ENG-2111 | UiT

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 December for courses offered in the spring semester.

Exchange students and Fulbright students: 15 April for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 October for courses offered in the spring semester.

Type of course

This course may be taken as a single course. A good command of oral and written English is recommended.

Admission requirements

Higher Education Entrance Qualification (generell studiekompetanse) or prior learning and work experience (realkompetanse).

A good command of oral and written English is recommended.

Application code: 9199 - Enkeltemner (ikke realfag), lavere grad (Nordic applicants).

Course content

Perhaps we revere Shakespeare more than we enjoy him. This course aims to redress that imbalance. We shall spend time getting to know a range of Shakespeare's plays in detail, supplementing this knowledge with information about their historical background, their theatrical history, and current critical debates as represented in the film versions we watch for the course. This course focuses on five Shakespeare plays, covering a range of genres and periods of his writing. There is an emphasis on both page and stage (or film), and on enriching enjoyment and appreciation of Shakespeare's work in the context of his own time and of ours. Writers have been mining the Shakespearean canon for 420 years. Moviemakers have been at it for 111 years. The first known film to make use of a Shakespeare play was a British production made in 1899. Hollywood has produced at least 250 films based on the plays or on characters or plots from the plays. Of Hamlet alone, close to 100 movie and TV adaptations have been made since 1907; including the more recent "Hamlet 2000". For each play we read, we will view two versions of the play, comparing them, by focusing on the play as both staged and filmed. We will also use versions not exclusive to the English stage such as Ran which is a Japanese movie that sets King Lear in feudal Japan and turns Lear's daughters into sons.

Objectives of the course

Knowledge

By the end of this course students can expect:

To understand the plays studied in different critical contexts, including historical, theoretical, and theatrical
To feel confident in their ability to understand and appreciate Shakespeare within the context of his contemporaries and also within different medial presentations of his work

Skills

By the end of this course students will have gained the following skills:

Enhanced ability to read Shakespeare's plays
Enhanced ability to recognize and deploy different critical methodologies and to understand something of the range of Shakespeare studies
Enhanced ability to understand their own critical/theoretical stance as readers and theatre goers/film viewers

General competence

This course will enable students to:

Develop their knowledge, understanding, and enjoyment of Shakespeare's plays
Feel more confident in going to see an unfamiliar Shakespeare play and to teach Shakespeare at a number of different levels
Develop new critical skills with which to approach Shakespeare on page and stage and, by extension, skills of literary criticism and appreciation of drama in performance more generally

Language of instruction and examination

Language of instruction and examination: English.

Teaching methods

The course will be taught two hours per week for 13 weeks.

Assessment

Coursework requirements:

The student will explicate a passage in a Shakespeare play in a short essay to be written in class. This in-class writing activity will take place in the first six-seven weeks of the course.
The student will write a 4-6 page essay discussing a thematic or literary technique in one of the Shakespeare plays discussed in the course.

Coursework requirements are evaluated with approved/not approved. Students must get both coursework requirements approved to qualify for the final exam.

Assessment method: A term paper of 8-10 pages. All written work is based on the following standard: Times New Roman, 12, 1,5, 2,5 cm.

Performance in the course will be assessed on a graded scale of five marks from A to E for pass and F for fail. A re-sit examination is offered in the event of F/fail. The deadline to register (in the Studentweb) for the re-sit examination is 15 January (for courses offered in the autumn semester) and 15 August (for courses offered in the spring semester). In the event of a re-sit examination, the student is allowed to submit a revised version of his/her term paper within a given deadline.

autumn 2020 ENG-2111 Shakespeare Today - 10 ECTS