Shakespeare 2010-11

Aims. The course aims to cover a wide range of Shakespeare's plays and poetry
against the intellectual background of the period. It combines in-depth study of
selected texts with a chronological study of major works.

Structure. The first half of the AUTUMN term focuses on four set texts, which will
be taught in lectures and seminars. These are The Merchant of Venice, 1 Henry IV,
Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. The lectures will address these plays against
intellectual and generic backgrounds. The seminars will focus in detail on the
language and dramatic structure of each of these works. All seminar groups in this
term deal with the same four plays. The SPRING term starts off with lectures on the
Sonnets and contemporary perspectives on Shakespeare and on his language and then
covers the rest of the canon in roughly chronological order.

Preliminary Reading.

(1) You should aim to be familiar with the four set texts. Since the examination for
this course is an open-book test, you are encouraged to read as widely as
possible in Shakespeare.

(2) Editions: The most useful editions for your study of Shakespeare are:

(a) The Riverside Complete Shakespeare (the latest version is 1997) has sound
introductions to all the plays, and particularly the comedies and the tragedies. It offers
a wide range of ancillary material, from information about Shakespeare's life to the
theatres of the period, other contemporary dramatists, and recorded eyewitness
accounts of contemporary performances of Shakespeare. An expensive volume, and
available in libraries (UCL has multiple copies), but worth owning. Or you may
instead want to acquire the Norton (1997) edition, introduced by Stephen Greenblatt
(cheaper than Riverside), or the Oxford Complete Shakespeare (without notes, but in
paperback). The Norton essentially uses the 1986 Oxford Shakespeare text and has
notes as well as introductory essays. You may also want to consult the new edition of
the First Folio, The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works, edited J. Bate and E.
Rasmussen (2007), as well as The Shakespeare Collection (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
Library/database/), which is the Complete Arden Shakespeare online. This latter is an
invaluable resource: it contains full texts for all the plays as well as the classic Arden
2 critical introductions to them and allows you, among other things, to conduct
keyword searches across all of Shakespeare’s works.

(b) The OUP (Oxford), CUP (Cambridge), and Arden 2 and 3 editions of single plays
are a bargain, as are the New Penguins: good texts, up to date introductions and notes,
and cheaper than most paperback novels. You should aim to own editions of texts you
want to prepare for seminars and examinations. A good way of getting to grips with
the plays and poetry is to compare different modern editions of them. The
introductions and notes to these editions often provide some of the best commentaries
available.

(c) In the Shakespeare 6-hour-open-book examination we use the Alexander text of

the Complete Plays. You should be familiar with its lay-out. There are multiple copies
in the UCL library and at least one copy is always available for consultation in the
English Department office.

(3) You should try and acquire as much background for the study of Shakespeare as
possible. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (edited Michael Dobson and Stanley
Wells: 2001) is useful as are David Scott Kastan’s Blackwell's A Companion to
Shakespeare (1999) and Andrew Dickson’s Rough Guide to Shakespeare (2009 2nd
edition). For a valuable survey of Shakespeare’s general presence in the culture, you
may want to consult Stanley Wells’s Shakespeare for all Time (2002). Among
biographies of Shakespeare the one to read is Samuel Schoenbaum’s William
Shakespeare: a compact documentary life (rev.ed. 1987) while David Bevington’s
Shakespeare and Biography (Oxford 2010) offers the best succinct survey of the field.
Christopher Rush’s Will (2007) is a dazzling novel about Shakespeare’s life and times,
the best since Anthony Burgess’s Nothing Like the Sun (1964). James Shapiro’s 1599:
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare should be required reading for all students
of Shakespeare.

On the theatres and audiences of the period see Andrew Gurr’s The Shakespearian
Stage (3rd ed, 1997). You may also want to read David Crystal’s short, brilliant
account of Romeo and Juliet at the Globe in early modern English, Pronouncing
Shakespeare (2004) and, still on language, Frank Kermode’s Shakespeare’s Language
(2000). You should always consult Geoffrey’s Bullough’s monumental study of
Shakespeare’s sources, Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare (1966-75).
Brian Vickers’s 6-volume Critical Heritage (1623-1801), Stuart Gillespie’s
Shakespeare’s Books (2004), Emma Smith’s Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare
(2007), and Tiffany Stern’s Making Shakespeare (2004) are also valuable.

On matters textual and editorial as well as on theories about editing Shakespeare, you
should consult Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor, William Shakespeare: A Textual
Companion (1987). With regard to all these books on Shakespeare, it is essential that
you use them selectively and judiciously, and always remember that Shakespeare
criticism is an ongoing debate. Above all, read as many of Shakespeare’s plays and
poems as you can, and use and compare different editions of them.

SHAKESPEARE
Autumn Term 2010

1. Introduction Helen Hackett

2. *The Merchant of Venice Eric Langley
3. *1 Henry IV Peter Swaab
4. *Macbeth Chris Laoutaris
5. *Antony and Cleopatra Alison Shell

READING WEEK

6. The Long Poems Henry Woudhuysen

7. Titus Andronicus Eric Langley
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream Helen Hackett
 9. Henry V Henry Woudhuysen
10. Twelfth Night Paul Davis

* = set texts covered in the autumn term seminars:

Autumn seminar leaders (5 groups): PD, HH, CL, EL, AS

Seminars: 5 groups meeting … 2-4pm … Seminar leaders are Paul Davis, Helen
Hackett, Chris Laoutaris, Eric Langley, Alison Shell

Spring Term 2011

11. Shakespeare’s stagecraft John Russell Brown

12. Contemporary Perspectives Chris Laoutaris
13 The Sonnets Alison Shell
14. As You Like It Helen Hackett
15. Measure for Measure Chris Laoutaris

READING WEEK
16. Hamlet Greg Dart
17. Othello Alison Shell
18. King Lear Henry Woudhuysen
19. Cymbeline Peter Swaab
20. The Tempest Eric Langley

Spring 2011 seminar leaders (6 groups): HH, CL, EL, AS, PS, GD
Seminar leaders are Helen Hackett, Chris Laoutaris, Eric Langley, Alison Shell, Peter
Swaab, Greg Dart

René Weis
Shakespeare course convenor,