Shakespeare's Life, World and Works 5: How to Read Shakespeare

Shakespeare wrote numerous plays and poems engaged with ancient Roman history. Shakespeare’s Renaissance culture had ancient Rome as its foundation stone. Roman language and literature were at the heart of English Renaissance education, and Rome was held up as a model for English civilization. But in Titus Andronicus, the earliest of his Roman works, Shakespeare crafts a bloody tale of violence and revenge that subjects this entire cultural edifice to searing critique. Are the violence and moral vacuums of this play a perversion of Roman values, or are they a central part of the classical tradition? In this course, you’ll learn the story and historical context behind Titus Andronicus, discover the classical sources that structure this play, and see how the play’s most controversial elements pose a serious question about the purpose of tragedy. In Part 1, you’ll be guided through a detailed account of the story with commentary by Russ Leo, Associate Professor of English at Princeton University. This episode introduces the key historical, political, and literary contexts that shape the play’s questions and themes. This summary is told using the language of the play itself, placing key quotations in context to help you understand where these lines come from and what they mean. Part 2 opens with a discussion of the place of Rome in Renaissance culture. It then analyzes the Roman classical sources – sources his audience knew well – that Shakespeare uses to construct his plot, and how Shakespeare’s use of those sources calls their moral values into question. It goes on to discuss the elements of the play that have generated most shock and revulsion – the graphic violence, the irreverent dark humor – and how they relate to the very purpose of theatre. Part 3 features close-readings of several significant scenes that show how religion, race, and literary tradition function within the violent world of Titus Andronicus and sometimes provoke that violence.

Shakespeare wrote numerous plays and poems engaged with ancient Roman history. Shakespeare’s Renaissance culture had ancient Rome as its foundation stone. Roman language and literature were at the heart of English Renaissance education, and Rome was held up as a model for English civilization. But in Titus Andronicus, the earliest of his Roman works, Shakespeare crafts a bloody tale of violence and revenge that subjects this entire cultural edifice to searing critique. Are the violence and moral vacuums of this play a perversion of Roman values, or are they a central part of the classical tradition? In this course, you’ll learn the story and historical context behind Titus Andronicus, discover the classical sources that structure this play, and see how the play’s most controversial elements pose a serious question about the purpose of tragedy. In Part 1, you’ll be guided through a detailed account of the story with commentary by Russ Leo, Associate Professor of English at Princeton University. This episode introduces the key historical, political, and literary contexts that shape the play’s questions and themes. This summary is told using the language of the play itself, placing key quotations in context to help you understand where these lines come from and what they mean. Part 2 opens with a discussion of the place of Rome in Renaissance culture. It then analyzes the Roman classical sources – sources his audience knew well – that Shakespeare uses to construct his plot, and how Shakespeare’s use of those sources calls their moral values into question. It goes on to discuss the elements of the play that have generated most shock and revulsion – the graphic violence, the irreverent dark humor – and how they relate to the very purpose of theatre. Part 3 features close-readings of several significant scenes that show how religion, race, and literary tradition function within the violent world of Titus Andronicus and sometimes provoke that violence.

Shakespeare wrote numerous plays and poems engaged with ancient Roman history. Shakespeare’s Renaissance culture had ancient Rome as its foundation stone. Roman language and literature were at the heart of English Renaissance education, and Rome was held up as a model for English civilization. But in Titus Andronicus, the earliest of his Roman works, Shakespeare crafts a bloody tale of violence and revenge that subjects this entire cultural edifice to searing critique. Are the violence and moral vacuums of this play a perversion of Roman values, or are they a central part of the classical tradition? In this course, you’ll learn the story and historical context behind Titus Andronicus, discover the classical sources that structure this play, and see how the play’s most controversial elements pose a serious question about the purpose of tragedy. In Part 1, you’ll be guided through a detailed account of the story with commentary by Russ Leo, Associate Professor of English at Princeton University. This episode introduces the key historical, political, and literary contexts that shape the play’s questions and themes. This summary is told using the language of the play itself, placing key quotations in context to help you understand where these lines come from and what they mean. Part 2 opens with a discussion of the place of Rome in Renaissance culture. It then analyzes the Roman classical sources – sources his audience knew well – that Shakespeare uses to construct his plot, and how Shakespeare’s use of those sources calls their moral values into question. It goes on to discuss the elements of the play that have generated most shock and revulsion – the graphic violence, the irreverent dark humor – and how they relate to the very purpose of theatre. Part 3 features close-readings of several significant scenes that show how religion, race, and literary tradition function within the violent world of Titus Andronicus and sometimes provoke that violence.

Part 3 starts with a discussion of general reading strategies to help you discover the poetic techniques and insights of any individual sonnet. It concludes with a close-reading of three sonnets from Professor Michael Schoenfeldt that show the extraordinary range of tone, emotion, and perspective in Shakespeare’s poems. Speeches and performers: Sonnet 29, “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes” (Ashley Byam) Sonnet 18, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Jeff Cornell) Sonnet 116, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” (Amanda Harris) Sonnet 129, “Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame” (Amanda Harris)

Part 2 focuses closely on the two major “characters” to whom the sonnets are addressed: a beautiful young man, and a woman described as black. You’ll learn how the speaker represents his relationship to these figures and his desire for them, and what significance those relationships might have had in Shakespeare’s culture, as Professor Michael Schoenfeldt discusses sexual identity and race in early modern England. Sonnets Included in Episode 2 Sonnet 20, “A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted” (Ashley Byam) Sonnet 147, “My love is as a fever, longing still” (Jeff Cornell)