Course Overview

Our challenge‒and our opportunity‒this semester is to read Shakespeare, to delight in his works, to wrestle with the hard questions his plays raise, and to make Shakespeare ours, for our time. In so doing, we will be guided by the following questions:

• What can you do with a knowledge of Shakespeare in the “real world”? 

• How can you--as undergraduate students--become part of the “we” here? How can you make Shakespeare yours?

• Should we keep on doing Shakespeare in light of all of the problems of his plays (insert: racism, sexism, classism, etc.)? 

• How can we deploy and enjoy Shakespeare in confronting social problems and advancing justice, social change, and the practice of a meaningful life (just a tiny set of tasks)?