1:00p-2:15p TR (15) 3 cr

REQUIRES THE PERMISSION OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR OF HONORS.

TOPIC: SHAKESPEARE Y2K: THE MILLENNIAL RENAISSANCE

As the explosion of mass cultural interest in Shakespeare demonstrates ("Shakespeare in Love" winning the Oscar for Best Picture–who'd have thought?), Shakespeare has never been bigger. What is it about "the Bard" that has made his plays suddenly "popular" again across all levels of American and British culture? In this course we will situate Shakespeare in his own life and times and then make direct and explicit interface with some of the biggest events of the late 20th century. Studying intensively six of Shakespeare's plays, we'll examine Shakespeare's notions of authority, political leadership, love, sex, family, friendship, and money in terms of the shifting society of early modern England, and then tease out the remarkable similarities in pre-millennial American and British cultures. We will read Othello in tandem with the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill Hearings, transcripts from the O.J. Simpson trial, and the Rodney King riots; we'll see how monarchical leadership in Richard II compares with our own crisis of political authority in the impeachment of President Clinton; we'll see how cross-dressing in Twelfth Night prefigures contemporary kitsch and drag; in Taming of the Shrew we will find debates echoed centuries later in the marriage of Princess Diana and Prince Charles; and lastly we will look at the extraordinary ascension of Hamlet on the scene of mass popular culture, and try to determine how it is that this disinherited prince has come in the popular democratic imagination to stand for Everyman (and not Everywoman!). While we'll be focusing on Shakespearean texts, the political and historical context of this course will be the 21st Century .

Students will be asked to bring to class discussion their own examples of contemporary events and situations that mirror our plays in ways both obvious and subtle. In addition to our readings in Shakespeare and contemporary cultural theory, we'll view some of the more recent film versions of Shakepeare's plays. There will be several short position papers and a 10-15 page essay due at the end of the semester.