Section outline

  • General

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    Arthur Hughes as Richard III for the RSC

    Course Description

    This course taps into our continuing collective obsession with criminality, unpacking the complicated web of feelings attached to crime and punishment through early modern literary treatments of villains, scoundrels, predators, pimps, witches, king-killers, poisoners, mobs, and adulterers. By reading literary accounts of vice alongside contemporary and historical theories of criminal justice, we will track competing ideas about punishment and the criminal mind. This course pays particular attention the ways that people in this historical moment mapped criminality onto dynamics of gender, race, sexuality, disability, and religion according to cultural conventions very different from our own.

     

    Required Texts (available at Bryn Mawr Bookstore)

    ·         - Thomas Dekker, The Witch of Edmonton (Arden, 2016)

    ·         - Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, ed. David Scott Kastan and Matthew Hunter, 2nd. Edition (Norton 2023)

    ·         - Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, ed. Stephen Guy-Bray (New Mermaids, 2014)

    ·         - William Shakespeare, Richard III, ed. John Jowett (Oxford, 2000)

    ·         - William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, ed. Eugene Waith (Oxford, 2008)

    ·         - John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, ed. Michael Neill (Norton Critical Editions, 2015)

    Class Information

    • Class Time: M/W 1:10 - 2:30
    • Classroom: English House Lecture Hall
    • My email: cgordon1@brynmawr.edu
    • Office: English House 210

    Office Hours

    • In Person: Tuesdays, 9:00-12:00 in English House 210 (sign up at this Calendly link)
    • And by appointment (email me if those times don't work)

  • Week 1

    Mon., Aug. 31: Intro to Class (My Favorite Crime)

    Wed., Sept. 2: William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act 1

        Optional Viewing: Julie Taymor's Titus

  • Week 2

    Mon., Sept. 7: No Class (Labor Day)

    Wed., Sept. 9: William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Acts 2-3 (content warning: rape)

  • Week 3

    Mon., Sept. 14: William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Acts 4-5

    Wed., Sept. 16: John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Act 1

  • Week 4

    Mon., Sept. 21: Meet in Special Collections (Canaday Library)

    Wed., Sept. 23: John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Acts 2-3

  • Week 5

    Mon., Sept. 28: John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Acts 4-5

    Wed., Sept. 30: No Class

  • Week 6

    Mon., Oct. 5: Midterm Review

    Wed, Oct. 7: Exam 1 (In-Class)

  • Week 7

    Mon., Oct. 19: No Class (Fall Break)

    Wed., Oct. 21: No Class (Fall Break)

  • Week 8

    Mon., Oct. 19: William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 1

    Wed., Oct. 21: William Shakespeare, Richard III, Acts 2-3

  • Week 9

    Mon., Oct. 26: William Shakespeare, Richard III, Acts 4-5

    Wed., Oct. 28: Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, Scenes 1-10

  • Week 10

    Mon., Nov. 2: Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, Scenes 11-21

    Wed., Nov. 4: Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, Scenes 22-end

  • Week 11

    Mon., Nov. 9: Thomas Dekker, The Witch of Edmonton, Act 1

    Wed., Nov. 11: Thomas Dekker, The Witch of Edmonton, Acts 2-3

  • Week 12

    Mon., Nov. 16: Thomas Dekker, The Witch of Edmonton, Acts 4-5

    Wed., