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Eng 4183-01/5183-001 Renaissance Drama Excluding Shakespeare Tuesdays & Thursdays Schedule This course is a survey of selected plays from different periods of the Renaissance drama, including Doctor Faustus, The Spanish Tragedy, Titus Andronicus (because many deny the Shakespeare authorship), The Revenger's Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, The Alchemist, The Changeling, and `Tis Pity She's A Whore. Each class will consist of lecture and class discussion. In addition, some aspect of the Elizabethan/Jacobean theatre or the age of the dramatists will accompany the discussion of each play. No prerequisite for the class is required, although even a cursory knowledge of Shakespeare will help. Class requirements consist of one paper, six to eight typed pages, a midterm and final examination. Students may choose to do two papers -- four to five pages -- rather than one in order to learn from the first paper. If you want or need attention with your writing, I recommend the two shorter papers. For graduate students, please do two papers, a minimum of five pages each, incorporating secondary sources. Class attendance is mandatory, which includes being on time. More than four absences will severely affect your grade: please show respect to other students, me, and yourself by attending class regularly. Any edition or anthology of the plays will serve for the class; however, I have ordered individual copies of editions I prefer, which are available at the bookstore. I have also ordered several secondary works you may find beneficial, but none of these is required for the class. In addition, a Reading List, which you may find helpful for the class or in writing your paper, is available upon request. You may also find the photocopy packet from Shakespeare Survey helpful; it has information on the medieval stage, drawings of stages, writing suggestions, a sample paper, and other useful information. It too is available at the bookstore. I hope you find the plays and background material for this class as interesting and exciting as I do; it's unfortunate that so many excellent plays have been eclipsed by Shakespeare's work. The Renaissance drama is, pound for pound, the greatest single corpus of literature in English. My office is located in the Honors Program (at the back of the Ellis Library, directly across from Communications and Education), LIB 103. I’m in each day of the week from about 9:00 a.m. until this class (with another immediately after this one). The number is 972-2308, and my email is wnarey@astate.edu.
Syllabus for Renaissance Drama January 8: Introduction to Elizabethan Stage 10: Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus 15: Faustus; Stage conventions 17: Faustus; Poetry 22: Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy 24: Spanish Tragedy; Audiences 29: Spanish Tragedy 31: Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus February 5: Titus; the authorship controversy 7: Titus 12: Information on the paper 14: Tourneur’s The Revenger’s Tragedy 19: Revenger’s Tragedy; Jacobean tragedy 21: Revenger’s Tragedy 26: Midterm Examination; 1st paper due 28: Jonson’s The Alchemist; Jacobean Comedy March 5 & 7: No Class 11 – 15: Spring Break 19: Alchemist 21: Alchemist 26: Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi 28: Duchess of Malfi; character portraiture April 2: Duchess of Malfi 4: Middleton & Rowley’s The Changeling 9: Changeling; psychological drama 11: Changeling 16: Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore 18: ‘Tis Pity; end of an era 23: ‘Tis Pity 25: Review; Final paper due May 7: Final Examination (10:15 a.m.)
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