EN225 - Introduction to Shakespeare

An introduction to Shakespeare’s dramatic works through four to seven representative plays Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement.

Degree requirement — Critical Learning: AIM

1 unit — Evitt, Love

Previously Featured Offering

In Block B this summer EN 250 takes students to the World Shakespeare Festival in London to think about the place of the stage--in our world and in the world of Shakespeare's England? Are players merely players (in Shakespeare’s time and ours)? What is the place of Shakespeare in the globalized, socially-mediatied, necessarily international world of today?
Shakespeare
"Is the play still the thing?"

“All the world’s a stage,” laments Jacques in As You Like It. “And the men and women merely players.” It’s a statement that presents us with the idea of the world as a stage. It presents us with the question of the place of the stage not just within Shakespeare’s world but in ours as well. This course will take you to the World Shakespeare Festival in London next summer to explore just that. What is the place of the stage today? Are players merely players (in Shakespeare’s time and ours)? What is the place of Shakespeare in the globalized, socially-mediatied, necessarily international world of today? These are just some of the questions we will be considering as we read Shakespeare this summer.

This class will introduce students to the work of William Shakespeare through the study of six of his major dramatic works, from each of the major genres in which he wrote—history, comedy, tragedy and romance. In addition to introducing students to the particular constraints and demands of the theatrical medium and to the cultural of early modern England, we will attend a number of international productions of Shakespeare while in London during the World Shakespeare Festival and thus raise the the question of how the Shakespearean text has (and can be) adapted and translated by different cultures and languages.What are the particular challenges to editing the Shakespearean text? What is lost in the translation? What is gained?

Follow the class on the Block Features blog.

Offerings

Term Block Title Instructor Location Student Limit/Available Updated
Fall 2024 Block 3 Introduction to Shakespeare Re Evitt Armstrong Hall 234 25 / -1 11/14/2024
Spring 2025 Block 7 Introduction to Shakespeare Genevieve Love TBA 25 / 25 11/14/2024
Summer 2025 Block B Introduction to Shakespeare Steve Hayward TBA 25 / 25 11/14/2024
Report an issue - Last updated: 11/14/2024