ENGL 320(F) Global Shakespeare (Same as Theatre 316)

Much as the Shakespearean theater originally brought together all ranks of Elizabethan society, the technological advances of film and video have brought Shakespeare into homes, classrooms, and theaters around the world. Starting with the symbolic and political function of the Globe in Elizabethan England-and the name of Shakespeare's theater is more than a lucky coincidence-this course examines Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear from a variety of cultural perspectives. Discussions of Shakespeare's text, Shakespearean criticism, and Shakespeare films from around the globe will explore such questions as: What gives Shakespeare's plays their universal appeal? How does Hamlet look to an African tribe or a Russian filmmaker? How is Shakespearean drama, the most protean and "many-minded" of all literary genres, reconstructed as it travels through space and time?
Requirements: reading and viewing various videos of each play; regular contributions to class discussions; weekly journal entries; cruising the world wide web and playing with CD-ROMs; class presentations; one short essay; and a final research paper that analyzes the production of a play from a particular cultural perspective.
Prerequisite: English 101. Enrollment limited to 30. (Pre-1800 or Criticism)