HMC Literature 110:

Shakespeare

Spring 2009.

Jeffrey D. Groves, Professor of Literature, Harvey Mudd College.

Office: Parsons 1266 (77346).

Office Hours:
    TW: 3:00-5:00.
    And by appointment.


Films  |   Grading Policies   |   Assignment Schedule   |  Semester Production



Required Texts
Through Huntley Bookstore, I have ordered paperback copies of the following texts:
  • Shakespeare, Coriolanus.
  • _____, Henry V.
  • _____, Much Ado About Nothing.
  • _____, Othello.
  • _____, The Winter's Tale.
  • Webster, The Duchess of Malfi.
For all of the Shakespeare texts, we will be using a well-edited, inexpensive edition called The Pelican Shakespeare, published by Penguin. If you already own a complete works, you may use it in place of the ordered texts. If you would prefer to purchase a complete works rather than the five paperbacks listed above, I recommend that you buy The Riverside Shakespeare, second edition. Webster's play is available in several editions, but the one I've ordered for the class is the New Mermaids, fourth edition.

Reading
I will assume that you have not only read but thoroughly studied the assigned text on the first day of discussion (see Assignment Schedule). Your reading should include the introduction and notes in whatever edition you use. You should bring the appropriate books to each class meeting.

Some Useful Secondary Texts
While the secondary literature on Shakespeare may seem dauntingly extensive, a few helpful sources will assist you in answering many of your basic questions:

  • Encyclopedia Britannica (online).
  • The Oxford English Dictionary (online).
  • The Reader's Encyclopedia of Shakespeare, ed. O.J. Campbell and Edward H. Quinn (Honnold Library, REF PR 2892 C153).
  • The Riverside Shakespeare, ed. G. Blakemore Evans (Honnold Library, REF PR 2754 E9 1974b).
For web resources, start with:
Films
We will view and discuss four film adaptations of three Shakespeare plays:

  • Branagh, Much Ado About Nothing (1993).
  • Branagh, Henry V (1989).
  • Olivier, Henry V (1944).
  • Parker, Othello (1995).
You are responsible for attending the showings or arranging to borrow the films from me.

Writing
You will write one interpretive paper for this course, due on or before March 13. This paper will be four to seven pages in length. It will be comparative in nature and will analyze one of our assigned texts in relationship to a film adaptation (or perhaps adaptations) of that text. I discourage library research for this paper--I am interested in your ideas about the play and film, not the insights of past critics. In writing about film, you should consider not just acting, but also the specifically cinematic attributes that help a director tell a story--camera movements, music, lighting, mise-en-scene, and so on. We will spend time in class building a basic vocabulary for describing film. You may submit your paper in hard copy or as a Word document attached to an e-mail.

Reading Quizzes
To allow me to judge whether you have completed the reading for the course, I will use brief weekly quizzes to test your reading knowledge. For anyone who has read the plays, these passage identification quizzes will be quite easy, and cumulatively the six quizzes will count for only 15% of your final grade.

Final Project
As the capstone of this course, we will mount a full production (memorization, costumes, props, etc.) of one of our required texts, and we will perform the play twice. We will discuss the details of this production thoroughly during the opening weeks of the semester.

Grading Policies
Since this course only meets once a week, I will expect you to attend regularly. Final grades will be calculated using the following categories and percentages:

Attendance / class and rehearsal contribution 10%
Film paper 25%
Reading quizzes 15%
Production 50%


Assignment Schedule:

1.
January 23: Introductions; the syllabus; Shakespeare's life; documentary and literary sources; the "Shakespeare mythos"; the authorship controversy; sample reading quiz; Much Ado About Nothing.

2.
January 29: Branagh, Much Ado About Nothing, 7:00, Parsons 1264.
January 30: Collect information sheets, schedules; The Divine Right of Kings and Machiavellianism; reading quiz; Henry V.

3.
February 5: Olivier, Henry V, 7:00, Parsons 1264.
February 6: Renaissance printing and book sizes; reading quiz; Othello.

4.
February 12: Branagh, Henry V, 7:00, Parsons 1264.
February 13: Elizabethan players and playhouses; reading quiz; Coriolanus.

5.
February 19: Parker, Othello, 7:00, Parsons 1264.
February 20: Writing about film; reading quiz; The Winter's Tale.

6.
February 27: Reading quiz; The Duchess of Malfi; choosing the play.

7.
March 6: Auditions and casting.

8.
March 13: Production workday; paper due on or before this date.

Spring Break.

9.
March 27: Cesar Chavez Day; optional production work day.

10.
April 3: Production work day.

11.
April 10: Production work day.

12.
April 17: Production work day.

13.
April 24: Production work day.

14.
May 1: Tentative: First performance of the Shakespeare play (second performance on May 2?).
(Go to top of Lit 110 home page.)

This page maintained by Jeff Groves; last updated January 22, 2009.