The Chandos Portrait

Shakespeare I

Dr. Richard Regan

Fall 2000

Office hours: Mon 2:20-4:30, Tu 3:30-4:30, Wed 2-4:30, Th 2-4:30

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 two 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.

Final Exam: essays and passages for analysis.

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


Campus Cable Listings of the BBC productions shown at 8 pm on Channel 68

ERES library server with additional course material


Theater related websites

Shakespeare and the Globe

Virtual Pictures of the New Globe

"The Elizabethan Theatre": a lecture with slides

The McGill Shakespeare Resources Page

Shakespeare Examined through Performance

Interactive Shakespeare Project

Shakespeare at Hampton Court


Internet MetaSites for Shakespeare

Terry Gray's Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet

Early Modern Literary Studies

ArdenNet

(registration required - free!)

Shakespeare Globe USA

Was Shakespeare Shakespeare? The Authorship Controversy

The Shakespeare Classroom


Schedule

Week of:

September 4 - Introduction, Theory of Comedy, The Taming of the Shrew

Read the Works of Shakespeare at MIT: also click on the Shakespeare Discussion Area

The Internet Shakespeare Editions


September 11 - The Taming of the Shrew

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

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

Search the Works of Shakespeare at MIT

The Works of the Bard: another search engine


September 18 - Richard III

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

Scanning Shakespeare's Lines

Richard III On Stage and Off

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

"The Misogyny of Richard III..."


September 25 - Love's Labor's Lost

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Frye and David

PAPER TOPICS DUE

The Film Website

Ken Branagh Interview

"...the Nature of Shakespearian Comedy"

Women in Shakespeare


October 2 - EXAM

Introduction to the second tetralogy: Richard II

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the article by Altick

"Richard II": The Underlying Issues

"Derek Jacobi's Richard II: Ambiguities Answered"


October 9 - Richard II

Read: the articles by Traversi, Schoenbaum, and Holderness

"Shakespeare's Pacifism"


October 16 - Henry IV, Part One

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Ornstein and Goldman

"The Making of a King"

"The Education of a Prince"


October 23 - Henry IV, Part One and excerpts from Henry IV, Part Two

Read: the article by Kahn on 2 Henry IV

"Henry IV, Part 2"

"The Prudence and Kinship of Prince Hal..."


October 30 - Henry V

PAPERS DUE

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the article by Collimore/Sinfield

"Holy War in Henry Fifth"

"Hal Imitates the Sun"


November 6 - EXAM

Romeo and Juliet

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Goldman, Snyder, and Novy

The Film Website for Romeo and Juliet

"Light Images in Romeo and Juliet"

"Consumed by Fire"


November 13 - A Midsummer Night's Dream

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

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

"Imaging the Children of Pan": an article at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival website

A Study Guide to A Midsummer Night's Dream


November 20 - A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Web and MOO

A Hypertext Version of A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Film Website


THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS


November 27 - The Merchant of Venice

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Bamber and Smallwood

Shakespeare and Anti-Semitism: The Question of Shylock

A Second Daniel: The Jew and the "True Jew" in The Merchant of Venice

Shylock Is Us

Contract in The Merchant of Venice

Plot Summary and Scholarship in The Merchant of Venice

The SHAKSPER Discussion List Archives


December 4 - Much Ado About Nothing

Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Stauffer and Neely

"Bringing Deformed Forth: Engendering Meaning in Much Ado About Nothing"

"The Role of the Clown in Shakespeare's Theater"


FINAL EXAM: Monday, December 18, 1:30


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