BBN-AND-302.5 Shakespeare’s Contemporaries

(seminar-course, 2017, FALL)

Time and Location: Thursday 12:00-13:30, Room 414

Lecturer: Géza Kállay, Gergő Dávid

Office Hours: Thursday, 14:00-15:30, R5, Room 345, or by appointment

E-mail address: ,

Mobile phone: (Kállay) 06-30-488-82-45

Course description:

This course will examine various plays by various authors who have been marginalized by the ever-growing cult of Shakespeare. The list of plays covers both comedies and tragedies, which were popular genres in the Elizabethan and the Jacobean periods. Discussing these authors will give us a more accurate picture of the theatrical-dramatic, as well as of the political and cultural world of the age. Furthermore, understanding the contemporaries of Shakespeare is vital for the better understanding the Bard himself. The plays exhibit a number of different topics which will be examined during the course, such as revenge, free will, gender, religion, morality, superstition, and philosophy.

Requirements and assessment:

Everybody is expected to bring a copy of the relevant text to class, since we will often be close-reading some passages from the respective plays. Reading should be continuous throughout the semester and you should frequently contribute to the discussions. Every student is expected to give a presentation and to write a home essay of 6-8 pages (Times New Roman, 12 pts font, double spaced) by December 7.

Syllabus:

Sept. 14. Introduction

Sept. 21. Thomas Kyd: The Spanish Tragedy

Sept. 28. Christopher Marlowe: The Jew of Malta

Oct. 5. Thomas Middleton: The Revenger’s Tragedy

Oct 12. John Marston: Antonio’s Revenge

Oct. 19. Ben Jonson: The Alchemist

Oct. 26. Ben Jonson: Bartholomew Fair

Nov. 2. Fall Break

Nov. 9. John Marston: The Malcontent

Nov. 16. Thomas Middleton: Women Beware Women

Nov. 23. Thomas Middleton & William Rowley: The Changeling

Nov. 30. John Webster: The Duchess of Malfi

Dec. 7. John Webster: The White Devil DEADLINE for home essays

Dec. 14. John Ford: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore

Readings:

When reading the plays, you may use any of the standard critical editions. (Oxford, Arden, New Cambridge, New Mermaids, etc.)

The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe, ed. by Patrick Cheney, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Shakespeare's Contemporaries: Modern Studies in English Renaissance Drama, eds. by Max Bluestone and Norman Rabkin, Berkeley: Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1990.

Jonathan Hart: Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, New York. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011.