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Spring 2002 |
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English/Comparative Literature 304 |
Rice 106, (440) 775-8583, |
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E-mail: Robert.Pierce@oberlin.edu |
ENGLISH 304: SHAKESPEARE AND THE FORMS OF TRAGEDY
Required texts: The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington: Updated 4th ed. New York: Longman, 1997.
Poetics. Trans. Malcolm Heath. New York: Penguin, 1996.
Assignments: Please complete a first reading of the play by the date below, and try to read each play twice. A videotape of the play for the week will be shown Sunday evenings in Mudd 456. The showings are strongly recommended. Bring a copy of the play to each class.
Feb. 4 Romeo and Juliet
Feb. 13 Poetics
Feb. 18 Julius Caesar
Feb. 25 Hamlet
March 11 Othello
Mar. 15 First paper due
Mar. 18 Timon of Athens
April 1
King Lear
April 15 Macbeth
April 22 Coriolanus
April 29 Antony
and Cleopatra
May 3 Second paper due
REQUIREMENTS
1. Participation in class--At a minimum you should attend practically all of the classes. Do not cut because you haven't completed a paper or reading the play. I do not require a formal excuse for an absence, but let me know if you expect to be absent for several periods. In addition to regular attendance, try to take some part in discussion even if it is difficult for you. A good first step is to ask questions that bother you, either in class or when you can catch me; that is one of the most valuable kinds of contributions you can make. I will grade class discussion.
2. Nine one-page comments--For each play except the one involved in your group performance project, read a critical article or section from a book on that play. Summarize the point of the writing in a paragraph and then discuss it for about a page in all. You might consider such questions as what kind of criticism it is, what its assumptions are, what if any view of tragedy in the play it incorporates, and what it does well or badly. This comment is due the second day that we study the play, normally Wednesday. For February 15 (Friday), after reading the Poetics, write your own definition of tragedy as you understand the term, in a page or so.
3. Group performance project--Sign up for one of the projects to act a scene. Your group should begin work on your scene well before the performance in class is due. The group should invite me to a rehearsal (with lines already learned and blocking done) at least two days before the performance. On the day of class performance the group should hand in a paper of three pages or so discussing how several key performance decisions you have made contribute to the scene. The project will receive a group grade based on the thoughtfulness of the presentation and your leading of the discussion afterward as well as the paper, not on technical skill. See the later section of this syllabus, "Advice for Preparing Your Scene."
4. The papers should be about six to eight pages each. The first paper should be on either of two topics: the first is a close analysis of a scene (that is, a relatively short and separable section) from a performance of one of the plays. You may use one of the videotapes we will see; if you use some other performance, please warn me in advance. The other topic is a close analysis of how you would stage (or film) such a scene. For the second paper you should show how usefully one of the views of tragedy that we consider in the course illuminates one of the plays we have studied. If you draw on outside sources for either paper, be sure to document your use in a standard format. It is perfectly appropriate to discuss your papers with others; I will be glad to consult with you about topics or problems in the process of planning and writing a paper or to look at a draft. Printing on both front and back is acceptable. You need not footnote references to the plays from our text; simply include act, scene, and inclusive line numbers like the following: (2.2.23-37).
ENGLISH 304 PRODUCTION PROJECTS
Feb. 22 Julius Caesar, 4.2.37-177
Brutus___________________ Cassius___________________
Mar. 1 Hamlet, 3.1.58-160
Hamlet__________________ Ophelia___________________
Mar. 15 Othello, 3.4.31-95 ("How is't with you, my lord?--Swounds!")
Desdemona_______________ Othello____________________
Mar. 22 Timon of Athens, 4.3.48-175
Alcibiades________________ Timon____________________
Phrynia__________________ Timandra__________________
April 5 King Lear, 1.4.113-232 ("Can you make . . . servants of their betters.")
(Have Kent's line read in.)
Fool____________________ Lear______________________
Goneril__________________
April 8 King Lear, 2.4.120-281
Cornwall_________________ Regan____________________
Lear___________________ Goneril_____________________
April 17 Macbeth, 1.1 and 1.3.1-35
First Witch_____________ Second_____________Third______________
April 24 Coriolanus, 1.3 (whole scene--have gentlewoman read in)
Virgilia______________ Volumnia___________ Valeria_____________
May 1 Antony and Cleopatra, 1.3.13-106
Cleopatra__________________ Antony__________________
ADVICE FOR PREPARING YOUR SCENE
I will be glad to offer any suggestions when I see your group rehearse. Also you can ask me any questions about problems in the scene, though I don't guarantee to have the answers. If you feel nervous, that actually helps up to a point. And keep in mind that you and your fellows in the scene probably know more about it than anyone else in the class, including me, if you have put in some time on careful thought and hard rehearsing.
