Shakespeare door knocker

Shakespeare in an Unforgiving 2024

Cost
630.00

This course was available in the past and may be presented again as part of the Open Enrollment curriculum.

Is it really over for William Shakespeare? Certainly, the Bard has seen better days when it comes to popularity and cultural centrality, battered as he now is by attacks on his so-called "universality" and his works being increasingly crowded out of educational curricula. This course with critic Chris Jones offers both a chance to read and explore a selection of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, including "Hamlet," "King Lear," "Macbeth," "Measure for Measure" and "The Merchant of Venice," but to do so in the context of new writers who have either riffed on his works or undermined them. We'll read a variety of Shakespearean and contemporary works, as well as thinking about TV shows like "Succession," and we'll try and assess together Shakespeare's reputation in the here and now, and its implications for shared American values. The course will have an informal atmosphere and be dominated by informed discussion.

Course Outline

Course Syllabus

Notes

Online registration deadline: March 15, 5 PM CT

You will receive an invitation to join the Canvas site for the course a week before the class begins.  The Zoom link for the course will be in Canvas. For more information about Canvas, please see our Remote Learning Resources page.