Fall 2026
Prereq: none
Units: 3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H
Four hundred and ten years after his death, William Shakespeare remains not only the central author of the English-speaking world but the most quoted poet and most regularly produced playwright on earth. His writing is among the most popular sources for novelists, screenwriters, and digital creators as well. Why is that, and who “is” he? What meanings did his plays have in his own time, and how do—and should— we read, speak, or listen to his words now? How should we perform his plays, and whose plays are we recreating, anyway? We’ll consider these questions as we examine a sampling of Shakespeare’s plays from a variety of critical perspectives (among them, literary, cultural, theatrical, and filmic). Texts will span the diverse genres of comedy, tragedy and history that his friends used to sort his plays, as well as the modern media and global cultures to which he’s been translated. Students will gain skills in communication, teamwork, interpretation, research, and self-expression, and discover direct connections between our subject and fields such as Music and Theater Arts, History, Philosophy, Comparative Media Studies, Ancient and Medieval Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Alongside The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry IV Part I, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Othello, we will explore videos from across the globe, spinoffs, and scholarship, and will try to envision Shakespearean futures. [Pre-1900]