Instructor: Dr. Roger George
E-mail:
rgeorge@bellevuecollege.edu
Phone: 425 564 2021
Office location: R 230 D
Office Hours: 12:30-1:20 MWF;
11:30-12:20 TTR
By the end of the quarter, the successful
student should be able to:
· Demonstrate a
comfortable level of reading and understanding the language of Shakespeare, in
poems and plays
· Show a sense of
Elizabethan culture and history
· Recognize the
difference between early and late plays, in order become aware of Shakespeare’s
development as an artist
· Develop a
process of analyzing plays and sonnets
· Demonstrate
improved inferential skills
· Read both
comedies and tragedies with insight
· Identify
controlling ideas and themes characteristic of Shakespeare’s plays
· Develop
writing-about-literature skills and techniques
· Practice
effective group skills
· ENJOY reading,
discussing, and writing about Shakespeare
· Assess your own
skills
Course Description
This course is
an introduction to Shakespeare as a dramatist, offered for both majors and
non-majors. Its aim is to help you read and appreciate Shakespeare's plays. We
will begin in the first week by discussing Elizabethan England and the basics
of Elizabethan drama. Then we'll do close readings of several of the plays,
chosen to represent the major genres Shakespeare wrote (comedy, tragedy,
history, romance) and to cover the course of his career.
I like to do
things thematically, and one of the themes I see running through all these
plays is POWER: the limits and duties of those in authority, and an examination
of what kinds of authority are legitimate and the consequences of illegitimate
uses of power. I plan to keep coming back to this theme as we discuss the
plays, but feel free to make thematic connections of your own.
Our reading will
be accompanied not only by class discussion via the discussion boards. These
discussions will be prompted by your own response papers as we read the plays.
I’ll try to bring the plays alive by using audio presentations. One feature
will make use of passages from the plays provided by Cambridge University which
illustrate different ways Shakespeare used language; these will be available
both in text and audio. I also recommend that you watch films of Shakespeare
plays and, if possible, attend a live performance.
I will
"prompt" you with discussion issues and questions. You may also
introduce your own topics or questions. To participate fully, you'll need to:
1) do the reading -- possibly more than once; 2) visualize the play in your
mind as a living performance; 3) work on your understanding of Shakespeare's
vocabulary and syntax, and 4) think out possible answers to the discussion
questions.
Grading
WRITING: For each play,
you will be writing short discussion papers. These are explained in more detail
in the accompanying file, “A Guide To Writing Discussion Papers.”
GRADES: Your grade will
be based on your regular short papers, the quality of your class participation,
a midterm, and a final exam.
Assignments will
be worth the following percentages of your overall grade:
Two Formal
Papers: 15% each
Discussion
Papers: 20%
Midterm: 20%
Final Exam: 25%
Class
Participation: 5%
Books and Materials Required
I have not
ordered any textbooks, because all of Shakespeare's plays are easily available
on the Internet for free. One source with the complete plays is: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/.
The plays I plan
to discuss this quarter are listed below, and the order we'll go over them is
in the Calendar. If you want/need a physical copy, they are widely
available in inexpensive paperback (I recommend the Signet/Penguin editions).
PLAYS TO BE DISCUSSED:
· Much Ado About
Nothing
· The Merchant of
Venice
· A Winter’s Tale
· Henry IV, pt. 1
· Richard III
· Othello
· Hamlet
· The Taming of the
Shrew
Instructor’s Expectation
IMPORTANT: Essential to a
liberal arts education is an open-minded tolerance for ideas and modes of
expression which might conflict with one’s personal values. By being exposed to
such ideas or expressions, students are not expected to endorse or adopt them
but rather to understand that they are part of the free flow of information
upon which higher education depends.
To this end, you
may find that class requirements may include engaging certain materials, such
as books, films, and art work, which may, in whole or in part, offend you.
These materials are equivalent to required texts and are essential to the
course content. If you decline to engage the required material by not reading,
viewing, or performing material you consider offensive, you will still be
required to meet class requirements in order to earn credit. This may require
responding to the content of the material, and you may not be able to fully
participate in required class discussions, exams, or assignments. Consult the
syllabus and discuss such issues with the instructor.
