English 363/Theatre and Performance 387: Shakespeare 2
Section 1 Prof. Ken Graham
TuTh 2:30-3:50; DWE 3518 HH 246; ex.45124
Fall 2022 k2graham@uwaterloo.ca
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursdays, 11:30-12, 1-1:30; or by appointment
Texts: The Pelican editions of Macbeth, Troilus and Cressida, Coriolanus, Othello, Measure for Measure, and The Winter’s Tale; the Arden 3 edition of King Lear
Aims of the Course
The principal aim of this class is to make us better – more careful, more perceptive, more knowledgeable – readers of Shakespeare’s plays, and thereby to make us more alert and alive to the problems that the plays invite us to experience and contemplate and to the pleasures and emotions that they invite us to share. Although we cannot hope to know these plays with any finality, we can become more aware of their involvement with the issues of their time and of the challenges and opportunities they present to modern readers.
Methods and Requirements
We will read and study seven of the tragic and tragicomic works that dominate the second half of Shakespeare’s career as a playwright. The class will mix discussion with smaller amounts of lecture and performance. Graded work comprises:
- Class participation. I will expect you to attend conscientiously and to participate in an informed and productive manner – and to bring a printed copy of the play we’re studying with you every day so that you can write notes in it and follow along as we jump from scene to scene. Participation includes the ideas you bring to class as well as the responses you offer to what others say in class; the questions you ask as well as the positions you argue; specific critical observations about a word or a line as well as broad reflections on major issues. Quality is generally more important than quantity, but I am impressed by a willingness to go out on a limb. I am also as interested in the courtesy and respect with which you listen and respond to what others say as in the sharpness of your own perceptions. Attendance and punctuality count: you can’t participate if you aren’t present. It is your responsibility to inform me promptly of the reasons for an absence if you wish it to be excused. Weight = 10%
- Response papers. In these informal 2-page (~500-word) papers you will ask an interpretive question sparked by your initial reading of each play and explore one or more possible answers to it. You might ask, for example, about a theme, a character, or some aspect of narrative structure or language. Your papers should be focussed and should refer to specific words and actions in the play, but they need not argue or take a position. Responses are due at the start of class on the day a play first appears on the syllabus. You will receive one point for each satisfactory response paper you turn in on time, and a bonus of three points if you turn all seven in by the last class period. Response papers falling significantly below 500 words may not receive full credit. As with any written assignment, you must properly acknowledge all sources consulted. Weight = 10%
- A mid-term exam, eighty minutes in length. This will be a closed-book exam on the first four plays; it will include identification passages and an essay question. Weight = 20%
- A formal essay, 1800-2700 words in length. Late papers will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted. Otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends. The full assignment is on page 5. Weight = 30%
- A closed-book final exam, two hours in length. Two-thirds will cover the second half of the course with the same format as the mid-term; the other third will review the course as a whole and comprise essay questions. Weight = 30%
Class Schedule
|
Sept |
8 |
Th |
Introduction to the class |
|---|---|---|---|
|
13 |
Tu |
Macbeth |
|
|
15 |
Th |
Macbeth |
|
|
20 |
Tu |
Troilus and Cressida |
|
|
22 |
Th |
Troilus and Cressida |
|
|
27 |
Tu |
King Lear |
|
|
29 |
Th |
King Lear |
|
|
Oct |
4 |
Tu |
King Lear |
|
6 |
Th |
King Lear |
|
|
8-16 |
Fall Reading Week |
||
|
18 |
Tu |
Coriolanus |
|
|
20 |
Th |
Coriolanus |
|
|
25 |
Tu |
Coriolanus |
|
|
27 |
Th |
Mid-term Exam |
|
|
Nov |
1 |
Tu |
Othello |
|
3 |
Th |
Othello |
|
|
8 |
Tu |
Othello |
|
|
10 |
Th |
Othello |
|
|
15 |
Tu |
Measure for Measure; original essay topics due 5:00 p.m. |
|
|
17 |
Th |
Measure for Measure |
|
|
22 |
Tu |
Measure for Measure; drafts due 2:30 p.m. |
|
|
24 |
Th |
Winter’s Tale |
|
|
29 |
Tu |
Winter’s Tale; draft discussion day |
|
|
Dec |
1 |
Th |
Winter’s Tale |
|
6 |
Tu |
Winter’s Tale; essays due 2:30 p.m. |
Final Exam TBA
(The Fall semester final exam period is Dec. 9-23. Missed exams may be made up only with a valid medical excuse.)
