301 - Criticism
Professor Barbara Bono
TTh 12:30 - 1:50
Reg. No.  080368

In this section of "Criticism"--a course required of all English majors here at UB--I will try to take advantage of my knowledge and enthusiasm about the works of Shakespeare and their enduring interest as objects of performance, interpretation, and study to introduce you to many historical forms of literary criticism and performance theory and practice as well as many modern ones.  I hope you'll learn why people still think that there is something interesting to say about Shakespeare and why they say it the way they do.

We will focus our study on two related Shakespearean plays, 1 Henry IV, Shakespeare's portrayal of how monarchical leadership is made as well as inherited, and Hamlet, his tragic deconstruction of monarchy. 

In addition to reading both plays closely in good critical editions--the Bedford paperbacks edited by Barbara Hodgdon and Susanne Wofford--we will review and work with the critical materials presented in them--for 1 Henry IV predominantly historical, for Hamlet predominantly theoretical--against the background of Russ McDonald's The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare and Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory. 

In addition, we will screen, sometimes together in class and sometimes as objects of individual study, portions or entire film versions of the plays or derivatives from them: for example, for 1 Henry IV, the BBC version starring David Gwillam, Jon Finch, and Anthony Quayle and the Orson Welles anthology Chimes at Midnight, but also with glances ahead to the classic film versions of its "sequel," Laurence Olivier's and Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, and modern adaptations such as Gus van Sant's My Own Private Idaho and Robert Redford's Quiz Show, and for Hamlet the classic Olivier, Derek Jacobi, and Branagh versions, but also more recent adaptations such as the technological update starring Ethan Hawke and Francis Ford Copolla's Godfather series.  Throughout, our focus will be why the critics and producers of the plays made the critical choices they did.

Students will write frequent brief responses (about 2 pages every other week) on precisely this question--why critics and producers make the choices they do--culminating in two longer essays of about 7-10 pages, one positing their own interpretation of the play and another evaluating a particular production.  Since critical writing will be our focus, there will be no examinations; however, attendance and participation are required, and you will be permitted no more than 4 excused absences.