The Droeshout Engraving

Portraits of Shakespeare

The Portrait Controversy

Imagining Shakespeare - En 141 (Web)

Dr. Richard Regan

Summer 2014

Email: rjregan@mail.fairfield.edu

Texts: Signet Classic editions of the plays listed below. These are wonderfully handy editions with clear notes, good introductions, bibliographies, and excellent short articles on the plays. They are available in the Fairfield U. bookstore. To order online go to amazon.com and search for "Signet Classic Hamlet," or whatever title you want. Buy the single play editions to get the critical articles you will need. I'll ask you to include references to some of these critical articles as you write your papers on each play.

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

Modules - The course is arranged in six modules, one for each play. Before the course begins, let's practice exchanging documents written in Microsoft Word. I'll send you an email with a suggestion for writing, and you can attach your reply to an email. 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.

As you can see, we have about a week to work on each play. The course will be offered twice, from June 2 to July 11, and from July 14 to August 22.

Evaluations and grades: The main work of the course will be done through papers of about five (5) pages written on each play. Topics will be developed as we go. The papers should be original, but I would like to see some reference to the articles in the Signet editions and to the web sites I provide. Papers can be rewritten in response to my comments, and the rewrite grade will replace the original one.

We will also use group emails (sent Reply All) to have daily discussions, Monday through Friday. I will send an email each day with a prompting question or topic, and everyone will Reply All so that the whole class participates in an ongoing discussion. Our class may be divided into two groups ("Stratford" and "London") to make the discussions easier to follow. You can set up a folder in your email to hold these Reply All messages.

The main feature of the course is the online Class containing my presentation and streaming video links. The Class has a password, which I'll email to you. You must have a broadband internet connection to view the video clips, which are an integral part of the course we will refer to frequently. The video clips are also available through iTunes University and can be downloaded to iTunes on your computer (either PC or Mac). Instructions for viewing the video are found below, in blue print. The computer lab at the library entrance provides access to the video if you have difficulty with your personal computer. For assistance, email me: You must be able to view these clips.

Introduction. These are some background sites you may find helpful, in addition to the two groups of links just above. The first link is to my chart on the comedies.

Theory of Comedy

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, and can also be viewed on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad. Documents can be viewed as .pdf files only in iTunes, but the audio and video files can be synched to your device. 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)

June 2 or July 14: The Taming of the Shrew

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Mack, Greer, Bamber, and Slights

CLICK to go to the class on the play.

"Personations: The Taming of the Shrew..."

"'Caparisoned like the horse': Tongue and Tail in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew"

"A Shrew and The Shrew"

The Works of the Bard: including a SEARCH engine

Scanning Shakespeare's Lines

Shakespeare: Subject to Change (Cable in the Classroom) Click on "Link to Resource"

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June 9 or July 21: Richard III

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Rossiter and Kahn

CLICK to go to the class on the play.

Richard III Society Online Library

Thomas More's "The History of King Richard III"

"The Misogyny of Richard III..."

Polydore Vergil's account (1555)

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June 16 or July 28: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Myers, Bamber, and Slights

CLICK to go to the class on the play.

"...Petrarch and Pyramus in the Woods of Athens"

"From the Ridiculous to the Sublime"

A Study Guide to A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Web and MOO

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June 23 or August 4: Hamlet

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Mack, Ornstein, Heilbrun, and Belsey

CLICK to go to the class on the play.

"A Romance of Electronic Scholarship"

"Shakespeare and the Public Discourse of Sovereignty: 'Reason of State' in Hamlet"

"Who Knows Who Knows Who’s There? An Epistemology of Hamlet (Or, What Happens in the Mousetrap)"

Enfolded Hamlet

"On Seeing Madame Bernhardt's Hamlet"

"Making Mother Matter: Repression, Revision, and the Stakes of 'Reading Psychoanalysis Into' Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet"

"Multiplicity of Meaning in the Last Moments of Hamlet

"Hamlet on the Ramparts (see "Films")

"'Too Much in the Black Sun': Hamlet's First Soliloquy, A Kristevan View"

"An English Renaissance Understanding of the Word 'Tragedy'"

"Shakespeare and the Tragic Virtue"

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June 30 or August 11: King Lear

Read: the Play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Mack, Bamber, and Brown

CLICK to go to the class on the play.

"Two Lears for TV"

"King Lear in its Own Time: The Difference That Death Makes"

"Faires and Gods: A Socio-Religious Context for King Lear

PBS Site on Ian McKellan's Lear

"King Lear Beyond Reason: Love and Justice in the Family"

The Complete Text of Shakespeare's King Lear with Quarto and Folio Variations, Annotations, and Commentary

(see "Introductory notes on Tragedy" links)

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July 7 or August 18: The Winter's Tale

Read: the Play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Tillyard, Knight, Neely, and Kahn

Allegory

Dante's definition of allegory

CLICK to go to the class on the play.

Literary Romance

"Poetry vs. Plot in The Winter's Tale"

"Teaching the Late Plays as Family Romance"

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