Module: ENG5100-20 Shakespeare & his Contemporaries

Level: 5

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Christopher Ivic

Module Tutor Contact Details: c.ivic@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling (and Billy Bragg): ‘What do they know of Shakespeare, who only Shakespeare know?’ This module is predicated on the notion that the best way to appreciate the works of the most powerful literary phenomenon of the English-speaking world is to set them in the context of the theatrical world that produced them, and to explore Shakespeare’s plays alongside those of his contemporaries and collaborators.

This module gives you the opportunity to study a range of Shakespeare’s plays in tandem with works by important late sixteenth and early seventeenth-century dramatists such as Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, Ben Jonson, John Ford and Thomas Middleton. We will look at a variety of genres from gory revenge tragedy to city comedy, political tragi-comedy and social satire. Throughout we will relate the plays to their historical, social and theatrical contexts, and the texts will be examined in the light of various critical and theoretical approaches.

Aims

This module is therefore intended to offer you the opportunity to:

• deepen your understanding of early modern theatre and its historical, dramatic and cultural contexts, and to discover works beyond those of Shakespeare;

• explore a diversity of dramatic texts from this period and their characteristic styles, languages, and genres;

• discuss the contemporary resonances of the plays and how they might be performed today;

• critique the Shakespearean bias of the literary canon;

• engage with advanced criticism and a diversity of theoretical approaches;

• explore a range of issues in relation to the plays, such as: gender and sexuality; violence, death and the macabre; subjectivity and individualism; race and ethnicity

2. Outline syllabus

The module will begin with some scene-setting, covering topics such as the playhouses, authorship, dramatic censorship, and so on. Consequent sessions will address themes and genres through discussion of paired plays under various headings, such as ‘Revenge’, ‘Gender’, ‘Love and Death’, ‘City Comedy’, ‘History’, and ‘Race and Ethnicity’. Assessed student presentations will focus on one of these headings.

Indicative pairings might include:

• ‘Revenge’: The Spanish Tragedy OR The Revenger’s Tragedy and Titus Andronicus.

• ‘Love and Death’: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Romeo and Juliet

• ‘Gender’: The Duchess of Malfi OR Arden of Faversham and Measure for Measure OR The Taming of the Shrew

• ‘Race and Ethnicity’: The Merchant of Venice OR Othello and The Jew of Malta

• ‘City Comedy’: A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and The Alchemist OR The Knight of the Burning Pestle

• ‘History’: Richard III and Sejanus OR Perkin Warbeck

We will also discuss additional critical material in seminars. The module will make extensive use of Early English Books Online, Defining Gender, and other electronic resources.

3. Teaching and learning activities:

Teaching and learning methods include lectures, seminars, a performance workshop, assessment workshops, screenings of the plays, and self-directed research.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Web essay (3,000 words)

• % Weighting: 60%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Individual presentation (2,000 word equivalent)

• % Weighting: 40%