Shakepeare and his Time
Code: 100266 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500245 English Studies | OT | 3 | 0 |
| 2500245 English Studies | OT | 4 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Jordi Coral Escola
- Email:
- Jordi.Coral@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- english (eng)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Prerequisites
The course requires an initial level of English C2 (Proficiency) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. With C2, students can understand almost everything they read or hear without effort; they can summarise information from different oral and written sources, reconstruct facts and arguments and present them in a coherent way; they can express themselves spontaneously, with fluency and precision, distinguishing subtle nuances of meaning even in the most complex situations.
Students should have completed the English Studies third year courses, specifically ‘Literatura Anglesa del Renaixment i la Il·lustració’.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The overall purpose of this course will be to explore aspects of the evolution of Shakespearean drama by focussing on its main genres, namely, comedy and tragedy. Though we shall consider essential concepts such as ‘mimesis’, ‘hamartia’ or ‘catharsis’, the course will not seek to produce a theoretical discussion of the notions of ‘comedy’ and ‘tragedy’. Rather, it will attempt to describe and contextualize an evolving practice, and will include the possibility of a critique of dramatic art. The examination of four masterpieces from different periods of Shakespeare’s production will give students a sense of the playwright's creativity and of the rich variety of the early modern stage. A detailed reading of the texts will deepen their understanding of the complex ways in which drama, literature, culture, and society interacted at this crucial moment ofEuropean history. Finally, an analysis of some of the best-known productions of the plays will reveal the essentially performative nature of Shakespeare's work.
Competences
- English Studies
- Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
- Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
- Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
- Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
- Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
- Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Utilising new technologies in order to capture and organise information in English and other languages, and applying it to the personal continued training and to the problem-solving in the professional or research activity.
Learning Outcomes
- Analysing and interpreting texts in an advanced level about the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
- Applying appropriate secondary academic sources to text comments and argumentative essays about literary genres and literary criticism in English.
- Applying the information in English that is available on the Internet, in databases, etc. to the work and/or research environments.
- Carrying out oral presentations about topics related to the genres of English literature and its academic criticism using secondary academic sources.
- Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
- Comparing in an advanced level different topics and texts related to literary genres and literary criticism in English.
- Comparing in an advanced level the methodologies of the literary criticism in English.
- Demonstrate a master of the specific methods of individual academic work that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
- Describing in detail and in an academic way the diachronic and synchronic evolution of the topics and texts of literary genres and literary criticism in English.
- Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of primary and secondary texts related to the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
- Drawing up academic essays of medium length in relation to the genres of the English literature and its academic criticism using secondary academic sources.
- Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
- Explaining in an advanced level, the nature and main traits of the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
- Localising secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
- Locating and organising relevant information in English that is available on the Internet, in databases, etc.
- Mastering the advanced knowledge and scientific methodologies related to linguistics, literature, history and culture that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
- Students must be capable of comprehending advanced academic or professional texts in their own language or the another acquired in the degree.
- Students must be capable of precisely arguing ideas and opinions in their own language or another acquired in the degree.
- Summarising the content of primary and secondary academic sources about literary genres and literary criticism in English.
Content
UNIT 1— The Shakespearean Stage
UNIT 2 – Romeo and Juliet
UNIT 3 – Twelfth Night
UNIT 4 – Hamlet
UNIT 5 – Coriolanus
Students are advised to read the plays in the following editions:
- Romeo and Juliet, ed. by Jill L. Levenson, The Oxford Shakespeare, Oxford University Press, 2008.
- Twelfth Night ed. Roger Warren and Stanley Wells, The Oxford Shakespeare, Oxford University Press, 2008.
- Hamlet, ed. by G.R. Hibbard, The Oxford Shakespeare, Oxford University Press, 2008.
- Coriolanus, ed. by R.B. Parker, The Oxford Shakespeare, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Methodology
Methodology includes the following activities:
Autonomous activities
Directed activities
Supervised activities
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 30 | 1.2 | 18, 17 |
| Practice classes with text analysis and debate | 20 | 0.8 | |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Oral presentation preparation | 25 | 1 | 18 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading | 35 | 1.4 | |
| Study | 10 | 0.4 |
Assessment
The teaching methodology and the evaluation proposed in the guide may undergo some modification subject to the onsite teaching restrictions imposed by health authorities.
The practical dimension of the course will require students to take an active part in class. Group discussion will be normal practice and students will be requested to offer a presentation on specific aspects of the productions of the plays analysed in class. Percentages will be as follows:
- Class presentation and group work: 10%
- Class attendance and participation: 10%
- Exam 1: 40%
- Exam 2: 40%
The minimum pass mark is 5 for all exams and activities.
- Continuous assessment applies to this subject. This means that all exercises are compulsory and submission of 30% or more of these exercises automatically excludes the possibility of obtaining “No avaluable” as a final grade. The minimum mark for any exercise or exam to be considered for the average final mark is 5. The minimum average pass mark for the whole subject is 5.
