1/17: Introduction and Historical Contexts

1/19: In-class Video: The Shakespeare Mystery

1/24: Midsummer Night's Dream, Acts I-V

1/26: MND Texts and Contexts, pp. 192-264; Porter, "Roman New Comedy"

1/31: First Reading Response Due: Questions

2/2: Romeo and Juliet, Acts I-V

2/7: R & J Texts and Contexts, pp. 245-312

2/9: R & J Texts and Contexts, pp. 313-399

2/14: Second Reading Response Due: Questions

2/16: The Taming of the Shrew, Acts I-V

2/21: Shrew Texts and Contexts, "Introduction" pp. 1-38; pp. 160-199

2/23: Shrew Texts and Contexts, pp. 200-243

Further Reading of Interest: Lawrence Stone, The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500-1800, Chapter 4

2/28: Third Reading Response Due: Questions

3/2: The Merchant of Venice, Acts I-V

3/7: Merchant Texts and Contexts, Introduction, pp. 1-21

3/9: Merchant Texts and Contexts: from Chapter 1--"Venice" 123-145; from Chapter Two-- "Finance" 187-209; from Chapter 3--"Religion" 241-255, 288-307; from Chapter 4--"Love and Gender" 311-327

Barbara Tuchman, from A Distant Mirror

3/14-3/16: No Class--Spring Break

3/21: Fourth Reading Response Due: Questions

3/23: The First Part of King Henry the Fourth Acts I-V

3/28: Henry IV Texts and Contexts, pp. 121-194

TOPIC FOR FORMAL ESSAY

3/30: Henry IV Texts and Contexts, pp. 195-270; 309-313

4/4: In-class viewing: My Own Private Idaho

4/6: Fifth Reading Response Due: Questions

Hamlet, Acts I-V

4/11: Lecture: Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy

4/13: Lecture: Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy

4/18: Hamlet, Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, pp.1-26

4/20: Hamlet, Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, pp. 181-207

4/25: Hamlet, Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, (continued)

4/27: In-class Video: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Sixth Reading Response Due: Questions

5/2: In-class Video: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

5/4: In-class Video: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; Conclusion

5/10: Research Paper Due: Possible Topics for Final Paper