Shakespeare II - En 356
Dr. Richard Regan
Spring 2006
Office hours: Mon 1:30-3, Wed 1-3, Thurs 1:30-3, and by appointment.
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.
"The Elizabethan Theatre": a lecture with slides
Shakespeare in Performance Institute Acting Exercises
Interactive Shakespeare Project
Touchstone: Shakespeare in Performance
Internet
MetaSites for Shakespeare
Terry Gray's Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
SH:in:E (Shakespeare in Europe)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaWas Shakespeare Shakespeare? The Authorship Controversy
The Shakespeare Discussion List Archive
Teachers FirstPolydore Vergil's Anglica Historica (1555)
Podcasts (allow several minutes for download)
Shakespeare for Today (55 minutes)
Professor Ronald Rebholtz,
Stanford University, Reunion Homecoming 2004
http://itunes.stanford.edu/
Roundtable Discussion of Romeo and Juliet (50 minutes)
27 February 2006 Shenandoah
Shakespeare
http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/education/onShakespeare.html
http://americanshakespearecenter.blogspot.com/2006/02/blackfriars-backstage-pass-romeo-and.html
Macmorris, by John Morrison (46 minutes)
BBC Radio 4:
"A comic fantasy about some of the minor characters in Shakespeare’s
canon of plays who demand that their Creator write them better roles
or they will destroy his universe.
This story takes place in a parallel world, a theatrical ether, which
is populated by the characters in Shakespeare’s canon. Presiding
over them all, godlike is their Creator, William Shakespeare.
Capt. Macmorris, a very minor character from Henry V with only one scene,
is the only Irish character in the whole cannon and he is portrayed as a
stereo typical Irish buffoon with a violent arrogant temper. This characterisation
infuriates Macmorris. His dilemma is that he thinks he is real, a human being
able to act for himself and that his nature can be changed. After 405 years
trapped in this part, Macmorris he has decided that Shakespeare must give
him deeper characterisation, better motivation and the chance to get the
girl in the end. He enlists the help of the three other Captains in Henry
V, Capt. Jamie, Capt. Fluellen and Capt. Gower and they go and confront their
maker. Shakespeare throws them out and the ‘four musketeers’ resort
to violent action. However they haven’t reckoned with the might of
the immortal bard, William Shakespeare and his ally Iago who has spies everywhere." (3
October 2004)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/drama/productions/radio/missed.shtml
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).
If
you have Quicktime 6 for Windows, choose Streaming Transport, then choose
Use HTTP, Port ID 80.
If you have Quicktime 7 for Windows, set the Preferences by going to the Advanced
tab, then choose Transport Setup, then Custom, then set Transport Protocol
for HTTP and Port
80.
If
you have Quicktime 6 for Mac, go to Quicktime Preferences, choose the Connection
Tab, then
the
Transport
Setup button.
If you have 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.
Schedule
Week of:
January 16 - Introduction to Comic Theory
Read the Works of Shakespeare at MIT
The Internet Shakespeare Editions
January 23 - As You Like It
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Gardner, Erickson, and Howard
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
"Instruction Versus Deception: from Rosalynde to As You Like It"
"Orlando and the Golden World: the Old World and the New in AYLI"
January 30 - Twelfth Night
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Bamber, Kimbrough, and Howard
CLICK to go to the class on the play."Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night": Contemporary Film and Classic British Theatre"
February 6 - Sonnets
Read: the poems and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Empson, Smith, and Nowottny
"The amazing web site of Shakespeare's Sonnets"
February 13 - Julius Caesar
Read: the play and articles by Mack and Kahn
PAPER TOPICS
"Caesar"s Reviving Blood: Shakespeare and the Religion of Revolution"
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (from Perseus at Tufts)
"An English Renaissance Understanding of the Word 'Tragedy'"
EXAM
February 20 - Hamlet (Monday holiday)
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
"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)"
Read: articles by Mack, Ornstein, Heilbrun, and Belsey
"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'"
March 6 - 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)
Cinthio's Tale: The Source of Shakespeare's Othello
SPRING HOLIDAYS
March 20 - Measure for Measure
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the article by Poulsen
"Desperate Measures: Politics and the Process of Performance"
"Vincentio's Fraud: Boundary and Chaos, Abstinence and Orgy in Measure for Measure" (click on title)
"The Role of the Clown in Shakespeare's Theatre"
PAPERS DUE
March 27 - 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"
April 3 - King Lear
"King Lear Beyond Reason: Love and Justice in the Family"
"Performing the Bodies of King Lear"
(see "Introductory notes on Tragedy" links)
EXAM
April 10 - Antony and Cleopatra
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Danby, Adelman, and Novy
"Roman Letters and Egyptian Performatives"
A Review of Janet Adelman's "Suffocating Mothers"
April 17 - The Winter's Tale (Monday holiday)
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Tillyard, Knight, Neely, and Kahn
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
April 24 - The Tempest
Read: the play and the Signet Introduction, and the articles by Knox, Leininger, and Greenblatt
CLICK to go to the class on the play.
"Natural and Colonial Education in Shakespeare's The Tempest
FINAL EXAM: Monday, May 8, 1:30