UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
MODULE SPECIFICATION TEMPLATE
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.
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The title of the module: Shakespeare and his Contemporaries I: Comedies
The Department which will be responsible for management of the module: English
The Start Date of the Module: Autumn term 2006
The number of students expected to take the module: 200
Modules to be withdrawn on the introduction of this proposed module and consultation with other
relevant Departments and Faculties regarding the withdrawal: EN596
The level of the module (eg Certificate [C], Intermediate [I], Honours [H] or Postgraduate [M]): I
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
Which term(s) the module is to be taught in (or other teaching pattern): Autumn
Prerequisite and co-requisite modules: None
The programmes of study to which the module contributes: Diploma and BA in English &
American Literature
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 comedies of Shakespeare and his
contemporaries;
2. Develop an understanding of the development of comic drama in the period c1580c.1620;
3. Read the set texts in relation to their relevant literary, theatrical, political, cultural
and social contexts;
4. Examine how the drama relates to critical ideas of comedy;
5. Become conversant with current critical approaches and debates to the drama.
The intended generic learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to programme learning
outcomes:
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Be able to respond to and initiate group discussion of issues raised, based on
precise reference to text and context;
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Analyse texts critically and make comparison across a range of reading;
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Show a good command of written English, and be able to develop coherent
written arguments responding to the texts, contexts and critical issues addressed by the
module.
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A synopsis of the curriculum
The comedies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries broke new literary and dramatic ground.
Challenging and complex, entertaining and strange, they 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. This module will focus on key comedies of the period
c.1580-c.1630, across the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Dramatic and literary form
UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
will be a central preoccupation alongside issues of characterisation, culture, politics, and
gender; more widely, this module will address notions of comedy and the purpose of drama.
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Indicative Reading List:
William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors
-------------------, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
-------------------, The Taming of the Shrew
-------------------, Twelfth Night
-------------------, Measure for Measure
-------------------, The Merchant of Venice
-------------------, The Tempest
-------------------, A Winter’s Tale
Francis Beaumont, Knight of the Burning Pestle
Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday
Thomas Middleton, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl
Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair
-------------------, Volpone
John Fletcher, The Woman’s Prize
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts
Bevington, David, ed., English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology (2002)
Greenblatt, Stephen et al eds., The Norton Shakespeare (1997)
Barber, C.L., Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy: A Study of Dramaitic Form and Its Relation to Social Custom
(1959)
Bradbrook, Muriel C., The Growth and Structure of Elizabethan Comedy (1955)
Bristol, Michael D., Carnival and Theatre: Plebeian Culture and the Structure of Authority in Renaissance
England (1985)
Carlson, Susan, Women and Comedy: Rewriting the British Theatrical Tradition (1991)
Charney, Maurice, Comedy High and Low: An Introduction to the Experience of Comedy (1978)
Cordner, Michael, Peter Holland and John Kerrigan eds., English Comedy (1994)
Corrigan, Robert W. ed., Comedy: Meaning and Form (1965)
Donaldons, Ian, ed., Jonson and Shakespeare (1983)
Drakakis, John, ALternative Shakespeares (1985)
Farley-Hills, David, The Comic in Renaissance Comedy (1981)
Frye, Northrom, A Natural Perspective: The Development of Shakespearean Comedy and Romance (1965)
Gay, Penny, Shakespeare’s Unruly Women (1994)
Kastan, David Scott and Peter Stallybrass eds., Staging the Renaissance: Reinterpretations of Elizabethan
and Jacobean Drama (1991)
Knights L.C., Drama and Society in the Age of Jonson (1937)
Leggatt, Alexander, ed., Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Comedy (2001)
Leggatt, Alexander, Introduction to English Renaissance Comedy (1999)
Leggatt, Alexander ed., The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean
Levin, Harry, Playbous and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy (1987)
Mahood, M.M., Shakespeare’s Wordplay (1957)
McDonald, Russ, Shakespeare and Jonson (1988)
McKluskie, Kathleen, Renaissance Dramatists (1989)
UNIVERSITY OF KENT – CODE OF PRACTICE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
Palmer, D.J., Comedy: Developments in Criticism (1984)
Sanders, Julie with Kate Chedgzoy and Susan Wiseman eds., Refashioning Ben Jonson: Gender, Politics
and the Jonsonian Canon (1998)
Wayne, Valerie ed., The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare (1991)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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