ELIZABETHAN AND JACOBEAN DRAMA
John Paulin
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We will read a selection of plays
from the Elizabethan
and Jacobean periods of English drama paying special attention to the
rhetoric
of the emotions and the place of the theater in the social, political
and
ideological situations of the time. Our
consideration
of the language of scandal, sensationalism, sentimentality, betrayal,
intrigue,
revenge, satire (and other comic forms of aggression), sublimity, pity,
fear, terror, horror, wonder, the carnivalesque, laughter, etc. will be
abetted by brief selections of writings on rhetoric and aesthetics
including
those of Aristotle, Horace, Sidney, Hobbes, Hume, Burke, Nietzsche,
Freud,
Bergson, Bakhtin, Girard and others.
Tragedies
The Jew of Malta, Marlowe.
The
Dutchess of Malfi, Webster. Dr. Faustus,
Marlowe. The Revenger's
Tragedy, Middleton. Arden of Faversham. Hamlet,
Shakespeare.
Comedies
The Knight of the
Burning Pestle, Beaumont. The
Alchemist, Jonson. The Roaring Girl
Middleton and Dekker. Twelfth
Night, Shakespeare.
Other readings
Rhetoric and Poetics,
Aristotle (req). Additional
material including criticism, contemporary material from Renaissance
popular
and critical culture and Jonson's "Oberon," a masque, in readers.
Student production(s) of scenes from dramas encouraged.
Order of Assignments
The Jew of Malta
The Revenger's Tragedy
The Alchemist &
"Oberon"
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Dutchess of Malfi,
Arden of Faversham
The Roaring Girl
Twelfth Night
Dr. Faustus,
Hamlet
*Grading*
The final grade will be based upon written work--and since this is a discussion course as well as a lecture course--class participation and regular attendance. I will take attendance, and repeated absences will affect your final grade. A good attendance record will help. There will be no final exam.
You don't have to be supremely
prepared for class, just
make an honest and timely attempt at completing the assigned readings.
You will be expected to sample all the offerings. But you need only
pursue
in depth, for course papers or personal benefit, those dramatic,
critical
and intellectual venues that you find most interesting. Possibility of
easy quizzes on any of the assigned readings.
* Paper Requirements *
* Two papers, midterm
(6-8 pp. due 3/19) and final
(8-10 pp.)
Papers are due on specified dates. If you
are having
real personal, medical, or academic difficulties, speak to me about
special
arrangements.
* Students are required to make a copy of
each paper
before submitting the original.
* 10 CPI or 12 CPI, (don't use fonts that
are larger
or smaller) letter quality or EASILY LEGIBLE near letter quality.
* DOUBLE SPACED. (27 LINES/PAGE)
* Please staple and indicate page numbers.
* First paper to be submitted with the
second in SASE.