10215 Shakespearean Drama

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Theater or in Comparative Literature

Prerequisites: none

Authors: Alice Shalvi, Elizabeth Freund

The course introduces students to Shakespeare’s world and to four of his plays. It enables them to understand the connection between the cultural, social and historical background of the Elizabethan period and the plays, as well as the complexity of Shakespeare’s texts. The plays are studied in Hebrew translation; the materials include films on DVD loaned to students.

Objectives: Understanding the plays studied; familiarity with Elizabethan drama and its conventions and with basic concepts of the Elizabethan outlook necessary to understand the plays; developing the ability to read and understand dramatic texts; familiarity with methods required for analyzing various types of plays; developing criteria for distinguishing between dramatic genres; expanding awareness of problems related to the theater.

Topics: The background of the period – an overview of the entire body of Shakespeare’s dramatic works and of the Elizabethan stage; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; “Henry IV Part I”; “King Lear”; “The Tempest.”