English 353ss - Seminar: Advanced Topics in Shakespeare-Shakespeare and Sexuality
Sem:Shakespeare&Sexuality
Fall
2022
01
4.00
Bruce R Smith
W 1:20 PM - 4:00 PM
Smith College
ENG-353ss-01-202301
Ford 015
bsmith17@smith.edu
Sexuality as a term for personal identity dates from the mid-nineteenth century, but Shakespeare’s plays and poems are replete with erotic desires of all sorts, allusions to sexual acts, character-types defined by their desires and acts, rebellion against authority, attempts at legal control, happy endings, and tragic endings. After honing our skills at visualizing and hearing Shakespeare’s texts, we will take up eight that are particularly concerned with what we would call sexuality. Covering the full range of Shakespeare’s career and the full range of genres in which he wrote, we will read some sonnets, Venus and Adonis, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Winter’s Tale. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required.
[CE] JR/SR only