ENGL 4360: Shakespeare’s Friends & Rivals (Schreyer)
Time / Format: In-Person, Tuesday & Thursday, 2-3:15
Bloody revenge, political intrigue, incest, love, laughter, romance—and pirates! Not an HBO miniseries but an advanced study of the professional London stage from the 1580s to the 1620s with particular emphasis on the drama of Shakespeare’s contemporaries featuring women as major characters. We’ve all been taught that women were barred from acting on the early modern London stage – nevertheless, they attended plays in great numbers, worked behind the scenes and, most important for our study this semester, were often the main characters in a variety of plays, from the first True Crime drama, to Domestic Tragedies, Adventure Plays, and City Comedies. To what extent did the dramatization of women’s issues have an impact on the place of women in society? Assignments will focus on the language and structure of the plays and aim to develop students’ close reading skills.
