William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Timothy H. Wilson

The Chandros Portrait of William Shakespeare (1600 - 1610)National Portrait Gallery, London

William Shakespeare has been hailed as the greatest writer to have ever lived. In the words of Harold Bloom, he is the center of the Western Canon.

Shakespeare's plays show us the varied possibilities of human character and action. They show us these varied possibilities as arising across a vast expanse of time and political regimes: from ancient Athens and Rome to medieval Scotland to Renaissance Italy and England.

Shakespeare's "infinite variety" also manifests itself in his mastery of the range of dramatic genres. At the end of Plato's Symposium, Apollodorus concludes his reporting of a long drinking party, a scene reported to him by Aristodemus. Socrates convinces Agathon and Aristophanes, a tragic and a comic poet respectively, that "the same man should know how to make comedy and tragedy" (223d). Plato may have insisted on this point in order to underscore how through his own dialogues he has demonstrated this ability of the true poet. However, we could say that it was not until Shakespeare that we have a poet that has truly lived up to this Socratic challenge.

The following Shakespearean works find a place on my list of 101 Greatest Books of the Western Canon:

Henry IV, Part 1 (1596-97)
Hamlet (1600-01)
Othello (1604)
King Lear (1605-06)
Macbeth (1606)
The Sonnets (1609)

In addition, his complete works are included in my list of 1001 Great Books of the Western Canon.

Course Materials

Shakespearean Drama: An Introduction

An introduction to the study of Shakespeare's dramatic works. The lecture discusses the emergence of professional theatres in Elizabethan England, Shakespeare's works and Shakespeare's use of various dramatic genres.

Prose and Verse in Shakespeare's Plays

A brief look at the data: Shakespeare's plays include both verse and prose, which was conventional with Elizabethan playwrights. Shakespeare seems to have gone through a period (between 1596 and 1604) wherein he used prose more prominently. Also, Shakespeare tends to use prose more often in his Comedies as well as in his "Henriad" (Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V)

Shakespeare's Histories: An Introduction

An introduction to Shakespeare's history plays, both the "English Histories" and the "Roman Histories". The predominant concerns of the genre with politics and war are discussed, as is the historical context of the writing of these plays during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604). Finally, Shakespeare's place in the philosophy of history is considered.

Shakespeare's Henry V: War and the Modern Political Regime

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to the shift from the medieval to the modern age. Henry V is represented as the ideal ruler for the modern age, combining the classical virtue's required of a warrior king with the Christian virtues needed to consolidate authority.

Shakespeare's Roman Plays: An Introduction

An introduction to Shakespeare's Roman Plays: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus. The relation of these plays to other genres is discussed. The predominant concerns of the genre with politics and war are discussed. It is asserted that Shakespeare was able to transcend his own Christian historical horizon and represent different possibilities for human achievement under various political regimes in these plays

Shakespeare's Coriolanus: An Introduction

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to Shakespeare's relation to classical and modern republican thinking. Coriolanus attempts to be independent of the political community, but ultimately relies on it for his longing for recognition. This leads to Coriolanus' tragic outcome but also points to what could be called "the tragedy of the political" for Shakespeare.

On Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

A lecture on Shakepeare's tragedy, Antony and Cleopatra. The lecture discusses Shakespeare's "Roman Plays" generally, the Roman history behind the play that Shakespeare mainly borrowed from Plutarch, as well as Shakespeare's references to Virgil's Aeneid as a literary background to the play. The lecture points to the tensions between the Republican and Imperial regimes highlighted by the play as well as the tensions between the call of love and the call of political duty.

On Time in Shakespeare's Sonnets

A lecture on the thematic of time in Shakespeare's Sonnets, including discussions of the overall structure of the Sonnets, the thematics of time, poetry and love in the Sonnets, strategies for overcoming time in the "Procreation" sonnets and the ambiguity of the "Dark Lady" sonnets.

Shakespeare's Sonnet #1: A Close Reading

A close reading of Sonnet #1 exploring the nuances of the "Procreation" theme as presented in the Sonnet.

Shakespeare's Sonnet #12: A Close Reading

An analysis and interpretation of Sonnet #12 exploring the nuances of the "Procreation" theme as presented in the Sonnet.

Other Lectures

On A Midsummer Night's Dream

On Henry IV, Part 1

On Hamlet

Reflections on the Great Books

Based on chronology of E.K. Chambers (1930)

Comedies

The Comedy of Errors (1592-93)

The Taming of the Shrew (1593-94)

Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-95)

Love's Labour's Lost (1594–1595)

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-96)

The Merchant of Venice (1596-97)

Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)

As You Like It (1599-1600)

Twelfth Night (1599-1600)

Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)

All's Well that Ends Well (1602-03)

Measure for Measure (1604-05)

Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608-09)

The Winter's Tale (1610-11)

The Tempest (1611-12)

Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-13)

Histories

Henry VI, Part II (1590-91)

Henry VI, Part III (1590-91)

Henry VI, Part I (1591-92)

Richard III (1592-93)

Richard II (1595-96)

King John (1596-97)

Henry IV, Part I (1597-98)

Henry IV, Part II (1597-98)

Henry V (1598-99)

Henry VIII (1612-13)

Tragedies

Titus Andronicus (1593-94)

Romeo and Juliet (1594-95)

Julius Caesar (1599-1600)

Hamlet (1600-1601)

- "Hamlet and Modern Metaphysics": From a chapter of my PhD Dissertation: An interpretation of the play in relation to the modern revolution in philosophy undertaken by Bacon and Descartes (1998).

Troilus and Cressida (1601-02)

Othello (1604-05)

King Lear (1605-06)

Macbeth (1605-06)

Antony and Cleopatra (1606-07)

Coriolanus (1607-08)

Timon of Athens (1607-08)

Cymbeline (1609-10)