UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
See the Code of Practice for Quality Assurance for Taught Programmes: Annex B before completing this template - available on http://www.ukc.ac.uk/registry/quality/code2001/annexb.html - and the relevant
Faculty notes of guidance.
To use this template, download the file and insert text in the sections provided. You should consult your
Department Director of Learning and Teaching when preparing a proposal. Directors of Learning and
Teaching are required to sign off proposals before submission to the Faculty Learning and Teaching
Committee. Please delete all the sections in italics before submission to the Faculty Officer.
1 The title of the module: Shakespeare and his Contemporaries II: Tragedies
2 The Department which will be responsible for management of the module: English
3 The Start Date of the Module: Spring Term 2007
4 The number of students expected to take the module: 200
5 Modules to be withdrawn on the introduction of this proposed module and consultation with other relevant Departments and Faculties regarding the withdrawal: EN595
6 The level of the module (eg Certificate [C], Intermediate [I], Honours [H] or Postgraduate [M]): I
7 The number of credits which the module represents: 30 (ECTS credits: 15)
Note: undergraduate full-time students take modules amounting to 120 credits per year and postgraduate full-time students take modules amounting to 180 credits per year for a Masters award
8 Which term(s) the module is to be taught in (or other teaching pattern): Spring
9 Prerequisite and co-requisite modules: None
10 The programmes of study to which the module contributes: Diploma and BA in English &
American Literature
11 The intended subject specific learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to programme learning outcomes :
Students will:
1.
Learn to read, respond to and understand the tragedies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries
2.
Develop an understanding of the development of tragic drama in the period c1580c.1630
3.
Read the set texts in relation to their relevant literary, theatrical, political, cultural and social contexts
4.
Examine how the relevant drama relates to critical ideas of tragedy
5.
Become conversant with current critical approaches and debates related to the relevant drama
12 The intended generic learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to programme learning outcomes:
6. Be able to respond to and initiate group discussion of issues raised, based on precise reference to text and context
7. Analyse texts critically and make comparison across a range of reading
8. Show a good command of written English, and be able to develop coherent written arguments in relation to the texts, contexts and critical issues relevant to the module
13 A synopsis of the curriculum
The tragedies and tragic-comedies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries constitute a major phase in the history of English drama and literature, and a continuing point of reference in the subsequent dramatic, literary and cultural tradition. The module will focus on the most important tragic texts of the period c.1580-c.1630, across the late Elizabethan, Jacobean and

UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE early Caroline periods. Dramatic and literary form will be a central preoccupation, together with issues of character (or its absence), psychology, gender, politics, agency, social and political issues, and notions of tragedy and the purpose of drama.
14 Indicative Reading List:
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
-------------------, Hamlet
-------------------, Macbeth
-------------------, Othello
-------------------, King Lear
-------------------, Antony and Cleopatra
Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy
Christopher Marlowe, Dr Faustus
Thomas Heywood, A Woman Killed With Kindness
Anon, Arden of Faversham
Cyril Tourneur, The Revenger’s Tragedy
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
------------, The White Devil
Thomas Middleton, The Changeling
John Ford, ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore
Barber, C.L., Creating Elizabethan Tragedy: The Theatre of Marlowe and Kyd ed. R.P. Wheeler (1988)
Belsey, Catherin, The Subject of Tragedy: Identity and Difference in Renaissance Drama (1985)
Bliss, Lee,
The World’s Perspective: John Webster and the Jacobean Drama
(1983)
Bradley, A.C., Shakespearean Tragedy (1905)
Braunmuller, A.R. and Michael Hattaway eds., The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama
(1990)
Brooke, Nicholas, Horrid Laughter in Jacobean Tragedy (1979)
Brown, John Russell, Shakespeare: The Tragedies (2000)
Dollimore, Jonathan, Radical Tragedy: Religion, Ideology and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare and his
Contemporaries 2nd ed. (1989)
Drakakis, John & Liebler, Naomi Conn, eds., Tragedy (1998)
Dutton, Richard and Jean Howard eds., A Companion to Shakespeare. Volume 1. The Tragedies (2004)
Eagleton, Terry, Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic (2002) , Staging the Renaissance: Reinterpretations of Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama (1991)
Heinemann, Margot, Puritanism and Theatre: Thomas Middleton and Opposition Drama unde rthe Early
Stuarts (1980)
Hopkins, Lisa,
John Ford’s Politicial Theatre
(1994)
Kastan, David Scott and Peter Stallybrass, eds.,
Knight, G.W., The Wheel of Fire: Interpretations of Shakespearian Tragedy (1949)
Leech, Clifford, Tragedy , The Critical Idiom 1 (1969)
Lever, J.W., The Tragedy of State: A Study of Jacobean Drama (1971, 1987)
McEachern, Claire, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Tragedy (2002)
Wayne, Valerie ed., The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare (1991)
15 Learning and Teaching Methods, including the nature and number of contact hours and the total study hours which will be expected of students, and how these relate to achievement of the intended learning outcomes:
There will be 10 weekly 2-hour seminars and 10 weekly 1-hour lectures (learning outcomes 1-7).
Students will be expected to study for 20 hours per week.

UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
16 Assessment methods and how these relate to testing achievement of the intended learning outcomes:
The module will be assessed by two essays of 2,000-3,000 words each at 40 % (learning outcomes
1-5, 8); seminar performance at 10% (learning outcomes 1-6); and a three-hour examination at
50% (learning outcomes 1-5, 7-8). These assessment methods are intended to foster exploration and discussion of primary and secondary materials in essays, examination answers, and seminar contributions.
17 Implications for learning resources, including staff, library, IT and space:
Library holdings in this area are already substantial and will be developed; staff are already in place but additional full-time staff in this area is desirable; seminar rooms which will comfortably hold 17 people (16 students + 1 teacher) are a necessity.
18 A statement confirming that, as far as can be reasonably anticipated, the curriculum, learning and teaching methods and forms of assessment do not present any non-justifiable disadvantage to students with disabilities.
As far as can reasonably be anticipated, the curriculum, learning and teaching methods and forms of assessment do not present any non-justifiable disadvantage to students with disabilities
Statement by the Director of Learning and Teaching: "I confirm I have been consulted on the above module proposal and have given advice on the correct procedures and required content of module proposals"
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Director of Learning and Teaching
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Date
Statement by the Head of Department: "I confirm that the Department has approved the introduction of the module and will be responsible for its resourcing"
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Head of Department
Revised August 2002; Revision 2 in 2003.
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Date