This is a detailed syllabus for Weeks I-VI, and a rough sketch of Weeks VII-X. The syllabus is subject to revision, and you'll receive updates from time to time.

WEEK I: September 30-October 4: HAMLET

PERSPECTIVE: Introduction; "What Is A Play?"

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: Shakespeare, Sonnets (bring this text to all classes)

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: "What Is A Play ?" Note: All papers will be due on Tuesday of the following week at 9 a.m. (before first class)

TUE AM LECTURE: Introduction to the program

TUE PM SEMINAR: None - go read!

TUE PM FILM: None - go read!

WED AM WORKSHOP: "What Is A Play?" workshop

WED PM GROUPS: Go draft your paper!

THU AM SEMINAR: Hamlet

THU PM PRESENTATIONS: Film: Olivier's Hamlet

WEEK II: October 7-11: HAMLET

(Re-read, in light of the supplemental text)

PERSPECTIVE: Ball's Reading Technique: Plays As Actions

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: David Ball, Backwards and Forwards

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: A discovery about Hamlet, based on Ball's technique for reading a play, in essay form

TUE AM LECTURE: Readings from Hamlet (and perhaps from sonnets)

TUE PM SEMINAR: Hamlet

TUE PM FILM: Sonnet (bring text to class) and film of Hamlet (Gibson)

WED AM WORKSHOP: Workshop on Ball's reading techniques: Actions performed, actions explained

WED PM GROUPS: Work on specific passages, using Ball's technique

THU AM SEMINAR: Hamlet

THU PM PRESENTATIONS: Ball/Hamlet group presentations

WEEK III: October 14-18: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

PERSPECTIVE: Gender

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: Rutter, "Kate: Interpreting the Silence," and Bean, "Comic Structure and the Humanizing of Kate (two reprints, available at TESC Bookstore); articles to be read before Wednesday workshop

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: None this week

TUE AM LECTURE: Workshop: The Immortal Bard?

TUE PM SEMINAR: Tam. Shrew

TUE PM FILM: Tam. Shrew, dir. Zefirelli (Taylor, Burton)

WED AM WORKSHOP: Lecture: Elizabethan gender roles (Nancy Taylor)

WED PM GROUPS: Preparation: Men and women play Kate

THU AM SEMINAR: Tam. Shrew

THU PM PRESENTATIONS: Men and women play Kate

WEEK IV: October 21-25: OTHELLO

Special schedule: Next week, on Thursday,October 31, we'll be attending the Tygres Heart Shakespeare Company's performance of Othello in Portland. In preparation for the trip, we'reading the play this week. The faculty will be away at a retreat on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday, so classes on these days will be student-organized and student-led.

PERSPECTIVE: Race

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: None

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: An essay answering this question: Shakespeare and his audience and his characters know what race means to them (as we can determine from the text of the play). How does their meaning of race differ from Spike Lee's? (An initial point to note: There is no discussion of interracial marriage between Othello and Desdemona; much discussion of it in Spike Lee.)

TUE AM LECTURE: Film, with Lawrence Fishburne

TUE PM SEMINAR: Othello

TUE PM FILM: Workshop on Othello and race

WED AM WORKSHOP: Visiting actor: G. Valmont Thomas

WED PM GROUPS: Othello with Lawrence Olivier

THU AM SEMINAR: Othello (organize seminar without faculty)

THU PM PRESENTATIONS: Film by Spike Lee: Jungle Fever

WEEK V: October 28-November 1: ROMEO AND JULIET

PERSPECTIVE: Figurative language

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Love and Language (the primary issue is language and meteaphor of love - not gender and ideology)

TUE AM LECTURE: Granville-Barker workshop

TUE PM SEMINAR: R. & J.

TUE PM FILM: Film, dir. Zefirelli

WED AM WORKSHOP: Lakoff & Johnson Workshop

WED PM GROUPS: Lecture: Metaphor, image, and symbol in R. & J.

THU AM SEMINAR: R. & J.

THU PM PRESENTATIONS: None - travel and meet in Portland to see Othello

WEEK VI: November 4-8: RICHARD III

PERSPECTIVE: Structure and function of language

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: None

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Analysis of two passages from assignment sheet

TUE AM LECTURE: The language of plays

TUE PM SEMINAR: Rich. III

TUE PM FILM: Olivier version

WED AM WORKSHOP: How does language move action?

WED PM GROUPS: Selected passages

THU AM SEMINAR: Rich. III

THU PM PRESENTATIONS: Ian McKellen version

WEEK VII: November 11-15: HENRY IV, PART I

PERSPECTIVE: The Falstaff figure and the comic element

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT:

WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

TUE AM LECTURE:

TUE PM SEMINAR:

TU PM FILM: Mime and patter: Classic comedy on film

WED AM WORKSHOP:

WED PM GROUPS:

THU AM SEMINAR:

THU PM PRESENTATIONS:

WEEK VIII: November 18-22: HENRY V

PERSPECTIVE: Kings & players: The politics of Shakespeare's theater

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT:

WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

TUE AM LECTURE:

TUE PM SEMINAR:

TU PM FILM: Olivier and Branagh versions this week

WED AM WORKSHOP:

WED PM GROUPS:

THU AM SEMINAR:

THU PM PRESENTATIONS:

THANKSGIVING BREAK: November 25-29: NO CLASSES

WEEK IX: December 2-6: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

PERSPECTIVE: The ethnic villain

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT:

WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

TUE AM LECTURE:

TUE PM SEMINAR:

TU PM FILM: BBC/Time-Life version

WED AM WORKSHOP: Ethnic difference

WED PM GROUPS:

THU AM SEMINAR:

THU PM PRESENTATIONS:

WEEK X: December 9-13: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

PERSPECTIVE: The dance of men and women

SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT: Selections from Barber, Shakespeare's Festive Comedy

WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

TUE AM LECTURE:

TUE PM SEMINAR:

TU PM FILM: Dir. Branagh

WED AM WORKSHOP:

WED PM GROUPS:

THU AM SEMINAR:

THU PM PRESENTATIONS:

EVALUATION WEEK: December 16-20

PROBABLE PLAYS, IN PROBABLE ORDER:

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Julius Caesar

King Lear

Macbeth

Troilus and Cressida

Measure for Measure

The Winter's Tale

The Tempest

CONCLUDING VISIT TO OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, if enough plays will be performed in March to justify the expense of the trip.