English 431--Advanced Shakespeare

* Indicates scheduled screening of a specified video performance of the play under discussion at 4:00 and at 7:00 P.M.in Room 202 of the Library. These videos are available for individual viewing at the Learning Resources Center on the second floor of Kennedy library at all other times. Zeffirelli and Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet and Olivier Lear are also available for rent at local video outlets.

** Indicates required attendance at live performance.

Textbooks

• All plays should be read in specified editions to facilitate reference in class and to include assigned critical essays on numbered pages. The first four plays are Signet Classic second revised edition ($3.95 each). The last play is Oxford Shakespeare edition ($7.95). The appropriate text must be brought to every class.

Workload and Grading

• four short page papers/reports--10 pages 40%
  • Each of these papers deals with one of the critical essays assigned and with the Shakespearean text and performance in question. It summarizes the central point of the critic and applies one of the critic's ideas to a passage in the play or performance that the critic doesnt treat, supporting, expanding or rejecting the critic's interpretation. The in-class report you present should supply the basis of one of these papers.
• Take home final exam/essay--10 pages--40%
  • A retrospective reflection on the course and your experience as reader, viewer and performer
• Video production project--20%

Rules

• Late papers are penalized one full grade for each class session's delay unless a postponement is granted by the instructor in advance.
• Attendance is not optional. Each unexcused absence beyond two lowers the grade by one half letter; seven or more unexcused absences result in no credit. Three unexcused latenesses count for one absence. Certified medical absences or job interviews are not counted in these totals and are the only reason for makeups .
• Deliberate plagiarism or other forms of cheating result in a failing grade and referral to the dean. Students are responsible for understanding the definition of plagiarism. Please consult the instructor if the handout sheet on the subject doesn't make it clear to you.

Supplementary Resources

• Kennedy Library has a good collection of Shakespeare materials. Check the 2237 items in Polycat--at http://poetry.lib.calpoly.edu/search/d?SEARCH=shakespeare--or better yet browse the shelves in the fourth floor PR 2894 section. It's a nice place to hang out. Included there are back issues of two fine scholarly journals: Shakespeare Quarterly and Shakespeare Survey. Current issues of both are available on the second floor periodicals desk.
• Kennedy library also has a good collection of videotapes of Shakespeare performances. In addition to the viewing assignments, you'll find several other versions of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth.
• The World Wide Web is loaded with Shakespeare materials. The best guide to them can be found at the site named "Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet" http://daphne.palomar.edu/shakespeare/
• Your instructor has published several essays and a book on Shakespeare accessible through the Internet at
  • "Progeny: Prospero's Books, Genesis, and The Tempest," Renaissance Forum Vol. 1 #2 http://www.hull.ac.uk/renforum/v1no2/marx.htm
  • "Holy War in Henry V," Shakespeare Survey 48, Nov./Dec. 1995 http://www.multimedia.calpoly.edu/libarts/smarx/Publications/henry.html
  • "Shakespeare's Pacifism." Renaissance Quarterly Spring 1992 http://www.multimedia.calpoly.edu/libarts/smarx/Publications/pacifism.html
  • Shakespeare and the Bible (Oxford University Press 2000)