These scenes are rather short, but it is essential to catch every mood and shift of feeling in your character. What is your object, the thing or things you as the character are striving for in this scene? What are the inner and outer obstacles to it? What are the things you aren't saying? How are you reacting when you don't speak? What is said by your posture, your movements, any objects or bits of costume you may have?
Be sure to get together and rehearse your scene several times through. Prepare for the rehearsal process by learning your lines thoroughly and thinking through your character. It would be good if you can read the whole play from the point of view of your character. Know the meanings of the words, allusions, etc., in your part.
As you rehearse, concentrate on the language. Memorize your lines as accurately as possible, and keep your pronunciation clear. Don't drop ending d's, t's, and other consonants. Listen for rhythms and repeated sounds and words. Use the rhetoric rather than fighting it or making it low-key. In general play things big, with exaggeration rather than understatement.
Try to get inside your character, reacting as he or she would react. People don't usually think things like "I am a villain" or "I am a silly person," and they don't usually intend to be funny. Keep in mind that as a character you don't know what is going to happen next in the scene. In a long speech discover the words as you go along, thinking and feeling as you go. When you say something, say it clearly to someone. In a soliloquy or aside, try saying it to one person in the audience. (You can shift from one person to another.)
Think of rehearsal and even the actual performance as a time of experiment and exploration. Don't reject things until you actually try them even if you are pretty sure they won't work. Try different approaches: movements, inflections of the lines, reactions to what is said. Don't foreclose possibilities on the basis of some view of what the play is about. Don't ask, "Is this right?" but "What happens if I do it this way?" Of course you finally have to choose, but make your final choices as late as possible.
For the written report you may divide up the task or, if someone has a short part, draft that person to do most of the writing. I do want one report for the whole group.
SHAKESPEARE CORE RESERVE LIST
822.33 Bullough, Geoffrey,
Narrative and Dramatic Sources
79B896 ed.
of Shakespeare, vols. 1-8
822.33 Calderwood,
James & Essays in
Shakespearean Criticism
7C127E Harold
Toliver, eds.
822.33 Dean, Leonard
F., ed. Shakespeare: Modern
Essays in
7D345
Criticism
822.33 Frye,
Northrop A Natural Perspective
7F948
PR 2991 Lenz, Carolyn et
al., The Woman's Part: Feminist
W6
eds.
Criticism of Shakespeare
PR 2894
Schoenbaum, Samuel Shakespeare's Lives
S3 1991
PR 2893
Schoenbaum, Samuel William Shakespeare: A
S3 1975 Documentary Life
PR 2976 Schwartz, Murray
M. Representing Shakespeare:
New
R4
& Coppelia Kahn, eds. Psychoanalytic Essays
PR 2750
Shakespeare, William Shakespeare's
Plays in Quarto
C8 1981
822.33
Styan, J. L. Shakespeare's Stagecraft
75St.99
822.33 Van Doren,
Mark
Shakespeare
7Y84
PR 2991
Young, David Shakespeare's Middle Tragedies
S449 1993
822.33 Young,
David The
Heart's Forest
7Y64
ENGLISH 304 RESERVE LIST
Call Number Author
Title
PR3065 Adelman,
Janet Suffocating
Mothers
A37 1992
22.33 Bradley, A.
C. Shakespearean
Tragedy
7B72
PR2976 Cavell, Stanley
Disowning Knowledge in Six Plays of
C336 1987
Shakespeare
PR658 Dollimore,
Jonathan Radical Tragedy
T7D6
822.33 Elton, W. R. King Lear and the Gods
71KLE
822.09 Farnham,
Willard The
Medieval Heritage of
F234M Elizabethan
Tragedy
822.33 Granville Barker,
H. Prefaces to Shakespeare, 2 vols.
7G767P.2
PR2976 Greenblatt,
Stephen Shakespearean Negotiations
G737
1988
822.33 Knight, G.
Wilson The Wheel of Fire
7K
PR2991 Neely, Carol Broken
Nuptials in Shakespeare's Plays
N37 1985
PR2983 Young, David,
ed. Shakespeare's Middle
Tragedies
S449 1993