The Norton Shakespeare

This course is offered subject to staff availability.

Exploring Shakespeare

There will be six 'set texts' or groups of texts, studied in this order: Hamlet, Macbeth, 'The Henriad' (i.e. Henry IV i & ii, & Henry V), Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, The Sonnets. Participants will, however, be expected to read widely in Shakespeare's other works.

Discussion will be determined by how the group's interests develop but three suggested main possible perspectives are:

Historical - what did these works mean to their first audiences and readers?

Theatrical - viewing the plays as performance texts rather than published ones

Theoretical - how useful are some of the main approaches (e.g. New Historicist, Marxist/cultural materialsit, feminist/gender-oriented)?