Class and University Policies
You must turn in a paper copy of all written assignments to receive credit. Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted; otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends. Sending me an electronic copy of an essay will stop the late clock, but you must also turn in a paper copy either directly to me or to the English Department’s drop box (HH 2016E). If you do not turn in a completed draft of the essay by the draft due date, you will receive a penalty of 5% on the essay. If you do not satisfactorily complete the group draft response assignment, you will likewise receive a penalty of 5% on your essay. (If you do neither, your total penalty will be 10%). Missed tests may be made up only with a valid medical excuse.
I will normally reply to email messages within 24 hours, weekends excepted. In the case of emails requiring lengthy replies, I may indicate to you that you should see me in person. Laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and other portable electronic devices can become distractions both to the user and to others and so may not normally be used during class discussions. Speak with me if you believe you require an exemption from this policy.
All sources of information that you use in your written work in this class must be cited fully and scrupulously. If I suspect that you have committed an academic offense, including plagiarism, I will report it to the Associate Dean; if the offense is confirmed, the normal result is a failing grade on the assignment and a further five marks off the course grade.
Academic Integrity
In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage, https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/current-undergraduates/student- support/ethical-behaviour, for more information.
Discipline
Students are expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity, https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/, for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures- guidelines/policy-71. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat/guidelines/guidelines-assessment-penalties.
Grievance
Students who believe that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-
guidelines/policy-70. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant, who will provide further assistance.
Appeals
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. Students who believe they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/policy-72.
Note for Students with Disabilities
The AccessAbility Services office (https://uwaterloo.ca/accessability-services/), located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term.
Mental Health Support On Campus
- Counselling Services: counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca/ 519-888-4567 ext. 32655
- MATES: one-to-one peer support program offered by Federation of Students (FEDS) and Counselling Services
Off campus, 24/7
- Good2Talk: Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-925- 5454
- Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749-433 ext. 6880
- Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247
- OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning teens in Waterloo. Phone: 519-884-0000 ext. 213
Full details can be found online at the Faculty of Arts website (https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/get- mental-health-support-when-you-need-it).
Essay Assignment
Write about any topic of interest to you, provided that its focus is the class reading list. Your essay should be 1800-2700 words long (12-point type, double-spaced) and follow a consistent documentation format. It must argue a clear thesis, and it must take the form of a unified and well-structured defence of that thesis. It will be judged on the strength and originality of its thesis, on the quality, clarity, and coherence of its supporting arguments, and on the felicity and correctness of its expression. Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted. Otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends.
A full-length draft of the essay is due November 22. You will need to bring a copy for everyone in your writing group and a copy to hand in. In exchange you will receive copies of the drafts of your group’s other members. You will need to read these and write thoughtful comments on them by November 29. If you do not turn in and distribute a completed draft of your essay on time, you will receive a penalty of 5% on the paper. If you do not satisfactorily complete the draft response assignment on time, you will likewise receive a penalty of 5% on your paper.
You do not need to consult secondary sources to write this essay, and doing so could hinder your creativity. If you do make use of such sources, however, be sure that they do not control or determine your argument; rather, your critical engagement with them, whether it takes the form of agreement or disagreement, must serve to advance, and must be clearly subordinate to, your own original thesis. Also be sure to cite all use of such sources fully and scrupulously.
The following list is meant to suggest the range of topics you might choose to explore.
- Explore the theme of justice in King Lear and/or Measure for Measure.
- Read one or more of the sources of one of Shakespeare’s plays and make an argument about how and with what effects Shakespeare shapes his source material.
- Compare a written adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s plays to the original.
- Examine the representation of gender in one of the plays.
- Choose a key word or pattern of imagery in one of the plays and pursue its significance as a way of opening up the play.
- Write about the function of rhetoric and/or debate in one or more plays.
- Discuss the importance of religion in one or more plays.
- Write about a topic of your own. You must request and receive my permission to write on this topic by 5:00 p.m. on November 15.
DUE DATE: December 6, 2:30 p.m.
Macbeth (1.7.1-28)
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly. If th’ assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success, that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all – here, But here upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases We still judge judgment here, that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague th’ inventor. This evenhanded justice
Commends th’ ingredience of our poisoned chalice To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked newborn babe
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubin horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’ other –
Welcome Msomi, uMabatha (Act 2, scene 3)
The wise warrior strikes swiftly. If he waits to smell out danger
The moment will pass. With this blow
I kill all my fears and bury them in the dust. But out of the dust
May rise more shadowy impis
Who will seek to stain the earth with my blood. Dangane comes here
Like a Father honouring his child, Opening his heart in joyous welcome. How then can I spill my father’s blood?
His praises are sung as the wisest councillor; His words are greeted with the Royal salute. Bayethe! Son of Heaven.
If he falls
A thousand throats will howl his death And fall upon his murderer.
No, I have no longer the strength or will To do this deed.