Shakespeare - En 255
Dr. Richard Regan
Fall 2005
Office
hours: Mon
11:30-12:15, Wed 1-1:45,
3-4,* Th 11:30-12:15
* except on Ed Tech committee days
Texts: Signet Classic editions of the plays listed below.
Grading: modified contract system. Three tests and an optional paper, each of equal weight in the final grade.
Attendance: for every three cuts, a point will be deducted from your semester average. Excused absences by written note from a Dean's office, Student Services/Health Center, or your faculty advisor. Excessive absences may result in a failing grade.
Required: 1) two tests based closely on the texts of the plays; 2) weekly summaries/responses to critical articles or WWW sites. These are graded as quizzes and can raise or lower the final grade.
Modified contract: an 8-10 page 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.
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.
Theater related websites
"The Elizabethan Theatre": a lecture with slides
FESTE:
Royal Shakespeare Archives in PADS Theatre Resources
(click on "Browse")
Shakespeare in Performance Institute Acting Exercises
Interactive Shakespeare Project
Internet MetaSites for
Shakespeare
Terry Gray's Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
Was Shakespeare Shakespeare? The Authorship Controversy
The Shakespeare Discussion List Archive
Schedule
Week of:
September 5 - Introduction, Theory of Comedy, The Taming of the Shrew
The Internet Shakespeare Editions
RhymeZone Shakespeare Search Engine
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 requires the
password. The video streams for a Quicktime viewer, the best video format.
Macs come with Quicktime, but Windows machines may need to download the application.
The password page sends a signal to your computer to download iTunes/Quicktime
if you don't have it, but that may not be enough. You can go to the Apple Quicktime
website to download the Windows version of Quicktime.
Install it, then restart the video link. You will need to adjust the Preferences
of Quicktime to make the video and audio work smoothly. Open Quicktime, and
use the top menu to find QuickTime Preferences (in one of the drop-down menus).
For Windows, choose Streaming Transport, then choose Use HTTP, Port ID 80.
On a Mac, you'll find this choice in the Connection Tab, then the Transport
Setup button. If you have the new Quicktime 7 for Mac, go to Quicktime Preferences,
click on the Advanced tab, select Custom under Transport Setup, double-click
on the word Custom, and choose HTTP and Port 80. Quicktime 7 for Windows is
in development.
September 12 - 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"
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Rossiter, Ornstein, and Kahn
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
Richard III Society Online Library
Polydore Vergil's account (1555)
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Myers, Kermode,` Bamber, and Slights
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
A Study Guide to A Midsummer Night's Dream
October 3 - Henry
IV,
Part
One
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Ornstein, Kahn, and Goldman
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
October 10 - film and studio production excerpts from 2 Henry IV and Henry V
EXAM
October 17 - Twelfth Night
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Bamber, Kimbrough, and Howard
Romantic comedy, with an inlay of literary romance
CLICK to go to the class on the play."The BBC Twelfth Night : Relationships Revealed"
"Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night:: Contemporary Film and Classic British Theatre"
"...the Nature of Shakespearian Comedy"
PAPER TOPICS DUE
October 24 - 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 Short Course on Shakespeare's Hamlet
(Click on "COURSE" and/or "FORUM")
Who Knows Who Knows Who’s There? An Epistemology of Hamlet (Or, What Happens in the Mousetrap)
October 31 - 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'"
November 7 - Othello
Read: the Play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Mack and Sprengnether
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
"'That Which Heaven Hath Forbid the Ottomites':The Turks in Shakespeare's Othello"
Shakespeare on Screen: Threshold Aesthetics in Oliver Parker's Othello
(access to video clips)
November 14 - 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.
"King Lear in its Own Time: The Difference That Death Makes"
"King Lear Beyond Reason: Love and Justice in the Family"
"Performing the Bodies of King Lear"
(see "Introductory notes on Tragedy" links)
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Read: the Play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Knight, Kahn, and Neely
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
"Teaching the Late Plays as Family Romance"
December 5 - The Tempest
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Leininger and Greenblatt
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
"Natural and Colonial Education in Shakespeare's The Tempest
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