Spring 2025 English 225A SIG 224
Tu Th 10:30-12:20 Shakespeare
W.R. Streitberger streitwr@uw.edu
Required Materials:
Text: The Norton Shakespeare, Essential Plays/ Sonnets 3rd ed. ISBN 978-0-393-93863-0
Films (see them on YouTube or rent them):
Much Ado About Nothing (1993), dir. Kenneth Branagh (w/ Kenneth Branagh)
The Merchant of Venice (2004), dir. Michael Radford (w/ Al Pacino)
Othello (1995), dir. Oliver Parker (w/ Lawrence Fishburn)
The Tempest, (2010) dir. Julie Taymor (w/ Helen Mirren)
The Course: This is a 200-level university course in Shakespeare’s plays. Early in his career Shakespeare was primarily a writer of comedies and histories; in his later career he primarily wrote tragedies and tragicomedies. We will be concerned with close reading, viewing, and discussing plays written throughout his career: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Othello, and The Tempest.
The Course:
This is a lecture-discussion class. I will lecture from time to time, but much of our class sessions will be devoted to discussions. For each 50-minute class period I have assigned reading and provided three questions about it. Your job is to come to class prepared to discuss those questions. This a production-oriented course. We will see film adaptations of four of the plays we read. You must bring your text to every class period.