Shakespeare the Fabulous Politican (U02000)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-3-U02000

This course sets out to examine some of Shakespeare's plays from three directions: their portrayal of political agency, historical necessity, and social conflict; their complicity in the power structures of the society in which they were produced, i.e. Elizabethan and Jacobean England; the ways in which they have been subsequently used in different historical contexts for different ideological purposes. The course will explore characterisation, plotting and dramatic technique, and their possible meanings in the context of, for example, an absolutist monarchy, a declining feudal system, and increasing popular unrest in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Other issues will be addressed through viewings of film adaptations of the plays and a discussion of the ideological function of such adaptation.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Passes in English or Scottish Literature 1 and English or Scottish or American Literature 2, with a mark of 50 or above at the first attempt in the second year course.

? Special Arrangements for Entry : Numbers are limited and students taking degrees not involving English or Scottish literature need the written approval of the head of English Literature

? Costs : Essential course texts

Variants

? This course has variants for part year visiting students, as follows

Shakespeare the Fabulous Politican (VS1) (Not being delivered)

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete the course will raise their awareness of how politics work within the fictional world of Shakespeare's plays, but also of the ways in which the plays can themselves have political effects. They will recognise how the plays can function as means of justifying or subverting certain conceptions of social order. They will be equipped to recognise how Shakespeare has been used, and is still used, to support certain conceptions of English and British identity; and how a study of Shakespeare's politics can contribute to understanding, not only Shakespeare's society, but also our own.