Course Outline

Unit 1

Shakespeare studies from Dr. Johnson to the contemporary-Shakespeare in performance (Theatre and Film)-Social, political and cultural aspects of the Elizabethan age-Shakespearean theatre and its characteristics-Shakespeare as a landmark in the history of World Drama.

Unit 2

Shakespeare Adaptations

Howard Jacobson: Shylock is My Name.
Akira Kurosawa: Ran.
Vishal Bhardwaj: Maqbool.

Unit 3

Cultural Reading of Shakespeare

Longhurst, Derek. “Not for All Time, But for an Age: An Approach to Shakespeare Studies”.
Brown, Paul. “This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine:’ The Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism.”
Dollimore, Jonathan. “Introduction: Shakespeare, Cultural Materialism and the New Historicism”.
Loomba, Ania. “Shakespeare and Cultural Difference”.
Baker, Francis, Peter Hulme. “Nymphs and Reapers heavily vanish: The Discursive Contexts of The Tempest”.
Thompson, Ann. “King Lear and the Politics of Teaching Shakespeare”.

Unit 4

[Detailed]

King Lear.
The Tempest.

Unit 5

[Non-Detailed]

Julius Ceaser.
The Merchant of Venice.

To create an awareness of social, political and cultural aspects of the Elizabethan age; to expose the learners to the distinctive features of the theatre and the audience of Shakespeare’s time; to introduce the students to Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies and historical plays; to familiarize them to modern readings of Shakespeare.

1. Brown, Paul. “‘This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine:’ The Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism.”
2. Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield. Ed.Political Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Materialism. 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1994. 48-71. Print.
3. Loomba, Ania. “Shakespeare and Cultural Difference”. In Alternative Shakespeares. Vol II. Ed. Terrence Hawks. NY: Routledge, 2003.
4. Baker, Francis, Peter Hulme. “Nymphs and Reapers heavily vanish: The Discursive Contexts of The Tempest”in Alternative Shakespeares. Vol.I. ed. John Drakakis. NY: Routledge, 2002.
5. Thompson, Ann. “King Lear and the Politics of Teaching Shakespeare” Shakespeare Quarterly Vol. 41, No. 2 (Summer, 1990), pp. 139-146.
6. Longhurst, Derek. “Not for All Time, But for an Age”: An Approach to Shakespeare Studies” in Widdowson, Peter. Ed. Re-reading English. NY: Routledge, 1992.

1. A.C.Bradley.Shakespearen Tragedy. Fourth Edition,Palgrave,Macmillian, January 2007.
2. Cooke,Katherine.A.C.Bradley and his Influence in Twentieth – century Shakespeare Criticism. Oxford. Clarendon.
3. Dusinberre, Juliet, Shakespeare and the Nature of Women.
4. Elliot,T.S. “Hamlet” in Selected Essays.
5. G.B. Harrison. Introducing Shakespeare, Penguin Books.
6. Northrop Frye on Shakespeare. Ed. Robert Sandier. Markham,ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
7. Jonathan, Dollimore and Alan Sinfield. Eds.The Political Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Criticism.UK: Manchester University Press, 2003.
8. Drakakis John. Ed. Alternative Shakespeare. Psychology Press, 2002.