Tues., Sept. 3 - We begin.
Course introductions. Bill Bryson (pp. 1-4) and a portrait of Shakespeare. This blog. Shakespeare in Love (R & J scene).
P.M. Review pp. 1-4 and read pp. 4-9. See ClassJump, in the section called Course Downloads. Please read carefully, as we'll take a light reader's quiz - open-notes basis - on these pages on Wednesday. Continue to familiarize yourself with this blog and the related blogs (see RH column).
Wed., Sept. 4
Reader's Quiz (open notes). Check out books from the Media Ctr. (a Shakes. comedy, plus the Cambridge companion).
P.M. Reading in the comedy: Act I, sc. 1.
Thurs., Sept. 5
Rehearse a Reader's Quiz (Who-Said-What) in Act I, sc. 1. Discuss textual issues in Shakespeare.
P.M. Act I, sc. ii. From this point forward, there is always the prospect of a reader's quiz on the night's reading, so please do your best to be prepared by tomorrow morning!
Fri., Sept. 6
Discuss // Process Act I, scenes i and ii. Magic Extravaganza: 1/11.
Weekend Reading: Act I, sc. iii
Mon., Sept. 9
Discuss I, iii. Begin to discuss the verse structure of iambic pentameter.
P.M. Read Act I, sc. iv-v.
Tues., Sept. 10
Discuss Act I, sc. iv-v. View more of the Trevor Nunn film production.
P.M. Review for a Quiz on I, i-ii-iii-iv-v: Who Said What to Whom?
Wed., Sept. 11
Quiz on I, i-ii-iii-iv-v. View the remainder of Act I. Verse Structure.
P.M. Read Act II, sc. i & ii. Someone: prepare Viola's soliloquy!
Thurs., Sept. 12
Correct quiz. More on verse structure. Discuss II, i and ii.
P.M. Read II, iii. Review II, i-ii-iii.
Fri., Sept. 13
Likely QUIZ (WhSWhtoWh.?): Act II, sc. i-ii-iii.
Weekend: Please finish reading all of Act II. (Actors, TBA)
Mon., Sept. 16
Process Act II in class.
P.M. Read Act III.
Tues., Sept. 17
Process Act III in class. Film / script. Scansion.
P.M. Read Act IV.
Wed., Sept. 18
Process Act IV in class. Script. Scansion.
P.M. Finish reading 12N, by Wm. Shakespeare. We will take an objective test on the play this Friday, Sept. 20. Emphasis: Acts III-IV-V. Features likely to be on the test: Scansion of lines in iambic pentameter -- Distinguishing the prose from the blank verse (poetry) -- Themes in 12N (MUSIC, LOVE, IDENTITY (known vs. confused), MENTAL HEALTH (Sanity vs. Madness (insanity) / Love-Struck vs. Not-Love-Struck // Alcoholic vs. Non-Alcoholic), LANGUAGE (French, Latin, the language of poems, letters & messages, puns, malapropisms), and PURITANISM (vs. freedom!). I will also expect you to be adept at identifying key lines (in III-IV-V) for Who Said What, to Whom? You will be allowed to bring a 1-page Cheat Sheet -- one side, crammed with as much information about Acts III-IV-V as you wish to include.
Thurs., Sept. 19
Continue to review the play. Prep. for Friday's test.
P.M. Study Acts III-IV-V for Friday's Test.
Friday, Sept. 20
Objective test on Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night, or What You Will (1601). Take home the Essay assignment in Shakespearean comedy and begin to think about your paper (due Mon., 9/30).
Weekend. GO TO CLASSJUMP AND DOWNLOAD THE TAKE-HOME TEST ON ACTS III, IV, AND V OF SHAKESPEARE'S 12TH NIGHT. (It's the third item under Course Downloads.) DUE MONDAY, SEPT. 23.
ALSO, please see the Course Downloads on ClassJump for the essay assignment, due Monday, Sept. 30. (Fourth item under Class Downloads.)
