EN529: Shakespeare’s Later Plays
CONTACT INFORMATION
Instructor: Emma Perry
Contact: perryem@bc.edu (I will do my best to respond within 48 hours)
Class Meetings: MWF 11:00-11:50am in Campion 231
Office: Carney 241
Office Hours: Wednesdays 12-1pm and by appointment
ABOUT THIS COURSE
Welcome to Shakespeare’s Later Plays! This course fulfills the pre-1700s requirement for English Majors at
BC. We will cover a selection of Shakespeare’s later plays (Twelfth Night, All’s Well That Ends Well, Othello,
Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra… whew!). Along the way, we will analyze the
culture from which these texts emerged. You don’t need to have read Shakespeare before; however, the
discussion-intensive format, rapid pace, and writing expectations of this course are designed for students
who have had previous experience taking college-level literature courses. I am especially interested in
remembering that these texts were written to be performed – heard and seen, not just read – so we will
have three non-stuffy and contemporary film nights (Macbeth, The Tempest, and the non-Shakespearean
Revenger’s Tragedy – you must attend at least two of the three!) and one “field trip” to see live Shakespeare in
Boston (Twelfth Night at the Actor’s Shakespeare Project). We will also visit the McMullen Museum on
BC’s campus, which will be housing a spectacular exhibit on British antiquities this fall – perfect timing for
us. I hope you are as excited as I am about this semester 
MATERIALS
 Norton Shakespeare (you must bring your annotated copy of the text to class every day!) (available at
the bookstore); your own Shakespeare editions are permitted, so long as you are attentive to
potential editorial differences
 Bedford Companion to Shakespeare, Second Edition
 Coursepack from Xanedu (available at the bookstore)
 Notebook or folder
POLICIES
Attendance
You are a vital part of this class! I understand that life happens, so you are permitted one unexcused absence.
Each unexcused absence after the first will affect your grade. All other absences should be excused. Let me know
in advance and bring either a note from the Health Center or a Dean’s Excuse to our next meeting. Excused
absences will not adversely affect your grade.
Late Arrivals
We only have 50 minutes together each class session. Please be ready to start when class begins. You may
have one late arrival (up to ten minutes late), but two or more late arrivals will affect your grade.
Late Assignments
Your papers are due on Blackboard by the day stipulated on the syllabus by class time. Every day an
assignment is late will affect your grade 5 percentage points. After five days, your paper will no longer be
accepted and you will take a zero on the assignment.
Academic Integrity
Here is the link to Boston College’s Academic Integrity policy:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/resources/policy.html#integrity
Academic Integrity includes refraining from cheating (the fraudulent or dishonest presentation of work),
plagiarism (the act of taking the words, ideas, data, illustrations, or statements of another person or source,
and presenting them as one's own), and collusion (assistance or an attempt to assist another student in an act
of academic dishonesty). Any breach of this policy, including the submission of papers written for previous or
concurrent classes, is grounds for failure of the assignment and notification of the Dean.
Electronics
Silence your phones and put them in your bag. Take off your headphones. Obviously, there is no texting in
class. Don’t try to do it under the desk; I know what you’re doing. If you use a computer to take notes, I
reserve the right to ask you to turn it around to make sure you’re not actually updating your status on
facebook. Check your BC email regularly – this is how I will contact you.
GRADING BREAKDOWN
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OED (Oxford English Dictionary) analysis of a specific word, 2 pages (10%)
Close-reading of a specific scene or speech, 4-5 pages (15%)
Critical essay proposal & annotated bibliography of three historical sources (one source must come
from the McMullen Museum collection) (5%)
Critical essay, 10-12 pages (20%)
Participation (attendance, quality of contributions, teamwork, preparedness, etc.) (10%)
Recitation-Performance of a 15-20 line monologue with 1-page interpretation (5%)
Quiz I (10%)
Quiz II (10%)
Group film project, 15 well-edited minutes (15%)
RECITATION-PERFORMANCE
I want you all to experience the process of memorizing and performing Shakespeare. You don’t have to be a
Broadway performer, but what I will want to see is that you are making thoughtful choices about the way
you deliver the 15-20 line speech: pauses, word sounds, pace, body language, movement, intonation…all
of these elements help to produce meaning. Though you’ll primarily be using your interpretative skills on
paper in this course (it is, after all, an English class!), this will give you an opportunity to hone your
interpretative skills in a different way. You must recite-perform your speech for me during office hours at
some point during the semester!
