Fall 2011 ENGLISH 339-0 Special Topics in Shakespeare- Comic Mood

"Comic Mood" - Special Topics in Shakespeare

While the tragic form is often taken as Shakespeare's gravest meditation on the human condition, this course takes the comedies seriously as a site for profound social reflection. In Shakespeare's comedy, powerful tension between individual motivations (like desire or ambition) and the overarching rules of the political community is always evident. This is especially true when it comes to ideas about sexuality and love, generational and gender norms, and the metaphors of government (or the absence of government) that they explore. Critics disagree about what political and affective dispensations the comic genre may offer on these tensions -- in other words, there is plenty of debate about whether Shakespeare is critical or supportive of notions of social hierarchies and order. This course will consider how comedy as a form relates to social ordering, whether as repression or renewal -- and study comedy as a meditation on the terms and conditions of social membership.

30% on a midterm exam; 50% on a final exam held the last day of class; and 20% on class participation and two short written exercises. Both exams will depend on your reading all materials and attending all class meetings.

The Comedy of Errors, Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, and The Winter's Tale

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