Dr. Michael Bryson
Sierra Tower 832
818-677-5695
michael.bryson@csun.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will explore the sonnets and eleven of Shakespeare's plays, drawn from early, middle, and late periods of his writing career.

In Shakespeare’s time the threat of political chaos was often personified in the figure of the stage-Machiavel. This kind of figure is portrayed as being capable of any and all nefarious schemes and duplicitous actions. Elizabethans held a notion of the Machiavel as a soulless creature dedicated to endless manipulation, betrayal, and violence as means to power and advantage (not, of course, that such tactics were wholly unfamiliar in England). The question Shakespeare's history plays ask, is how different are the tactics (both onstage and in the realm of “real life”) of the Machiavel from those of the King (or the lover, the lawyer, the lieutenant, etc.)?

Far beyond the purely political, however, the questions that Shakespeare raises in his history plays are often the same questions he raises in his comedies and his tragedies: what are the ethics of power (in relationships and in government), what is the real nature of love, of morality, of jealousy, of forgiveness? This course will explore these questions through Shakespeare's works and the multiple answers proposed therein.

EVALUATION METHOD: Midterm essay, final essay.

ASSIGNMENTS:

Midterm: in the range of 6-8 pages, this will be comprised of responses to essay questions, and will require you to present an analysis of characters from the blocks of plays we will have read to that point. These essays will not require secondary sources, but will require you to read the plays closely, and cite evidence from the plays (using MLA citation) to back up your arguments.

Final: In the range of 10 pages, this will be an essay tackling a question of your own choosing. This essay will be a researched argument paper that makes use of secondary sources. Print is an excellent thing, of course—books are still the coin of the realm in the highest reaches of humanities scholarship, but journal articles are often more immediate in terms of what is going on at the moment. Excellent sources for journal articles include JSTOR, Project Muse, and Academic Search Elite. These databases must be accessed from the CSUN campus, or from off-campus with your CSUN email unsername and password. Also have a look at the CSUN library's page outlining electronic resources for English. Quotations from the works you deal with—and quotations from secondary sources—should follow MLA format.  The final essay will be due by 5 PM on May 18th by email (no physical submissions of finals). In your email subject line, put English 417 final, and make sure your name is on your paper, especially if using a non-CSUN address.

READING LIST: Complete Pelican Shakespeare, Machiavelli—The Prince

Statement on Academic Dishonesty: Plagiarism is a serious offense that will be treated seriously. Please read the CSUN policy here.

Weekly Preview

Week 1 (1/24)—Introductions, Shakespeare, Sonnets (1-20, 55, 60, 62, 93-94, 116, 121, 130, 138, 141)
Week 2 (1/31)—Two Gentlemen of Verona
Week 3 (2/7)--As You Like It
Week 3 (2/14)—Machiavelli, The Prince
Week 4 (2/21)—Richard II
Week 5 (2/28)— Henry IV, part 1
Week 6 (3/6)—Henry V
Week 7 (3/13)—Richard III
Week 8 (3/20)—Julius Caesar (Midterm assigned 3/20)
Week 10 (3/27)—The Merchant of Venice (Midterm due 3/27)
Week 11 (4/10)—Othello
Week 12 (4/17)—Hamlet
Week 13 (4/24)—King Lear
Week 14-15 (5/1)—Measure for Measure
Week 15-16 (5/8)—The Tempest