ENG 255 - Studies in the Renaissance

This seminar will examine a selection of plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries within the historical and cultural context of the world that created them. The playhouses of Elizabethan and Jacobean London were vibrant spaces of entertainment, education, and controversy, where hot topics of the day were explored through the action onstage. As many as 3,000 people - from nearly every social class - would pack the Globe, the Curtain, and other Bankside theatres on a daily basis; the plays we will read this semester contain as broad a range of characters as did their original audiences. By engaging with a variety of dramatic genres (domestic tragedy, city comedies, class satires, tales of revenge, witchcraft, and more!), we will gain insights into early modern England while exploring issues that still pre-occupy us today: anxieties about gender roles; race; identity; economic and class conditions; power; social (in)justice; moral and political corruption; personal relationships, and the importance of having a good time. Featured playwrights will include Shakespeare, Marlowe, Middleton, Webster, Jonson, and Dekker.

For English majors, this course satisfies the D-1 requirement. For English minors, this course counts as a 200-level English seminar. This course can be repeated with a different topic.

Prerequisites: Prerequisites: One 100-level English literature course (ENG 100-199) or permission of instructor

Anticipated Terms Offered: Periodically