film response

• Othello, Act I

Group 1: Stage-setting response

• Othello, Acts II and III

Group 2: Middle acts response

• Othello, Acts IV and V
  • Shakespearean Marbury

Group 3: Last acts response

• King Lear, Act I

Group 4: Stage-setting response

• King Lear, Acts II and III

Group 5: Middle acts response

• King Lear, Acts IV and V
  • An excellent conversation about Lear from the podcast Entitled Opinions, with Stephen Orgel and host Robert Harrison
  • ERIC (English Renaissance in Context) has a tutorial on history and truth in King Lear

Group 6: Last acts response

PAPER PROSPECTUS DUE IN CLASS

• Macbeth, Act I

• Sourcebooks edition introductory materials, pages 1-20, and CD tracks 1-18 (all material from Act I)

Group 1: Stage-setting response with special attention to the interpretive decisions made by at least one of the actors on the CD

• Macbeth, Acts II and III

• CD tracks 19-29 (all material from Acts II and III)

Group 2: Middle acts response

• Macbeth, Acts IV and V

• CD tracks 30-40 (all material from Acts IV and V)

Group 3: Last acts response

PAPER DUE OUTSIDE MY OFFICE BY 3:00

• The Tempest, Act I

• Parker on postcolonial and race studies

Group 4: Stage-setting response

Monday, April 28

• The Tempest, Acts II and III

Group 5: Middle acts response

• The Tempest, Acts IV and V

Group 6: Last acts response

PEER REVIEW OF RESEARCH PRODUCTS: Bring to class THREE COPIES of a) two full entries for your annotated bibliography and b) two paragraphs taken from current versions of your papers in which you quote an external source.

PORTFOLIO DUE OUTSIDE MY DOOR BY 2:00 P.M.