Nicholas Utzig

Shakespeare wasn’t the first on the scene. By the time he made his entrance on the stage, English dramatists and players had been delighting audiences for nearly three centuries. This seminar examines the vibrant tradition of English drama before the Age of Shakespeare, from its medieval roots to the early 1590s. We will begin with some of the earliest surviving examples of medieval English drama, the great 14th-century cycle plays. Originally intended to supplement religious feast days, these pageant plays blossomed into lively dramatic works, paving the way for the morality plays of the late Middle Ages. With the Reformation, English drama became increasingly secularized, and theatre itself became a serious commercial concern. We’ll consider the early years of the theatre business and how the first purpose-built commercial playhouses influenced popular drama. Sixteenth-century readings will include work by the father-and-son playwrights John and Jasper Heywood, the cantankerous Robert Greene, and the scofflaw Thomas Kyd. Our progress through theatre history will end with Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus, and The Jew of Malta. Throughout the term, we’ll ask: How did plays and playgoing evolve during this period? What kind of continuities persisted? Individual conference work may focus on any aspect of medieval or early modern drama.

Famously, John Milton’s epic, Paradise Lost, sets out to “justify the ways of God to men.” An ambitious goal, without question; but Milton’s pen had some experience in justification. Two decades before Paradise Lost, Milton wrote Eikonoklastes, a defense of the execution of King Charles I. Milton’s politics were republican and antimonarchical, and the poet supported the civil war that led to the Interregnum—the decades-long interruption in England’s otherwise unbroken line of kings and queens. Paradise Lost, on the other hand, condemns civil war; and its chief rebels, Satan and the rebellious angels, are cast down for fighting to overthrow God. “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav’n,” Satan declares after the fall—another sort of justification. How might have Milton’s opposition to the divine right of kings shaped a poem about the most absolute monarch of all? How does the poem reconcile Milton’s sincere religious and political sensibilities? Why does the pious Milton give so much energy to Satan, a figure at odds with the poet’s personal beliefs? In this course, we will read Paradise Lost alongside some of Milton’s lyric poems, selections from his prose, and even his late closet drama, Samson Agonistes. By the end of the term, students will have broad understanding of Milton’s life and times and a sense of how his great epic grappled with topical controversies and timeless disputes. The epic, by nature, is capacious; and in conference, we will have the opportunity to explore Paradise Lost’s relationship to 17th-century politics, its cosmology, its debt to (and deviations from) Biblical tradition, and other intellectual intersections of interest to you.

The turn of the 17th century found Shakespeare approaching the height of his career. Shortly after James I ascended to the throne of England in 1603, a royal patent extended the king’s patronage over London’s leading troupe of players, transforming the Lord Chamberlain’s Men into the King’s Men. Unknown to Shakespeare at the time, the formation of the King’s Men marked the beginning of his final decade as a playwright. The revels were coming to an end. This course looks at Shakespeare’s late plays—drama written and performed between 1600 and 1613. We’ll begin the term with Hamlet and continue through a series of tragedies unmatched in English dramatic literature—Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. Tragedy will give way to improbable return and reunion, as we read Shakespeare’s great romances: Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest. Along the way, we’ll encounter problem plays and even a late history. The term will end with a move from stage to page, as we take a focused look at the First Folio of 1623: the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s works ever printed. Entering its quadricentennial, the Folio is one of the most important early printed books and our sole source for 18 of Shakespeare’s plays. Our study of this extraordinary edition will introduce students to early modern print culture and book history. By the end of the course, students will have a rich understanding of Shakespeare’s major late works and a sense of how these plays fit within the lively Jacobean commercial theatre. Biweekly group conferences may focus on non-Shakespearean 17th-century drama, performance history, or print culture—secondary concerns that will enrich our understanding of Shakespeare’s masterful final act.

One of the earliest references to Shakespeare’s literary career is an insult. Robert Greene, a Cambridge-educated playwright and pamphleteer, complained of his rival’s success by grumbling about “an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers.” The recently arrived Shakespeare was a poor imitator of England’s leading dramatic poets, Greene protested. Whatever one’s verdict on the quality of the verse, one thing was clear: Shakespeare was shaking up London’s commercial theatre almost from the moment of his arrival. This seminar looks at Shakespeare’s Elizabethan years, a period spanning the late 1580s through 1603. We begin with some early successes, plays like Richard III and Titus Andronicus, before continuing to some of his most famous works, including Henry IV, Part I; As You Like It; and Twelfth Night. Along the way, we’ll find time for a few understudied plays, such as Henry VI, Parts 2 & 3, and King John. Reading from Shakespeare’s apprentice-like early offerings through the great comedies and histories will give us an opportunity to explore Shakespeare’s development alongside the growth of the commercial theatre, allowing us to see the “upstart Crow” become London’s leading dramatist. Students will leave the seminar with a firm grounding in Shakespeare’s early work, having encountered representative comedies, tragedies, and histories from his most productive period. Biweekly conferences may consider non-Shakespearean drama, performance history, or Shakespeare in adaptation—perspectives that may help us understand how Shakespeare fits within the rambunctious Elizabethan theatre world and why, after 400 years, there’s still so much to say about these great plays.