University of Houston Downtown 
Dr. Merrilee Cunningham, PhD. 
cunninghamm@uhd.edu. 

Credit Hours: 3 (without capstone option, 4 hours credit with capstone option available to second semester juniors and seniors only)

University of Houston Downtown
E-mail: cunningham@uhd.edu
Homepage: http//www.uhd.edu/~cunningm (This has an extensive Shakespeare index including links, bibliography, and a gallery of famous Shakespearean paintings. You will also find your syllabus here in case you misplace it.).
Office: 1039S
Office phone: 713-221-8107

Aiming to make you a competent reader and auditor of Shakespeare's works, this course examines Shakespeare's major plays, including representative histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. Class discussion will explore provocative issues implicit in the bard's plays, focusing on the way in which his work is embedded in Renaissance culture, its links to intellectual trends, religious controversies and the new learning and the age of exploration. In this class we will approach Shakespearean drama with several questions in mind. What is the relationship of Shakespearean drama to the English Renaissance Dramatic Tradition and the Medieval and Classical Traditions? How are Shakespeare's plays cultural artifacts? What is the work as an aesthetic artifact? What is the relationship of the work to the dramatist and his life? What is the interaction between the society of the play as well as the players? What theatrical production values can we presuppose in Shakespeare's time? What is the relationship of the play to the social, political, and economic situations? Of the period? By Christmas, you will respond to a Shakespearean text with understanding, critical perception, and joy. You will know what to listen for and be familiar with Shakespearean themes, tricks, and characterization

1. Develop further critical reading and analytic skills by reading dramatic and non-dramatic poetry from the Shakespearean canon.
2. Trace the development of Shakespeare's modes, styles, staging traditions and innovations, editing, acting, discovery of history and record.
3. Increase our understanding and familiarity with some of the greatest dramatic poetry ever written.
4. Comprehend the complexities of Shakespearean stagecraft, historical circumstances, psychology, court and town traditions, and reformation and counter-reformation influences.
5. Learn to read and analyze individual literary, Shakespearean texts within a cultural and historical context.
6. Improve writing and analytical skills, particularly the skill of writing literary analyses in essay form, using the conventions of the university academic community.
7. Demonstrate how to write cogent, extended library interpretations incorporating critical sources acquired through library research and documented correctly and adequately using the MLA style of documentation.

Theater is a social, collaborative effort. The study of theater requires the same. Your absence and tardiness with adversely effect the people with whom you are working (and your own grade). Group activity will be a regular part of your class work. I take a very dim view of students who do not participate to their best ability in this class and absent or silent people are not fully participating. If you must choose between being late and not coming at all, of course, come to my class late and will attempt to prevent your being embarrassed.

1. Appropriateness of response to the topic. (If the essay does not address the topic, the grade is 0).
2. Appropriateness and strength of proofs.
3. Originality of essay.
4. Grammatical Correctness
5. Clarity and rhetorical level of writing style
6. Detailed textual evidence used in essay.
7. Conception sophistication of essay.
8. Adherence to the conventions of academic writing, including thesis, organization, proofs, structure.
9. Use of correct documentation for secondary sources.

Grades:

900 - 1000 - A = Excellent college-level work
800 - 899 B = Good college-level work
700 - 799 - C = Adequate college-level work
650 - 699 - D = Poor college-level work
0 - 649 - F = Failing college-level work
No work submitted = 0 = F

Participation, including any quizzes 200 points

During several classes, I will give a quiz over the day's reading assignment. To be eligible to take a quiz, you must be in class at the time of the quiz, which is usually, but not always, the beginning of class. Students who arrive after or leave before I administer a quiz will not be allowed to take the quiz. There will be no opportunities to make up missed quizzes. Quizzes are the instructor's deliberate attempt to reward those who read the assignment before class and then attend the entire class listening to the pearls of wisdom that the instructor and one's colleagues have to offer. Quizzes are a wonderful way for a struggling student of Shakespeare to level the playing field a little, to help his or her cause, and to use determination and perseverance in the pursuit of academic victories.

Midterm 200 points

The midterm examination will consist of short answer and short essay questions. Before the exam I will hand you a review sheet and study questions. Essay responses should be organized clearly with a thesis, clear support for the answer in a variety of relevant specific references to the reading, and demonstrations of your skills in critical reading and thinking.

Final Examination 200 points

The final will be in the same format as the midterm examination, but will include the material since the midterm in the identification section and refer to all material covered in the essays. A study guide will be provided.

Annotated Bibliography for paper 100 points

This is due one week before the research paper and will illustrate an understanding of the state of research on your subject. If Stephen Orgel, Michel Focault or your own editor, Greenblatt, has written anything on your topic, it is your job to read it as you exhaust the periodical literature on your subject. If you work on Lear, make sure that you look at Kenneth S. Rothwell's groundbreaking criticism.

Long Paper 200 points

An extended study, due at the end of summer school, the ticket to entrance into the final examination, but due the week before the final exam, this is a serious piece of scholarship for the course.

Video, Movie or Theatre Review 100 points

This is a review of the productions that we will see.. It will consider some of the following: acting, setting, interpretation, wardrobe, directing. Certainly, one of the reasons to teach drama during the summer is to take advantage of the Shakespeare at the library and that the English Dept. has spent thousands of dollars to acquire. You are welcome to bring significant others with you to the performance. I will list some of the options for this review on the dates assigned for the plays. I suggest that you check these out on the 4th. Floor in the Video Department of the McKinney St. Downtown :Library.

"Mine honor is my life; both grow in one;
Take honor from me, and my life is done."
King Richard II.

You will fail the course if you plagiarize. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of ideas (Whether paraphrased, summarized or quoted) by a writer who weeks to pass off those ideas as his or her original thought. If you fail to document or attribute a source of the idea, even if you restate another writer's ideas, you have plagiarized. A serious university offense, plagiarism may be punished by failure or expulsion.
Students who plagiarize on the research paper will receive an F on the paper

. To avoid plagiarism, you must document your papers using the MLA citation format. We will not cover this format in class, since it is covered in English 1302, a prerequisite for taking this class, but if you do not know how to document your paper, I would be happy to teach you by taking you personally through the system. The library has a handout on MLA citation format and directions on citations are easily found on the web. If you do not know how to use CD-ROM databases in the library or in the computer center I would be happy to help you with those also.

Late Assignments:

Papers are due on the assigned day at the beginning of class. Unless special accommodation has been made, late papers will be penalized 3 points for each day in which they are not present with a 10% minimum for the first late day. If you fail to submit a paper or take either exam, you will receive an F in the course. If you fail to submit an assignment you will receive a 0 for that assignment. All assignments in this class must be submitted on time, even if you are absent. Late assignments are taken at the discretion of the instructor and carry a minimum penalty of 10% of the grade to be deducted for each and every late assignment. Talk to me if you have a problem. 713-221-8107.

Individual Needs:

I will make every attempt to maximize accessibility. I will be available before and after class and during office hours, which will be posted on my office door. If you have problems understanding the assignments please seek to talk to me about those assignments. Talk to me often. Get involved in the course and the course material.

Textbook:

Stephen Greenblatt, The Norton Shakespeare, New York: W. W. Norton, 1st. ed. (While this is a great edition of Shakespeare, you do not have to buy it if you prefer to use another edition or single play paperbacks, or the MIT or Canadian on-line Shakespeares. If, however, you want to purchase a great text, this is what I have ordered for the bookstore.

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Oral report presenter ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Much Ado About Nothing

Oral report presenter----------------------------------------------------------------------
MacBeth

Week 5

Coriolanus

Final Examination