QUIZZES
My quizzes are meant to keep you honest and let you show off what you know. I won’t try to trick you.
They will often have term identifications (you’ll always have a choice of terms) and passage identifications
(again, you’ll always have a choice of passages). They may also ask you to choose a character or scene to
answer an open-ended thematic question.
GROUP FILM PROJECT
The details of your film project will be supplied later, but in short, you will be expected to produce 15
well-edited, well-scripted, and well-performed (i.e., memorized!) minutes of an original interpretation of a
“missing” scene from one of the plays from our course. This will be accompanied by a three-page write-up
for the group.
EXTRA CURRICULAR EXPECTATIONS
Since you are enrolled in a 500-level Shakespeare course, I assume that you are excited to learn about
Shakespeare, renaissance drama, and live theater! I’m pumped about these things, too, and I want to make
sure you get lots of hands-on experience. We will have THREE film nights throughout the semester, and
hopefully ONE field trip to see live Shakespeare in Boston.
You will be required to attend TWO of THREE film nights. This will factor into your participation grade.
Here’s what we’ll be watching:
10.12 6pm The Revenger’s Tragedy: This 2002 Alex Cox production is kind of like the Matrix meets Dark
Knight meets early modern England. It’s set in a fallen post-apocalyptic Europe.
11.2 6pm Macbeth: We’ll be celebrating Halloween all week with this creepy film. This brand new
production starring Patrick Stewart is shocking and terrifying (i.e.: the witches are nurses in a war hospital).
Adapted for film from a very recent sold-out stage run. The film in its entirety can be found on the PBS
website: http://video.pbs.org/video/1604122998/#
12.5 4pm The Tempest: The new Julie Taymor (think Lion King the Musical, Spiderman the Musical) production.
Prospero is a woman, post-colonial issues are explored, special effects abound.
9.29 I am also planning an outing to see Twelfth Night live at the Actor’s Shakespeare Project in Boston. I’d
like to get a group to go together on Thursday, 9/29. If you are unable to attend that day, I’d like you to
try to attend another day on your own (or with a friend! or on a date!) – the play runs for quite a few
weeks.
McMULLEN MUSEUM
This fall, a very special exhibit, “Making History: Antiquaries in Britain” will be on display at the McMullen
Museum right on campus. This exhibit will include an original Magna Carta from 1225(!), original royal
portraits from the medieval and early modern period, and much more. This is way better than seeing
pictures of these things in books. We will take a class trip to the museum together. You will also use one of
the objects from this display in your final critical essay. This kind of opportunity is pretty rare and exciting,
especially for those of us who study British culture in America. Even if you were to visit these objects in
museums in England, you wouldn’t get the type of access to them that you have here as a Boston College
research student.
A FINAL NOTE…
Because of all of these course expectations (like film nights and performances to attend, your own film
project to make, a critical paper to write…) you will not have a final exam in this class (silent cheer!) My
opinion is that generating genuine interest in a subject in a low-pressure setting (like at home, in the
classroom, or in my office) will help you learn much more than cramming for a final exam.
