Shakespeare

Credits: 15.0
Overlap: None
Prerequisite: None

This introductory module offers students the opportunity to study up to five of Shakespeare's plays
in their original theatrical and historical contexts. Plays currently on the syllabus include Hamlet,
As You Like It, Henry V, Othello and The Tempest (though this is subject to change year-on-year).
The teaching is delivered as large one-hour lectures, followed by one hour small-group seminars.
The lectures are prepared and delivered in the lecture hall by two lecturers who interact with one another
and the audience. They combine close reading of the texts with use of video clips from productions
put on at Shakespeare's Globe (on Bankside in London) and other filmed productions in order to encourage
students to read them not just as words on the page but as live events in the theatre.
The small-group seminars encourage preparation and discussion online during the week and concentrate on
close reading the plays. There will be two coursework assessments, one to be submitted in the first half
of the module, the other by the last week of the module. The first will ask you to paraphrase and
contextualise a selected passage from the plays, and the second will ask you to write an essay based
on analysis of particular scenes.

Assessment: 100.0% Coursework
Level: 4