LARTS 325 Shakespeare: The Tragedies
William Shakespeare.s tragedies feature astonishing figurative language, intriguing plots, complex, multi-faceted characters, and themes that speak to the core of human experience. This course will set the tragedies Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear in the social-political context of Elizabethan England and will examine the plays. major themes and patterns: the tragic characters. increasing isolation from identity and society, the complete divestiture of self and the inversion of order, the conspicuous waste of talent and feeling, and the glimpses of transformative understanding among the ruins. We will also examine the effect of the tragic .process. upon audiences past and present and explore ways to make Shakespeare.s language come alive for today.s audiences. Students will also have the opportunity to act scenes in class and to set passages to music.