English 258 - Feminist Shakespeare

Shakespeare has been both celebrated for his strong female roles—from independent heroines like Rosalind to formidable villains like Lady Macbeth—and condemned for the troubling politics of gender, class and race that he stages. Over the past fifty years, feminist scholars, writers and directors have grappled with this apparent contradiction via boundary-breaking criticism, radical imaginative work and transgressive productions of the Bard’s most difficult plays. Students explore what it means to interpret and perform Shakespeare through a feminist lens across eight fiercely debated plays; they also consider a number of Shakespearean adaptations and appropriations. Not open to first-years. (E)

[CE] No FY