Shakespeare: Histories and Comedies

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course explores of some of Shakespeare's hits from the first half of his professional career, when the genres in which he primarily worked were comedies and histories. Plays to be studied are likely to include The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Richard III, Richard II, Henry V, and Henry VI Part 1. Together, we will read Shakespeare's queerest and and quaintest comedies in conversation with darker, more troubling plays that revolve around sexual violence, racism, nationalism, and political theory, to see how he puts generic boundaries to the test. In the process, we will consider what it means to take comedy and history seriously.