Instructor: Rumrich, J
Unique #: 34915
Semester: Spring 2018
Cross-lists: n/a
Restrictions: n/a
Computer Instruction: No
Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.
Description: We will read six or seven of Shakespeare’s plays and some non-dramatic poetry (especially the sonnets), concentrating on ethical and leadership-related themes established early in Shakespeare's career (1592-99), when Elizabeth was entering her final decade on the throne and the triumph over the Spanish Armada (1588) was a recent memory. We will also seek insight into Shakespeare’s development as a playwright by reading two plays composed by rival playwrights (Robert Greene and Christopher Marlowe). Our readings include moments that reflect on dramatic or theatrical fiction while also being part of a fiction, and we will consider their implications. Discussions along this line will be pushed toward greater awareness of the conditions under which the plays were performed--during daylight, on a relatively unadorned, thrust stage, with a repertory company of limited size, composed entirely of males. We will identify dramatic models and idioms with which Shakespeare worked, his choices of historical moments to represent on stage, and the pertinence of these choices in the waning years of Elizabeth's reign. We will work to become familiar with Shakespeare’s language by way of short student performances of speeches and segments of scenes. For the Spring of 2018, this course will be coordinated for most of the semester with a counterpart Shakespeare course being taught at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. There will be on-line meetings between the two classes and shared assignments in which UT students will work in collaboration with ZJU students. These assignments will seek student assessment of the perspectives on ethics and leadership afforded by the plays as well as shared efforts aimed at the performance of passages from scenes that will be selected for their bearing on the themes of leadership and ethics.
Texts: (tentative) Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay,pdf; I Henry 4, Pelican paperback; Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pelican paperback; Jew of Malta, on line text (Perseus-Tufts); Merchant of Venice, Pelican paperback; Julius Caesar, Pelican paperback; King Lear, Pelican paperback; Macbeth, Pelican paperback; Tempest, Pelican paperback. Texts will be available at the Co-op.
Requirements & Grading:
Quizzes (25%): There will be six short quizzes on the readings with no makeups permitted. This rule in effect constitutes an attendance policy. If a student misses class on the day of a quiz, the student receives a zero for that quiz. The margin for error is small; I will drop only the lowest grade.
Presentations (25%): Students will be responsible for developing in-class presentations concerning the plays we read. These presentations are in part intended to involve students in pertinent discussion of themes of leadership and ethics evoked by the plays on the syllabus, and to practice making arguments for or against certain ethical practices especially in relation to the exercise of political leadership.
Journals (25%): Journals are to include entries that 1) make observations on the readings and class lectures/discussions (especially early in the term); 2) describe presentation preparation and outline ethical debate; 3) record interactions with other students, in Austin and Hangzhou, concerning leadership and political authority (beginning in February); and 4) detail the challenges and insights tied to work on performance (especially late in the term). Students are expected to write, on average, two journal entries per week during the semester and each entry should represent at least a half hour’s effort in composition.
Performance (25%): Student groups will offer end of term performances in combination with students at ZJU. The major portion of the grade will be based simply on the accuracy of student memorization of lines (not on acting ability) but we also look for evidence of authentic effort at group collaboration.