English 33aFall 2017William Flesch

Shakespeare

William Price

Aug30 WIntroduction: Sonnets 73 and 94

31 ThRichard II, Act 1

Sep6WRichard II, Acts 2-3

7ThRichard II, Act 4

11MRichard II, Act 5*

13WA Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1-2

14 ThA Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3

18MA Midsummer Night’s Dream, Acts 4-5*

20WTwelfth Night, Act 1

25MTwelfth Night, Acts 2-3

27WTwelfth Night, Acts 4-5*

28ThTwelfth Night, Merchant of Venice,1.1-2

Oct 2MThe Merchant of Venice, Acts 1-2

3BdsThThe Merchant of Venice, Acts, 3-4

4WThe Merchant of Venice, Act, 5*

9MHamlet, Act 1

11BdsThHamlet, Act 2

16MHamlet, Act 3

18WHamlet, Act 4

19ThHamlet, Act 5*

23MKing Lear, I.1

25WKing Lear, Act 1

26ThKing Lear, Act 1

30MKing Lear, Act 2(finish reading it by now)*

Nov 1WKing Lear, Act 3

2ThKing Lear, Act 3

6MKing Lear, Act 4

8WKing Lear, Act 4

9ThKing Lear, Act 4

13MKing Lear, Act 5

15WKing Lear, Act 5

16ThThe Winter’s Tale(complete)*

20MThe Winter’s Tale

27MMacbeth, Acts 1-3

29WMacbeth, Acts 4-5*

30ThAntony and Cleopatra, Act 1

Dec4MAntony and Cleopatra, Acts 2-3

6WAntony and Cleopatra, Act 4

7ThAntony and Cleopatra, Act 5*

*In lieu of exams, there will be very short pass/fail quizzes on the day when you are responsible for having read the whole of each play (note that for King Lear that day is October 30; for The Winder’s Tale it’s November 16). Those days are asterisked in the syllabus, but are subject to change. You may make-up quizzes, but the make-ups will be substantially harder.

You are expected to do 2,000-2,500 words of writing (about 8-10 pages). You can do this as one paper or two, and your writing (whether one paper or two) should discuss at least three different Shakespeare plays in total, with at least two of them being plays on the syllabus. (You can discuss other plays as well, but two of them must come from the syllabus.) If you write two papers, the shorter cannot be shorter than 750 words. (For example. you can write a 750 word paper and a 1,250 word paper to make up your 2,000 words, but not a 500 word paper and a 1,500 word paper.)

The first paper (if you do two) may not be handed in before October 19th; the second paper (or only paper if you do one) may not be handed in until the last day of class.

Do not do outside research for your paper (including quasi-public domain sources like Wikipedia). If you do – but don’t! – you must cite your sources. Not to do so constitutes academic dishonesty, and will get you into severe trouble. Seriously.

Texts: You may use any edition of Shakespeare with notes, as long as the edition of King Lear that you use is what is called the “conflated text.” That is, do not read anything called The Quarto or The Folio text of King Lear. You want the conflation of both.The Bevington edition at the bookstore is good and reasonably inexpensive, a good edition to keep for the future. The Norton Shakespeare has become harder to use over time, so I would not particularly recommend it, though if you have it already it’s fine.

If you have documented a disability with Brandeis and need accommodation please let me know.

A necessary condition for success in this class is an average of about three hours of outside work per class, or a total of about nine hours per average week.