Gender, Class, and Comedy: Ancient and Modern

3 units

Few cultural products are effective as dramatic comedy in revealing, reflecting, critiquing how societies respond to differences of gender and social class. In this course we will consider how writer, performers, and audiences of dramatic comedies have responded to issues surrounding gender and class. We will read, discuss, and write about comedies from ancient Greece and Rome and from various modern nations, paying particular attention to the following questions: Do comic plays reinforce or challenge the preconceptions of their audiences surrounding gender and social class? Why does comedy have such power both to unite and divide people as they respond to gender and class? Does dramatic comedy have the power to change attitudes surrounding gender and class? This course has an extensive writing component, so much of our time will be spent writing about the comedies we will read, revising what we have written, and discussing how best to write about comedy and its responses to society.