363 S19 Graham

363

English 363: Shakespeare 2

Section 1

MW 1-2:20; HH 227

Spring 2019

Prof. Ken Graham

HH 246; ex.32124

k2graham@uwaterloo.ca

Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:30-12; Wednesdays 2:30-3:30; or by appointment

Texts: The Folger Shakespeare Library editions of Othello, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, Pericles, and The Winter’s Tale.

Aims of the Course

The principal aim of this class is to make us better – more careful, more perceptive, more knowledgeable – readers of Shakespeare’s plays, and thereby to make us more alert and alive to the problems that the plays invite us to experience and contemplate and to the pleasures that they invite us to share. Although we cannot hope to know these plays with any finality, we can become more aware of their involvement with the issues of their time and of the challenges and opportunities they present to modern readers.

Methods and Requirements

We will read and study six of the tragic and tragicomic works that dominate the second half of Shakespeare’s career as a playwright. The class will mix discussion with smaller amounts of lecture and performance. Graded work comprises:

  1. Class participation. I will expect you to attend conscientiously and to participate in an informed and productive manner – and to bring a paper copy of the play we’re studying with you every day. Quality is generally more important than quantity, but I am impressed by a willingness to go out on a limb. I am also as interested in the courtesy and respect with which you listen and respond to what others say as in the sharpness of your own perceptions. Attendance and punctuality count: you can’t participate if you aren’t present. The occasional informal writing assignment may also count here. It is your responsibility to inform me promptly of the reasons for an absence if you wish it to be excused. Weight = 10%
  1. Response papers. In these informal 2-page (~500-word) papers you will explore responses to a central thematic, formal, or theoretical question that interests you in your initial reading of each play. Your papers should be focussed and should refer to specific words and actions in the play, but they need not argue or take a position. Responses are due at the start of class on the day a play first appears on the syllabus. You will receive one point for each satisfactory response paper you turn in on time, and a bonus of four points if you turn all six in by the last class period. Response papers falling significantly below 500 words may not receive full credit. As with any written assignment, you must properly acknowledge all sources consulted. Weight = 10%
  1. Two tests, eighty minutes each in length. The first will be a closed-book exam on the first three plays; it will include identification passages and an essay question. The second will be a closed-book exam on the last three plays; it will include identification passages and an essay question. Weight = 2 x 25%
  1. A formal essay, 1800-2700 words in length. Late papers will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted. Otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends. The full assignment is on page 4. Weight = 30%

Class Schedule

May 6. M Introduction to the class

   8.  W Othello

13. M Othello

15. W Othello

  1. M Victoria Day – No Class

   22. W Othello

  1. M King Lear
  1. W King Lear

June 3. M King Lear

  1. W King Lear
  1. M Antony and Cleopatra
  1. W Antony and Cleopatra
  1. M Antony and Cleopatra
  1. W Test #1
  1. M Measure for Measure
  1. W Measure for Measure

July 1. M Canada Day – No Class

  1. Tu Measure for Measure
  1. W Pericles; original essay topics due 3:00 p.m.

     8. M Pericles

  1. W Pericles; drafts due 1:00 p.m.
  1. M Winter’s Tale
  1. W Winter’s Tale; draft discussion day
  1. M Winter’s Tale
  1. W Winter’s Tale; essays due 1:00 p.m.
  1. M Test #2

Class and University Policies

You must turn in a paper copy of all written assignments to receive credit. Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted. Otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends. Sending me an electronic copy of an essay will stop the late clock, but you must also turn in a paper copy either directly to me or to the English Department’s drop box (HH 2016E). If you do not turn in a completed draft of the essay on the draft due date, you will receive a penalty of 5% on the essay. If you do not satisfactorily complete the group draft response assignment, you will likewise receive a penalty of 5% on your essay. (If you do neither, your total penalty will be 10%). Missed tests may be made up only with a valid medical excuse.

I will normally reply to email messages within 24 hours, weekends excepted. In the case of emails requiring lengthy replies, I may indicate to you that you should see me in person.

Laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and other portable electronic devices can become distractions both to the user and to others and so may not normally be used in class. Speak with me if you believe you require an exemption from this policy.

Note for students with disabilities: The AccessAbility Services office, located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (1401), collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term.

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage, https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/current-undergraduates/student-support/ethical-behaviour, for more information.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity, https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/, for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/policy-71. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/guidelines/guidelines-assessment-penalties.

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/policy-70. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/policy-72.

All sources of information that you use in your written work in this class must be cited fully and scrupulously. If I suspect that you have committed an academic offense, including plagiarism, I will report it to the Associate Dean; if the offense is confirmed, the normal result is a failing grade on the assignment and a further five marks off the course grade.

Essay Assignment

Write about any topic of interest to you, provided that its focus is the class reading list. Your essay should be 1800-2700 words long (12-point type, double-spaced) and follow a consistent documentation format. It must argue a clear thesis, and it must take the form of a unified and well-structured defence of that thesis. It will be judged on the strength and originality of its thesis, on the quality, clarity, and coherence of its supporting arguments, and on the felicity and correctness of its expression. Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted. Otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends.

A full-length draft of the essay is due July 10. You will need to bring a copy for everyone in your writing group and a copy to hand in. In exchange you will receive copies of the drafts of your group’s other members. You will need to read these and write thoughtful comments on them by July 17. If you do not turn in and distribute a completed draft of your essay on time, you will receive a penalty of 5% on the paper. If you do not satisfactorily complete the draft response assignment on time, you will likewise receive a penalty of 5% on your paper.

You do not need to consult secondary sources to write this essay, and doing so could hinder your creativity. If you do make use of such sources, however, be sure that they do not control or determine your argument; rather, your critical engagement with them, whether it takes the form of agreement or disagreement, must serve to advance, and must be clearly subordinate to, your own original thesis. Also be sure to cite all use of such sources fully and scrupulously.

The following list is meant to suggest the range of topics you might choose to explore.

  1. Explore the theme of justice in King Lear and/or Measure for Measure.
  1. Read one or more of the historical sources of one of Shakespeare’s plays and make an argument about how and with what effects Shakespeare shapes his historical source material.
  1. Compare a written adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s plays to the original.
  1. Examine the representation of gender in one of the plays.
  1. Choose a key word or pattern of imagery in one of the plays and pursue its significance as a way of opening up the play.
  1. Write about the function of rhetoric and/or debate in one or more plays.
  1. Discuss the importance of religion in one or more plays.
  1. Write about a topic of your own. You must request and receive my permission to write on this topic by 3:00 p.m. on July 3.

DUE DATE: July 24, 1:00 p.m.