Undergraduate Course: Shakespeare's Late Plays (LLLG07079)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | THIS IS A FOR-CREDIT COURSE OFFERED BY THE OFFICE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING (OLL); ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.
Shakespeare's Late Plays offer a special kind of magic. Preoccupied with family loss and re-unification, death and re-birth, and the exotic foreign worlds of the new Renaissance empires, they create a universe less bleak than the great tragedies but more searching and visionary. Course texts include Pericles, The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline and The Tempest. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction to the world of Shakespeare's late plays; changes in staging and taste in the Jacobean theatre.
Weeks 2 & 3: Pericles - Shakespeare's use of romance conventions as he explores the fractured and re-united family.
Weeks 4 &5: Cymbeline - the challenges of staging and interpreting this grotesque mixture of tragedy and comedy.
Weeks 6 & 7: The Winter's Tale - the language of irrational jealousy and faith renewed.
Weeks 8 & 9: The Tempest - Shakespeare's seeming farewell to the powerful magic of the theatre.
Week 10: Henry VIII: nostalgia for the Elizabethan Age.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
* identify the romance conventions and tragi-comic tone of the late plays
* understand the relationship between these plays and Shakespeare's preceding tragedies and comedies
* explain Jacobean stage conventions in the indoor theatres
* analyse Shakespeare's use of complex language to convey extreme psychological states.
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Reading List
Essential:
Shakespeare, William. 2004. Pericles. London: Arden.
Shakespeare, William. 2007. Cymbeline. London: Arden.
Shakespeare, William. 2008. The Winter's Tale. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Shakespeare, William. 2011. The Tempest. London: Arden.
Shakespeare, William. 2000. Henry VIII. London: Arden.
Recommended
Ryan, Kiernan.1999. Shakespeare's Last Plays. London: Longman.
Thorne, Alison.2003.Shakespeare's Romances. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kermode, Frank. 2001. Shakespeare's Language. Harmondsworth: Penguin. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
* Discursive essay writing
* Discussion skills
* Analytical and logical skills.
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| Special Arrangements |
None |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email: aclaywor@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Sabine.Murdoch@ed.ac.uk |
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