- The student’s command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark. It will count as 25% of this mark for all the exercises and will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
- Grammar (morphology and syntax)
- Vocabulary (accuracy and variety)
- Cohesion (among sentences and paragraphs)
- Organization (sound argumentation of ideas)
- Style (expression and register)
- Spelling
- Reviewing procedure: Students have a right to review their exercises with the teacher in a personal tutorial, on the set dates, never later than 2 weeks after the marks have been made available. The student loses this right if s/he fails to collect the exercise/examwithin the period announced by the teacher.
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
Students will obtain a “Not assessed/Not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
- “Item-By-Item” Re-assessment (“recuperació”) Criteria:
a) Students who fail both exams are not eligible for re-assessment; those who have failed one of the two exams are eligible provided that its mark is higher than 3,5. Students who have failed one of the two exams must retake it even if the provisional average mark of the course were 5 or higher.
b) Students whose re-assessment is successful will get, in all cases, a final grade of 5. Students who have passed both exams cannot opt for re-assessment in order to upgrade their average mark.
c) class presentations will not be re-assessed. Students are comitted to offering their presentation on the date agreed with the rest of the class at the beginning of the semester.
Plagiarism
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried outthrough forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class Participation | 10% | 5 | 0.2 | 1, 18, 7, 12, 5 |
| Class presentation and group work | 10% | 5 | 0.2 | 3, 18, 8, 4, 13, 5, 15 |
| Exam 1 ("The Shakespearean Stage", "Romeo and Juliet" and "Measure for Measure") | 40% | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 6, 16, 9, 12, 11, 19 |
| Exam 2 ("Hamlet" and "Antony and Cleopatra") | 40% | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 6, 17, 10, 14 |
Bibliography
1. Contexts
Susan Brigden, New Worlds, Lost Worlds. The Rule of the Tudors 1485-1603, Penguin Books. (A survey of the Tudor age incorporating the latest findings of sixteenth-century scholarship.)
Julia Briggs, The Stage-Play World: English Literature and its Background, 1580-1625. (A very sound and user-friendly introduction, full of interesting ideas and suggestions.)
Patrick Collinson, The Reformation, Weidenfeld & Nicholson. (A readable assessment of a major turning point in European history by a leading Reformation scholar.)
Jonathan Dollimore, Radical Tragedy: Religion, Ideology and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, Palgrave Macmillan (A famously controversial study of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. It approaches the plays from a cultural materialist perspective.)
Richard, Eldridge, The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Literature, Oxford UP. (A useful examination of the major literary genres).
Northrop Frye, Northrop Frye on Shakespeare, Yale UP. (It includes brilliant chapters on several of the plays we shall look at)
Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning. From More to Shakespeare, U of Chicago P. (A critical earthquake that shook Renaissance criticism to its foundations.)
Andrew Gurr, The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642, CUP. (An authoritative description of the theatrical conditions of Shakespearean drama.)
---------------, Studying Shakespeare. An Introduction, Edward Arnold. (How to tackle the study of a Shakespearean play.)
Frank Kermode, The Age of Shakespeare, Weidenfeld & Nicholson. (An account of Shakespeare’s career by one of England’s most distinguished critics.)
Martin Wiggins, Shakespeare and the Drama of his Time, Oxford Shakespeare Topics, OUP. (A reliableintroduction to the Elizabethan and Jacobean dramaturgical traditions.)
2. Criticism
Auden, W.H., The Dyer’s Hand, Vintage, 1989.
Bradley, A.C., Shakespearean Tragedy, Penguin Books, 1991.
Dutton, Richard and Jean E. Howard (eds.), A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works: The Tragedies, Blackwell, 2006.
---------------------------------------------------, A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works: The Comedies, Blackwell, 2006.
--------------------------------------------------, A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works: Poems, Problem Comedies, Late Plays, Blackwell, 2005.
Eisaman Maus, Katherine, Inwardness and Theater in the English Renaissance, Chicago UP, 1995.
Everett, B., Young Hamlet. Essays on Shakespeare’s Tragedies, Clarendon Press, 1989.
Goddard, Harold C., The Meaning of Shakespeare, 2 vols., The University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Greenblatt, Stephen, Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare, The University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Jackson, Russell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film, CUP, 2007.
Kermode, Frank, Shakespeare’s Language, Penguin Books, 2000.
Nuttall, A.D., Shakespeare the Thinker, Yale UP, 2007.
Poole, Adrian, Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford UP, 2005.
Rackin, Phyllis, Shakespeare and Women, Oxford UP, 2005.
Smith, Emma, This is Shakespeare, Random House, 2020.
Tanner, Tony, Prefaces to Shakespeare, Harvard UP, 2010.
Traub, Valerie, The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Embodiment: Gender, Sexuality, and Race, Oxford UP, 2016.
Wells, Stanley (ed.), Shakespeare: A Bibliographical Guide, Clarendon Press, 1990.
Software
Not used in this subject.