Unlike comedy and tragedy, the history play was a recent form when Shakespeare turned to it. Depending on the play’s historical sources, the plot could follow either a tragic or a comic pattern and conclude either in resolution and triumph or in conflict and defeat. This seminar will examine the plot of the plays and inquire into the characterization of the principal figures. The approach will throw into relief perennial political topics: the transference of political power, the relationship between between personal and public ethics, and the potential of the state to progress. The inquiry will reveal much about the era in which Shakespeare lived and much about the political history of our own. Above all we shall deepen our sense of the politics of theater and the theatricality of politics.
Required Reading
The Riverside Shakespeare, edited by G. Blakemore Evans, 2nd ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 1997)
*Any annotated edition—or individual editions of single plays—will do. The Signet Classics, The Pelican Shakespeare, the Penguin Classics are reliable, inexpensive, and readily available on Amazon, e-Bay, and other on-line outlets.
Meet Your Instructor
PETER E. MEDINE is Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona, where he served in the English Department from 1969 to 2014. He has written, edited, or coedited seven books in Early Modern English studies. His most recent coedited book is Visionary Milton: Essays in Prophecy and Violence (2010). He is the recipient of several Humanities Seminars Superior Teaching Awards and the College of Humanities Award for Outreach Service.
Location
POETRY CENTER
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States
Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.