SYLLABUS
Introductions
W 9.7 Introductions, Syllabus, & Background
F 9.9 Bedford Companion “Chapter 4: Performances, Playhouses, and Players” (including all image
documents); Swan Theatre image (course pack)
Part I: Gender, Sexuality, and the Problems of Comedy
M 9.12 Twelfth Night Act I
W 9.14 Twelfth Night Act II; excerpt from Stallybrass “Tranvestism and the Body Beneath” from Erotic
Politics in Reconceiving the Renaissance (Blackboard)
F 9.16 Twelfth Night Act III
M 9.19 Twelfth Night Acts IV & V; Malsen “Twelfth Night, Gender, and Comedy” from Early Modern
English Drama: A Critical Companion (course pack)
W 9.21 All’s Well That Ends Well Act I
F 9.23 All’s Well Act II; Bedford Companion “Chapter 8: Men and Women: Gender, Family, Society”
(including the following documents: Gouge p. 290 and Conduct Books p. 295)
M 9.26 All’s Well Act III; OED paper DUE
W 9.28 All’s Well Act IV
F 9.30 All’s Well Act V
Part II: Revenge, Community, and the Individual
M 10.3 Hamlet Acts I & II
W 10.5 Hamlet Act III; Bedford Companion versions of “to be or not to be” pp. 216-217
F 10.7 Hamlet Act IV; 4.2 of The Spanish Tragedy (course pack)
M 10.10 COLUMBUS DAY – NO CLASS
W 10.12 Hamlet Act V; Rhodes “Hamlet and Humanism” from Early Modern English Drama: Critical
Companion (course pack)
W 10.12 6pm-8pm FILM NIGHT (2/3 required): we will watch Revenger’s Tragedy together
this evening in O’Neill Library
F 10.14 Review Day
F 10.14 CLASS TRIP TO SEE TWELFTH NIGHT AT THE ACTOR’S SHAKESPEARE PROJECT
Part III: Politics, Leadership, and Otherness
M 10.17 Othello Act I; Bedford Companion “Queen Elizabeth edict” p. 302; QUIZ I
W 10.19 Othello Act II
F 10.21 Othello Act III
M 10.24 Othello Act IV
W 10.26 Othello Act V; Will Fischer “Chapter 1” from Materializing Gender in Early Modern Literature and
Culture (course pack)
F 10.28 Review Day; Bedford Companion “Chapter 9: Politics and Religion: Early Modern Ideologies”
(including documents to p. 339 with Simon Forman); Close-Reading Paper DUE
M 10.31 Antony and Cleopatra Acts I & II
W 11.2 Antony and Cleopatra Act III
W 11.2 6pm-8pm FILM NIGHT (2/3 required): we will watch the PBS Macbeth together this
evening in O’Neill Library
F 11.4 Antony and Cleopatra Act IV
M 11.7 Antony and Cleopatra Act V; Crane “Roman World, Egyptian Earth” from Comparative Drama
(course pack); excerpts from All For Love and Antonie (course pack)
W 11.9 Class trip to McMullen Museum to see “Making History: Antiquaries in Britain” (meet at the
museum for class)
Part IV: Family, Control, and Romance
F 11.11 The Winter’s Tale Acts I & II; Bedford Companion “Romance” pp. 94-97
M 11.14 The Winter’s Tale Act III; Proposal & Annotated Bibliography DUE
W 11.16 The Winter’s Tale Act IV
F 11.18 The Winter’s Tale Act V; Simon Estok, “Teaching the Environment of The Winter’s Tale” (course
pack)
M 11.21 Review Day
W 11.23 – F 11.25 THANKSGIVING BREAK
M 11.28 The Tempest Act I
W 11.30 The Tempest Act II
F 12.2 The Tempest Act III
M 12.5 The Tempest Acts IV & V; Paul Brown “This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine” from Political
Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Materialism (course pack)
M 12.5 4-6pm FILM NIGHT (2/3 required): we will watch Taymor’s The Tempest together
this evening in O’Neill Library
W 12.7 Student film screening; QUIZ II
F 12.9 Last Class; Student film screening
F 12.16 Critical Essay DUE on Blackboard by 5pm