English 634
Dr. Desmet
Spring 1997
Office: 331 Park Hall
Phone: 542-1261 (main office)
542-2224 (my office)
Period 7-8 MW, 7F
Office hours: M 1:15-2:00, W 9:15-9:45, W 1:15-2:00, W 4:30-5:00, F 9-10, 11-12

RENAISSANCE DRAMA

COURSE GOALS:

This course focuses on plays from the Renaissance or early modern period, exclusive of Shakespeare. We will concentrate on several important dramatists of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods: Marlowe, Jonson, and Webster. We will also study other plays that provide important background for understanding the drama or raise interesting critical issues. Class work will emphasize several critical skills: close reading of selected dramatic texts, understanding the plays as drama, and placing Renaissance drama within its historical and cultural contexts.

TEXTS:

Primary

Everyman (on-line text)
Marlowe, Faustus and Other Plays, ed. Bevington and Rassmussen
Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy, ed. Mulryne
Webster, Three Plays, ed. Weis
Jonson, The Alchemist and Other Plays, ed. Campbell
Arden of Feversham, ed. White
Heywood, Fair Maid of the West
Ceresano and Wynne-Davies, Renaissance Drama by Women
Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling
Middleton and Dekker, The Roaring Girl (also available as an on-line text)

Secondary

Kastan and Stallybrass, Staging the Renaissance
Belsey, The Subject of Tragedy
Braunmuller and Hattaway, eds. The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama
Parker and Hendricks, eds., Women, "Race," and Writing in the Early Modern Period

GRADES AND REQUIREMENTS:

Course grades will be based on the following:

Class on-line "journal" for short homework papers 10%
1 short paper, 5pp 10%
1 long paper, 15-20pp 50%
Group Web project 15%
Final examination 15%

DUE DATES:

Usenet "journal": due the first day we discuss every play
Short Paper: Friday April 18
Long paper: Monday June 9
Group Web project: Friday May 16
MIDPOINT OF THE QUARTER: Friday May 2
Final examination: take-home examination, due no later than 3:00 Thursday June 12

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

Using another author's words, sentences, or even ideas without explicit acknowledgement is plagiarism. If you quote directly from a source, put that sentence(s) or portions of a sentence in quotation marks, then indicate your debt with a footnote. If you use another author's ideas, you must also indicate that debt with a footnote. At the very least, protect yourself with a list of works read. Cases of possible plagiarism will be dealt with according to university rules. For further information, consult the university's booklet, A Culture of Honesty.

ATTENDANCE:

I take attendance, and attendance will be factored into your participation grade. All absences are excused, but any student who misses more than three classes before the midpoint of the quarter will be dropped from the class.

Week 1 Humanism and the Hero

• Mon. March 31 Introduction
• Wed. April 2 Everyman/Doctor Faustus (A Text)

Week 2 Heroism Feminized

• Mon. April 7 Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (B text)
• Wed. April 9 Carey, The Tragedy of Mariam

Week 3 Pastoral and Passion

• Mon. April 14 Ben Jonson, Volpone
• Wed. April 16 Wroth, Love's Victory

Week 4 The Exotic Other

• Mon. April 21 Marlowe, Tamburlaine, Part 1
• Wed. April 23 Tamburlaine, Part 2

Week 5 Exoticism Domesticated

• Mon. April 28 Heywood, Fair Maid of the West
• Wed. April 30 Sidney, Tragedy of Antonie

Week 6 Gender, Power, and Rule

• Mon. May 5 Marlowe, Edward II
• Wed. May 7 Webster, Duchess of Malfi

Week 7 Revenge is Sweet

• Mon. May 12 Kyd, Spanish Tragedy
• Wed. May 14 Arden of Feversham

Week 8 Perverse Passions

• Mon. May 19 Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling
• Wed. May 21 Webster, The White Devil

Week 9 Citizens take Center Stage

• Mon. May 26 Jonson, The Alchemist
• Wed. May 28 Jonson, Epicoene

Week 10 The Other at Home

• Mon. June 2 Middleton and Dekker, The Roaring Girl
• Wed. June 4 Jonson, Masque of Blackness; Oberon

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