Lectures on Shakespeare and reading of his best works.

English 17 offers an introduction to the study of Shakespeare that is intended for students new to the Berkeley English Department. Incoming transfer students, future majors, and non-majors are especially welcome. The premise of our class is that Shakespeare's texts are remarkably good to think with—remarkably pleasurable, remarkably productive. The class will give sustained attention to about half a dozen major plays, using them to develop a rich set of themes and ideas as the semester unfolds: ideas about beauty and cruelty, performance and nature, citizenship and individuality, companionship and solitude, future and past. We'll devote special attention to developing the skills that will allow us to think most productively with Shakespeare: skills of reading, of close analysis, of reasoned and structured argument, and maybe too some elementary skills of performance. We will alternate between large-scale lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays, in which I will offer some concepts and arguments as raw material for your thinking; and discussion sections on Fridays, where you, your classmates, and your discussion leader will develop your thinking in conversation and work on techniques for realizing your ideas in writing. We will start with a number of short assignments focusing on particular skills, which will build up to two medium-sized papers and a final exam.

Book List:

Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream; Romeo & Juliet; The Merchant of Venice; Henry IV, Part One; Macbeth; The Winter's Tale (all freely available to students via library resources).

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills