Shakespear History

The Course

Shakespeare, some critics suggest, invented the history play. When he stopped writing it, people lost interest. Part of a much larger revision of historical thinking in the Renaissance, the history play asks its audiences, then and now, to reconsider history in terms of CAUSE, ANACHRONISM, and EVIDENCE. Of these three, questions of cause may be the most palpable. Is history shaped by Providence or human machination? Think you know the answer? Shakespeare didn't. Or if he did, he was more interested in helping us question our answers. In this course, we will read Shakespeare's greatest history plays, paying attention to the way they cue performance, derive from the work of historians, and call into question our own assumptions about justice. Phyllis Rackin gets at the radical nature of our project when she says, "Shakespeare's playhouse constituted an arena where cultural change was not simply represented but rehearsed and enacted. It was, in short, a place where history was made."

Audience

This course is designed for senior English majors. If you are not a major, be sure you are prepared to undertake scholarly work at this level.

Staying in Touch

I want to know how you are doing. Come talk, send me e-mail, faxes, etc. Check the class web site. If you have to miss a class, then