Shakespeare's Histories: Critical Approaches

Code School Level Credits Semesters
ENGL1012 English 1 10 Autumn UK
Code
ENGL1012
School
English
Level
1
Credits
10
Semesters
Autumn UK

Summary

This module offers an introduction to Shakespeare through a close focus on one particular genre of drama – the history play – which was hugely popular in England’s commercial playhouses in the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries. Looking in detail at a sequence of four plays – Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV and Henry V – the module will explore the structure, form and content of Shakespeare’s histories, considering their interest in national and regional identities, their interest in kingship, power and authority, and their exploration of sexual politics, war and identity.

Working across several areas of research in the School of English, the module explores how the plays reflected and contested the ideologies of their own moment. Through consideration of the plays’ history of adaptation and performance on stage and screen, the module also considers how the plays have been repeatedly remade to speak to the concerns of later eras and cultures up to the present day.

Target Students

Optional for all first-year SH English students. Not available to JH students or second- and final-year SH English students. Optional for all other students on a subsidiary basis.

Classes

Assessment

Assessed by end of autumn semester

Educational Aims

This module aims to:introduce the genre of early modern history plays and a variety of critical approaches to their study,develop skills of literary analysis through close reading and contextual understanding,enable students to demonstrate critical understanding and interpretation of performance choices.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

Conveners

View in Curriculum Catalogue
Last updated 07/01/2025.