This course studies Shakespeare's comic art and explores the nature of comedy. Our texts are A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry the Fourth, part one, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Much Ado About Nothing, along with some comic theory by Hobbes, Bergson, Meredith, Freud, Bakhtin, Frye, and others. We will view and discuss several films and the Williams theater spring semester production, As You Like It. Our main concerns are practical criticism, focused on Shakespeare's language and dramatic art: why and how is this comical? What does this humorous character or that comic scene contribute to the play? What are some larger patterns of comedy? How does this play apply, revise, or complicate the traditional patterns? How central is comedy to the play's vision? Format: discussion/seminar. Requirements: written exercises every week, alternating journal entries and short formal essays. Prerequisites: 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit:19 (expected: 19). Preference given to first-year students, sophomores, and English Majors who have yet to take a Gateway. (Pre-1700)