Shakespeare’s Comedy

Peter Medine
Spring 2024
Wednesdays |  
2 PM - 4 PM
January 24, 31, February 7, 14, 21, 28, March 13, 20, 27, April 3, 10, and 17, 2024
Course Format: Hybrid
Location: Main Campus
Tuition: $335

 

Concentrating on five of Shakespeare’s comedies, this seminar will inquire into the ways in which Shakespeare’s development of comedy’s distinctive theme of romantic love enabled him to explore a range of issues. These include hetero- and homosexual love, parent-child relationships, as well as broader political concerns. Essential to the endeavor will be the analysis of character, language, and plot. The ultimate aim will be to deepen our sense of the richness and variety of comedy as Shakespeare wrote it. It was the dramatic form he turned to more often than any other.

 

Required Reading

Any standard edition of the plays will do, provided the format includes act/scene division and numerical lineation, and unfamiliar words are glossed on the page. Individual plays in such series as the Signet or Pelican editions are available on-line through Amazon, AbeBooks.com, Thrift book, and the like. If you prefer a single-volume of Shakespeare’s complete works, I recommend the Riverside edition (Houghton Mifflin ed. G. Blackmore Evans, 1974 (and subsequently)). This is the edition I use. Previously owned copies through the outlets mentioned above are often available at reasonable prices and are in more than adequate condition.

Meet Your Instructor

Professor Emeritus

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.

Street map image of Poetry Center

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