Monday, Sept. 23
Bring your completed take-home test to class. View & discuss the first half of Midsummer.
P.M. Continue work on your essay.
Tues., Sept. 24
View & discuss the second half of Midsummer.
P.M. Continue to work on your essay.
Wed., Sept. 25
Finish any residual Midsummer discussion. Launch The Tragedy of Othello, Moor of Venice.
P.M. Continue to work on your essay.
Thurs., Sept. 26
Work on Othello in class.
P.M. Continue to work on your essay. Please remember to bring three printed drafts of your essay to Friday's class.
Fri., Sept. 27
Peer edit essays. Work on Othello.
Weekend: Finish your Essay on Shakespearean Comedy. It's due on Monday, hard & fast deadline.
Monday, Sept. 30
Continue working on Othello. Begin the nightly reading assignments wherever we are. (Soon, the acting assignments in Acts IV and V.)
P.M.
Tues., Oct. 1
Launch Shakespeare's OTHELLO. Encountering Iago and Roderigo in the streets of old Venice,, we immediately notice similarities to other relationships in Shakespeare -- certainly, an echo of the purse-holding Toby and his gulled fool, Sir Andrew. Note, too, the images of animals (asses, sheep) and their food ("provender"). We hear of these same farm elements in Midsummer, although obviously not in such coarse references!
Think about Iago's plight in the echoes from your own life... Have you ever been "passed over" for a role, a job, or a promotion that you had hoped for? How does it feel to be overlooked? The cast list notifies us that Iago is a villain, but isn't there something in this villain's life for audiences to identify with?
P.M. Please review I, sc. i, and read I, sc. ii for Wednesday's class. Also, please feel free to consult the film, with Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh (1996). It's easy to access this on YouTube (full version). As you read, practice scansion in iambic pentameter and see if you can trace any evolution in Shakespeare's verse, especially in relation to earlier plays such as Midsummer or Romeo and Juliet.
Wed., Oct. 2
Reader's Quiz and/or Discussion process in the first two scenes. Scansion in iambic pentameter. Launch scene iii.
P.M. Read Act I, sc. iii.
Thurs., Oct. 3
Reader's quiz and/or discussion process in scene iii of Othello.
Fri., Oct. 4
Discuss the arrivals at Cyprus -- three Venetian ships on a wind-tossed sea make it safely, even as the Turks are "segregated" and drowned (in "wracks") by the storm.
Weekend: Read Act II, sc. i and ii. It's fine to consult the 1996 film, with Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh (YouTube). You might compare Shakespeare's lines with the words in the film, and see where they've made cuts or sequential changes in adapting these scenes for the big screen. Please be amply familiar with key lines, characters, and ideas in case there's a Quiz on Monday. Also, you'd do well to rehearse scansion in iambic pentameter to prepare for this or any quiz. With that in mind, I'll post my breakdown of Shakespeare's three most common forms of iambic pentameter -- see the last & most recent Course Download on ClassJump (Shakespeare course section).
Mon., Oct. 7
Likely Quiz -- Who Says What, to Whom, in Context -- on II, sc. i-ii, of Othello. You'd do well to rehearse scansion in iambic pentameter. After the quiz, we'll try to make further headway in reading the play.
P.M. Read Act II, sc. iii. Please feel free to watch the YouTube (Othello (1996), with Laurence Fishburne & Kenneth Branagh) for support. As it happens, the dialogue in Act II, sc. iii, is not cut up too much. We are likely to have a legitimate, solo-status Reader's Quiz on Tues., on II, iii.
Tues., Oct 8
Likely Reader's Quiz on II, sc. iii. Begin to negotiate casting for Actor's Scenes in Acts IV and V.
P.M. Read Act III, sc. i (brief), sc. ii (brief), and the first half of sc. iii (longer): pp. 204-226, l. 281 ("when we do quicken"). III, iii, is a big, pivotal scene; so we'll take a couple of days with it -- discussing language, ideas, and forms.
