English 366 (01): Shakespeare
January - April 2003
Meeting: Tu Th 8:30 - 10:00
Room: 345/209

R.G. Siemens
Office: Bldg. 335, Rm. 120
Office Hours: M 10:00-Noon, Th 10:00-Noon

Course Home Page: http://web.mala.bc.ca/siemensr/Teaching/Engl366-03.htm

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Description

This course will survey a number of Shakespeare's efforts, representing a good range of his work; particular emphasis will be on his writings during Elizabeth I's reign.  While the extant texts of Shakespeare's work will necessarily be the basis of our study, we will also approach some plays through their filmic adaptations and their performance.

Course Materials

• Course Texts:
  • Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare.  2nd ed.  New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
• Suggested:
  • Dodds, Jack, and Judi Jewinski.  The Ready Reference Handbook: Writing, Revising, Editing.  2nd Canadian ed.  Toronto: Pearson Education, 2001.
  • Lunsford, Andrea, Robert Connors, and Judy Segal.  The Everyday Writer: A Brief Reference. Canadian ed.  New York: St. Martin's P, 1997.
  • Johnston, Ian C.  Essays and Arguments: A Handbook on Writing Argumentative and Interpretative Essays.  Nanaimo: Malaspina U-C, 2000.  Rptd. online, <http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/arguments/argument1.htm>.
• Additional Resources:
  • Recent videotaped productions, available in the library for overnight loan, of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo + Juliet, Titus Andronicus, My Own Private Idaho, Henry V, Twelfth Night.
  • Course Discussion Group: TBA
  • "Participating in Seminars," Ian Johnston.
  • The Writing Centre at Malaspina U-C.
  • Malaspina U-C, First Year Courses, Standards and Expectations.
  • English Department Grading Standards.
• Technical Assistance:
• IT Helpdesk: extension 6300, ithelp@mala.bc.ca, and http://web.mala.bc.ca/it/students/index.htm. 

Course Requirements

• Outline and Annotated Bibliography, for Seminar Presentation, 10%.  Due the beginning of week 2.
• Seminar Presentation, 20%. A well-researched and formal presentation on your seminar topic, plus leading or jointly leading seminar discussion for the week; topics and dates as above.
• Research Paper, 20%. A formal research paper on your topic, having its origins in your seminar presentation, ca. 2,000 wds. + annotated bibliography; due at the outset of our last class.
• Participation, seminar and online seminar, 30%. Evaluation will include your seminar notes; a seminar note will be a one-page, single-spaced (and typed) exploration of each seminar topic; your seminar note is due at the end of each seminar meeting, beginning in week 2.
• Final exam, 20%.

Works and Schedule

• Week 1 (Jan. 6-):  Introduction, The Sonnets
  • Seminar discussions, led by instructor
    • Shakespeare, man and myth (assigned readings).
    • Shakespeare's poetic and dramatic language (pls. read the first 30 or so of the Sonnets).
• Week 2 (Jan. 13-): The Sonnets
  • Seminar (led by instructor): the audience(s) addressed by the sonnets
• Week 3 (Jan. 20-): The Sonnets, A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • Seminar 1: procreation and love
• Week 4 (Jan. 27-): A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • Seminar 2: the potential fall to tragedy
    Seminar 3: reconciled lovers and societal reconciliation
• Week 5 (Feb. 3-): Romeo and Juliet (Titus Andronicus as gloss)
  • Seminar 4: interpretations and adaptations
  • Seminar 5: familial warfare
• Week 6 (Feb. 10-): Romeo and Juliet
  • Seminar 6: societal, familial, and personal obligations (related to AMND)
  • Seminar 7, 8: that which terrifies (related to Titus; 2 seminar leaders)
• Week 7 (Feb. 17-): Julius Caesar (Richard the Second as gloss)
  • Seminar 9: proficiency, popularity, and ambition: the nature of true leadership?
  • Seminar 10: the nature of conspiracy
• Week 8 (Feb. 24-):  Reading Break
• Week 9 (Mar. 3-): Julius Caesar
  • Seminar 11: oration and the mob
  • Seminar 12, 13: sites of tragedy (related to Richard; 2 seminar leaders)
• Week 10 (Mar. 10-): The First Part of Henry the Fourth (Henry the Fifth as gloss)
  • Seminar 14: plot and setting
  • Seminar 15: rebels and rebellion
• Week 11 (Mar. 17-): The First Part of Henry the Fourth
  • Seminar 16: prince-rearing
  • Seminar 17: history and comedy (related to Henry the Fifth)
• Week 12 (Mar. 24-): Twelfth Night
  • Seminar 18: identity, lost and found
• Week 13 (Mar. 31-): Twelfth Night

Notes:

• All deadlines are firm.  Attendance is mandatory, and you must come to class prepared to discuss the works and authors under consideration.  All course requirements must be met (and a mark of greater than F received) for a passing grade to be issued in the course.
• This course assumes ability in the use of our library (and ILL facilities), its catalogue, and the various specialized indexes and bibliographies related to literary studies in the areas covered by the course.
• All written work will be submitted as per MLA style (parenthetical citation).  All students are advised to consult and use The Everyday Writer as part of their course and assignment preparation.  All students are advised to be familiar with Malaspina's Student Conduct Policy (available at: http://www.mala.bc.ca/www/crsinfo/calendar/STUDCOND.HTM), which includes a section on plagiarism.
• What is an annotated bibliography?  For our purposes here, and in short, an annotated bibliography is a list of critical/scholarly works that includes a brief summary of the argument of each work. Works are to be listed as per MLA Style. A sample entry follows: 

Frye, Northrop. "The Argument of Comedy." 165-179 in Alvin B. Kernan, ed. Modern Shakespearean Criticism: Essays on Style, Dramaturgy, and the Major Plays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970.

Frye discusses ideas on the evolution from Old to New Comedy, and therein touches upon a number of elements of the New Comedy, among them the basic plot and movement towards resolution. Of interest is his relation of the individual and the societal, in the resolution of the comic drama: "The essential comic resolution," Frye states, ". . . is an individual release which is also a social reconciliation" (167). His comments on the structural relation of the comedy and the tragedy are particularly useful: "Comedy," he notes, "grows out of the [tragic] ritual, for in the ritual the tragic story has a comic sequel" (168).

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© R.G. Siemens, 2000-.
Last updated December 03, 2002.