PREREQUISITES: Fulfillment of the College of Arts and Sciences literature requirement, or two literature classes at the 200 level.
COURSE GOALS: This course focuses on plays Renaissance drama, 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:
Everyman (on-line text)
Marlowe, Faustus and Other Plays, ed. Bevington and Rassmussen
Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy, ed. Mulryne
Webster, Three Plays, ed. Weis
Ben Jonson, The Alchemist and Other Plays, ed. Campbell
Arden of Feversham, ed. White
Heywood, Fair Maid of the West
Carey, Tragedy of Mariam (xerox or on-line text)
GRADES AND REQUIREMENTS: Course grades will be based on the following:
Class on-line "journal" for short homework papers 15%
1 short paper, 3-5pp 15%
1 long paper, 7-10pp 25%
group Web project 15%
final examination 20%
attendance and participation 10%
DUE DATES:
Usenet "journal": due the first day we discuss every play
Short Paper: Friday April 18
Long paper: Friday May 30
Group Web project: Friday May 16
MIDPOINT OF THE QUARTER: Friday May 2
Final examination: take-home examination, due no later than 5:00 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.