English 321 Shakespeare: Selected Plays Fall 2009
Instructor: Paul Sullivan
Syllabus
Unique 34985 MWF 12-1 pm. GAR 0.132. Instructor: Paul Sullivan. Office: PAR 318 MW
1:30-3:30 p.m.
English Major Requirement: Area I - Single or Dual Author; Substantial Writing Component:
Yes
Prerequisite: 9 semester hours of English or RHE credit.
Final Exam: none.
Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division
of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259.
Course Description
On completing this course a student should have detailed knowledge of eight of Shakespeare's
plays, seven we study together and one the student chooses for independent reading and a class
presentation. Together we will consider A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice,
Henry the Fourth Part 1, Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear, and The Tempest. Our reading will
inform critical writing and conversation about the plays, with a dual emphasis on close analysis of
text and the dynamics of drama.
We will take some time to practice using secondary resources that help make sense of
Shakespeare’s language in these and other plays and poems.
Students will attend one performance of Shakespeare, and will also study two or more filmed
performances.
Grading Policy
Attendance and active participation in discussion; commonplace book entries: 10%
Quizzes and a test on reading 20%
Essay in close reading (5-7 pages) 20%
Essay in performance criticism (6 pages) 20%
Final paper and presentation (10 pages) 30%
Texts
The Norton Shakespeare: The Essential Plays and Sonnets, edited by Stephen Greenblatt and
others. Selections from seminal essays in Shakespeare criticism. Recommended: Russ McDonald,
The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare Studies, 2nd Edition.
Reading Quizzes and Memorization (see overleaf)
English 321 Shakespeare: Selected Plays Fall 2009
Instructor: Paul Sullivan
Reading Quizzes and Memorization
A portion (20%) of your grade will be based on the following reading quizzes, for which you will
earn two points each.
M August 31: Quiz on MND I-III.
W September 2: Quiz on MND I-V.
M September 14: Quiz on MV I-V.
W September 23: Quiz on King Lear I-II.
M September 28: Quiz on King Lear I-V
F October 16: Quiz on HIV.1.
W October 21: Quiz on Twelfth Night I-V.
W October 28: Quiz on Othello I-V.
W November 4: Quiz on The Tempest I-V.
M November 9: Independent reading test due
Each quiz will have several quotations from the assigned reading. You will have five minutes to
identify, in brief but precise terms, the speaker and situation of a specified number of the
quotations: for quizzes over two or three acts of a play, two out of three quotations; for quizzes
over all five acts, three out of five quotations.
Memorizing option: you may always substitute one quotation (at least two full lines of text) that
you write on the quiz from memory, along with a brief identification of speaker and situation.
The independent reading test will comprise four quotations of your choice (one-half point each)
from your first reading of the play you choose for your seminar report, with brief explanations of
the speaker’s situation and the effect of the words on a reader or theater audience.
Class Meetings, Topics, Due Dates
Week 1: Introductions
W August 26: Information. Questionnaire. Reading a scene.
F August 28: Reading and staging a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Assign
commonplace and memory option for quiz.
Week 2: Close Reading for Staging and for Writing. A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
M August 31: Quiz on MND I-III. Close reading. Notes: verse forms in drama.
W September 2: Quiz on MND I-V. Close reading. Notes: language, lexicons. Gleek. Assign
commonplace/meditation.
F September 4: Meditation on commonplace: 1 page, key scene/words. Notes: critical
approaches. Assign: Find a crux in MV.
Week 3: (following Labor Day / M September 7) Close Reading in Merchant of Venice.
W September 9: Workshop: critical cruxes in Merchant of Venice. Assign: word play reports.
F September 11: Reports: word play, with examples from MND and MV. Assign Paper #1,
groups.
Week 4: First Papers Due. Staging scenes from Merchant of Venice.
English 321 Shakespeare: Selected Plays Fall 2009
Instructor: Paul Sullivan
M September 14: Quiz on MV I-V. Notes: writing from close reading.
W September 16: Close Reading Paper due, Group 1. Workshop: Staging MV.
F September 18: Close Reading Paper due, Group 2. Workshop: Staging MV.
Week 5: Merchant / Lear / Performance Criticism
M September 21: Close Reading Paper due, Group 3. Notes: gender and sexuality in MV.
W September 23: Quiz on King Lear I-II. Notes: genre and tragedy.
F September 25: Bring a crux from King Lear II-IV. Linking close reading and performance.
Week 6: King Lear in Performance.
M September 28: Quiz on King Lear I-V. Perform scenes.
W September 30: Notes and workshop: performance criticism. Assign Paper #2 (Performance
Criticism), groups. Tonight: performance of King Lear.
F October 2: Performance criticism of King Lear.
Week 7: Filmed Scenes from Three Tragedies for Performance Criticism: Old Plays, New
Audiences
M October 5: King Lear and the Cordelia problem
W October 7: Romeo and Juliet and that balcony scene
F October 9: Hamlet and that soliloquy.
Week 8: Henry IV, Part 1: History and Historicism
M October 12: Notes: history and HIV.1. Performance Criticism Paper due, Group 1.
W October 14: Workshop: editing/cutting for performance. Performance Criticism Paper due,
Group 2.
F October 16: Quiz on HIV.1. Assign Seminar Papers. Stage scene.
Week 9: Twelfth Night and Festive Comedy. Performance Criticism Paper due, Group 3.
Writing Conferences
M October 19: Notes: festive comedy. Staging a scene.
W October 21: Quiz on Twelfth Night I-V. Staging a scene.
F October 23: Notes from a critical reading on Twelfth Night.
Week 10: Othello, Race, and Ethical Criticism. Writing Conferences
M October 26: Notes: race and ethical criticism. Reading a scene for staging.
W October 28: Quiz on Othello I-V. Reading a speech for staging.
F October 30: Ethical criticism in Othello.
Week 11: The Tempest
M November 2: Bring three cruxes from The Tempest, Acts I and II: verbal, dramatic,
ethical/historical.
W November 4: Quiz on The Tempest I-V.
F November 6: Assign independent reading test.
Week 12: Seminar Papers on Other Plays
M November 9: Reading test due (except for today’s presenters, who may submit test on Friday).
Taylor Gilliam
Alex Pham
W November 11: Christopher Giles, Rebecca Reilly, Emily Lane
F November 13: Lauren Ratliff, Chelsea Mikulencak, Caroline Krause
English 321 Shakespeare: Selected Plays Fall 2009
Instructor: Paul Sullivan
Week 13: Seminar Papers on Other Plays
M November 16: Russell Lang, Emma Wingfield, Jeannette Saucillo
W November 18: Maddie Crum, Travis Arnold, Ben Smith
F November 20: Amanda Smoot, Megan Reed, Lisa Alley
Week 14: Seminar Papers on Other Plays / Thanksgiving
M November 23: Sean Kennedy, Luis Perales, Nathan Seitzman
W November 25:
THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 15: Seminar Papers on Other Plays
M November 30: Aditi Rao, Alex Gonzalez
W December 2: Daryn Ofczarsak, Kayla Johnson
F December 4: Course Evaluation