Shakespeare in Ireland

(5 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

As far as we know, Shakespeare never visited Ireland and his plays contain only one Irish character: Captain Macmorris, in Henry V, who is often seen as the archetype of the 'stage Irishman'. But the plays are haunted by Ireland in various ways and The Tempest, in particular, is often thought of as a meditation on the colonial projects in Ireland and the New World. This module looks at some of the traces of Ireland in Shakespeare's own work, but it then moves on to consider the topic of Shakespeare specifically in Ireland itself: performances of the plays from the earliest period to our own time; editions of the plays published in Ireland; the appropriation of Shakespeare by nationalists and unionists alike; the impact of Shakespeare on some contemporary Irish writers.