ENL 5227 Summer 2021 Della Gatta

Some of Shakespeare’s best-known plays explictly address cultural Others through foreignness, racial, cultural, ethnic, and religious difference, leading us to examine how these characters are shaped in opposition to ideas of British nationhood, masculinity, Protestantism, and whiteness. But Shakespeare also wrote numerous culturally unmarkable plays which also comment on identity. The objectives of this course are two-fold: first, to develop a strategy for reading early modern prose and verse, and second, to attend to constructions of identity in both text and performance. Students will be introduced to and work with various online resources for the study of Shakespeare. This involves reading dramatic literature for how it signals theatrical practice. The final unit will focus on the performance of identity in today’s theatrical context.

Primary readings include select Shakespeare plays and sonnets, as well as some filmed versions of the plays. Secondary readings will provide context for the formation of racial categories and for staging techniques in the theatre. Required Text: The New Oxford Shakespeare: Modern Critical Edition. Secondary readings will be posted on Canvas.