| In this graduate seminar we will study what are considered the heart of English literature, William Shakespeare's four major tragedies:Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello. Conventions of dramatic tragedy and Elizabethan society, culture, and politics will be examined. Class meetings will be devoted to discussion of the plays, Shakespearean themes, on-going writing assignments, research skills, as well as the viewing of film adaptations of the plays. Students should expect to complete to the seminar will a firm grasp Shakespearean tragedy and the social conditions which contributed to audience appreciation of the plays. Studens are expected to have read Japanese translations of the four tragedies before the seminar begins to familiarize themselves with plot and character. Good luck! |