|
English
624
Renaissance
Drama:
The Rise of the Will
and the Costs of
Uncontrolled Passion
Dr.
Michael Bryson
Sierra Tower
832
818-677-5695
michael.bryson@csun.edu
COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
With cannibalism, prayers
offered to the
Devil in search of
power, power used
to take revenge on
the wicked (or
simply eliminate
the inconvenient),
and pious
hypocrites who
speak of mercy
while offering
none, the drama
of the Elizabethan
and Jacobean
stages told
stories that
Hollywood can only
dream of getting
away with telling
today. Don't read
these plays if you
are easily
offended—the
characters you
will meet don't
care about your
modern
sensibilities...but
if you are not
easily offended,
we will read a
total of fourteen
plays by Seneca,
and then
Shakespeare and
his contemporaries
Kyd, Marlowe, Marston,
Middleton, and
Cary which explore
the darker sides
of human nature
through characters
who do what they
want, no matter
the costs.
EVALUATION
METHOD:
In-class
presentation
(15-20 minutes
overall, done in
groups of 2,
materials to be
copied and
distributed to the
instructor and all
class members); Final
research essay
(approximately
4000 words).
Presentation will
count for 1/3 and
Final essay for
2/3 of overall
grade.
READING LIST:
Selected works
from Seneca:
Anger, Mercy,
Revenge,
Seneca: The
Tragedies, Vol. 1,
English
Renaissance Drama, and any collected
volume of
Shakespeare (I
favor the Pelican,
but any will do).
Statement
on Academic
Dishonesty:
Plagiarism is
a serious
offense that
will be
treated
seriously.
Please read
the CSUN
policy
here.
Weekly
Preview
Week 1 (1/22):
Introductions:
Debates over Free
Will (Theology and
Philosophy); The
Apostles of the
Will--Faustus, Iago,
Edmund, Salome, Lady
Macbeth
The Senecan
Background
Week 2 (1/29):
Anger, Mercy,
Revenge (Book
One); Thystes;
Agamemmnon
Plays of
Revenge
Week 3 (2/5): Thomas
Kyd,
The Spanish Tragedy
Week 4
(2/12): William
Shakespeare,
Titus Andronicus
Week 5 (2/19):
William Shakespeare,
Hamlet
(Presentation 1:
Saxo Grammaticus,
the stoy of Amleth
the Dane)
Week 6 (2/26):
Thomas Middleton,
The Revenger's
Tragedy
Week 7 (3/5): John
Marston,
The Malcontent
(Presentation 2:
Children's theatre
companies in Early
Modern England)
Plays of
Jealousy and
Betrayal
Week 8 (3/12):
William Shakespeare,
Othello
(Presentation 3:
Moors as
African/Moors as
Middle Eastern, the
differences--The
Ottoman Empire and
its geographical
reach in 1600, and
the diplomatic visit of Abd
el-Ouahed ben
Messaoud to
Elizabeth I)
Week 9 (3/19):
Elizabeth Cary,
The Tragedy of
Mariam
(Presentation 4:
Early Modern "Woman
question": Joseph
Swetnam--The
Arraignment of Lewd,
Idle, Froward, and
Unconstant Women,
1615;
Anonymous--Swetnam the
Woman-Hater
Arraigned by Women,
1620--check
EEBO library
database for these)
Week 10 (3/26):
William Shakespeare,
King Lear
(Presentation
5: Bastardy,
Primogeniture, and
Arranged Marriage in
Early Modern
England--see, among
other sources,
Lawrence Stone:
The Family, Sex, and
Marriage in England)
Week 11
(4/2) and Week 12--Spring
Break (4/9): Off
Plays of
Witchcraft and the
Devil
Week 13 (4/16): Christopher Marlowe,
Doctor Faustus
(Presentation 6: The
history of
anti-witchcraft laws
and witchcraft
trials in Early
Modern England)
Week 14 (4/23):
William Shakespeare,
Macbeth
(Presentation 7:
King James,
Daemonologie)
Plays of
Anti-Semitism and Greed
Week 15 (4/30):
Christopher Marlowe,
The Jew of Malta
(Presentation 8: The
Blood Libel in
Medieval and Early
Modern English
literature)
(Presentation 9: The
trial and execution
of Dr. Roderigo
Lopez, physician to
Elizabeth I)
Week 16 (5/7):
William Shakespeare,
The Merchant of
Venice
Final due by
11:59:59 PM on 5/14
by email— no
physical submissions
of finals.
|
