ENGL 230-01, Shakespeare's Major Plays, Fall 1998

Abstract

This course focuses on plays concerned with ideas of love, power, politics, and religion. The course aims to develop your knowledge of Shakespearean drama and to increase your skills of analysis, discussion, and writing. We will use several different approaches to understanding Shakespeare’s work. One sees the plays as historical documents that need to be understood within the context in which they were originally written. Another acknowledges how Shakespeare’s plays are living documents continually in need of engagement and fresh interpretation. A third emphasizes the importance of close reading and careful attention to dramatic structure, characterization, and language.