Information for 2023-2024

Convenor: Dr John West

SEE BELOW FOR PROPOSED TEACHING TIMES FOR 2023/24 - PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE COULD BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT SHORT NOTICE:
		DAY:
SEMINAR		Wed 10:00 - 11:30
SEMINAR		Wed 11:30 - 1
SEMINAR		FRI 2-3:30
SEMINAR		FRI 3:30 - 5
LECTURE	MON 2:00 - 3

Teaching methods

1 x 1 hour lecture weekly; 1 x 1.5 hour seminar weekly.

Lecture: place and time tbc

Seminars as detailed on Tabula

Module Description

We will survey a wide range of early modern plays by Shakespeare and some of his most significant contemporaries such as, typically, Marlowe, Middleton and Webster. We'll explore the ways in which some of the major issues and themes dramatised in Shakespeare’s plays – for instance, love, war, sexuality, religion, law, race – function in an early modern context while continuing to challenge readers and spectators today. We'll read Shakespeare alongside other plays which compare and contrast in their treatment of these themes, to consider what is both typical and special about his work in its context. We'll consider how Shakespeare’s career developed (from early to late comedy, through history and tragedy) and investigate how later collaborators (directors, actors, adapters, audiences and readers) transformed the plays to be especially meaningful for them.

Module aims

The module aims are to read and analyse a wide range of Shakespeare's plays in different genres and periods of his career and a selection of the plays of near-contemporary dramatists, in order to compare and contrast Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean early modern drama. Students will critically analyse the plays: as literature; as texts for performance; and in their historical contexts (religious, social and political). You will also gain an understanding of a wide range of critical responses to Shakespeare and early modern drama and evaluate some of these in depth in your assessments.

Learning outcomes and Assessments

Level 5 (Y2)Link opens in a new window<Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window

Level 6 (Y3)Link opens in a new window<Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window

Outline Syllabus / Lecture List

Autumn term:

1. Introduction to the Module (Dr John West)
2. King Lear (Dr Steve Purcell)
3. Hamlet (Dr Tess Grant)
4. The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil (Dr Tess Grant)
5. Macbeth (Dr Tess Grant)
6. Reading Week
7. Antony and Cleopatra (Dr Tess Grant)
8. Othello (Professor Gary Watt)
9. The Tempest (Dr John West)
10. The Winter's Tale (Dr Tess Grant)

Spring Term

1. Galatea (Dr Steve Purcell)
2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Dr Steve Purcell)

3. Much Ado About Nothing (Dr John West)
4. Twelfth Night (Dr John West)
5. Chaste Maid in Cheapside (Dr Steve Purcell)
6. Reading Week
7. Measure for Measure (Dr Nancy Jiang)
8. The Merchant of Venice and The Jew of Malta (Dr Nancy Jiang)
9. Edward II and Richard II (Dr Julian Richards)
10. Richard III (Dr Julian Richards)

Reading list

A full bibliography covering primary and suggested secondary reading is available on Talis Aspire (link hereLink opens in a new window).

Essential Primary texts (to buy, ideally) are:

• Lyly, John. Galatea. Edited by Leah Scragg. Revels Student Editions. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012).
• Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine, parts I and II: Doctor Faustus, A- and B-texts ; The Jew of Malta ; Edward II. Edited by David M. Bevington and Eric Rasmussen. Oxford World's Classics. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
• Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Third edition. Edited by S. Greenblatt et al. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2016).
• Webster, John. The White Devil ; the Duchess of Malfi ; The Devil's Law-Case ; A Cure for a Cuckold. Edited by René Weis. Oxford World's Classics. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
• You may wish to purchase this book too if you want a print copy, but it is available via the University Library on Drama Online: Thomas Middleton, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. Edited by Alan Brissenden. New Mermaids (London: Bloomsbury, 2002).

Summer Reading: Please note that it is our expectation that students will return after the summer having read the 6 non-Shakespearean plays and made a good start on Shakespeare. There are some weeks during term where you will be expected to read two plays, and all the lectures will assume that you have knowledge of the non-Shakespearean plays, so if you do only one thing to prepare for the module this should be it. Please don't ignore this advice!