Affirmation of
Inclusion
Bellevue College is committed
to maintaining an environment in which every member of the campus community
feels welcome to participate in the life of the college, free from harassment
and discrimination.
We value our different
backgrounds at Bellevue College, and students, faculty, staff members, and
administrators are to treat one another with dignity and respect. http://bellevuecollege.edu/about/goals/inclusion.asp
Division Statements
READ THE POLICIES
OF THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES DIVISION AT THE FOLLOWING URL:
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/artshum/policy.html THESE ARE THE POLICIES OF THIS
CLASS, AND YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THEM. BE ESPECIALLY
SURE TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THE POLICY ON “ACADEMIC HONESTY.” I WILL NOT
TOLERATE PLAGIARISM. ALSO READ THE "AFFIRMATION OF INCLUSION"; I TAKE
THIS VERY SERIOUSLY AND EXPECT IT TO BE OBSERVED.
Information
about Bellevue Colleges copyright guidelines can be found at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/links/copyright.html
A good resource for
Plagiarism is the Writing Lab: http://bellevuecollege.edu/writinglab/Plagiarism.html
Student Code
“Cheating,
stealing and plagiarizing (using the ideas or words of another as one’s own
without crediting the source) and inappropriate/disruptive classroom behavior
are violations of the Student Code of Conduct at Bellevue College. Examples of unacceptable behavior include,
but are not limited to: talking out of turn, arriving late or leaving early
without a valid reason, allowing cell phones/pagers to ring, and inappropriate
behavior toward the instructor or classmates.
The instructor can refer any violation of the Student Code of Conduct to
the Vice President of Student Services for possible probation or suspension
from Bellevue College. Specific student
rights, responsibilities and appeal procedures are listed in the Student Code
of Conduct, available in the office of the Vice President of Student Services.” The
Student Code, Policy 2050, in its entirety is located at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/policies/2/2050_Student_Code.asp
Bellevue College E-mail and access to MyBC
All students registered for
classes at Bellevue College are entitled to a network and e-mail account. Your student network
account can be used to access your student e-mail, log in to computers in labs
and classrooms, connect to the BC wireless network and log in to MyBC. To create your account, go to: https://bellevuecollege.edu/sam
.
BC offers a wide variety of
computer and learning labs to enhance learning and student success. Find
current campus locations for all student labs by visiting the Computing Services website.
Disability Resource Center (DRC)
The Disability Resource
Center serves students with a wide array of learning challenges and
disabilities. If you are a student who has a disability or learning challenge
for which you have documentation or have seen someone for treatment and if you
feel you may need accommodations in order to be successful in college, please
contact us as soon as possible.
If you are a person who
requires assistance in case of an emergency situation, such as a fire,
earthquake, etc, please meet with your individual instructors to develop a
safety plan within the first week of the quarter.
The DRC office is located in
B 132 or you can call our reception desk at 425.564.2498. Deaf students can reach us by video phone at
425-440-2025 or by TTY at 425-564-4110.
. . Please visit our website for application
information into our program and other helpful links at www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc
· It is my general policy to prohibit tape recording of classroom lectures and discussions. However, audio-taping of individual classes may be permitted at the discretion of the instructor for sound pedagogical reasons. Permission to allow the recording is not a transfer of any copyright in the recording. The recording remains the property of the instructor who may inspect, retrieve, or destroy the recording after its intended use. The recording may be used solely for the purpose of studying the materials presented during the class. The recording may not be reproduced in any manner.
Public Safety
The Bellevue College (BC) Public Safety Department’s well trained and courteous non-commissioned staff provides personal safety, security, crime prevention, preliminary investigations, and other services to the campus community, 24 hours per day,7 days per week. Their phone number is 425.564.2400. The Public Safety website is your one-stop resource for campus emergency preparedness information, campus closure announcements and critical information in the event of an emergency. Public Safety is located in K100 and on the web at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/publicsafety/
Academic Calendar
The Bellevue College Academic Calendar is separated into two calendars. They provide information about holidays, closures and important enrollment dates such as the finals schedule.