Short Course Description
The gods, heroes, and villains of Greco-Roman mythology and history populate Shakespeare's oeuvre, from his early narrative poetry to his late romance plays. Why does he keep going back to the classical world? How does he represent it, and to what ends? What are his sources, and how does he use them? Can we speak of a distinctly Shakespearean view of antiquity? The present course seeks to address these questions by closely examining a wide array of poems and plays by the Bard together with their sources and intertexts, which we will be reading in the medieval and Renaissance versions on which he relied, as well as further contextual material from the period and selected scholarship. In addition to deepening your acquaintance with Shakespeare's works and several of the most important authors of antiquity, the course aims to provide some of the fundamental skills needed to research early modern culture, on the one hand, and classical reception history, on the other.
Please note that this course requires full attendance in all classes, including any make-up lessons, regardless of the method of instruction used to teach them.
Full syllabus will be available to registered students only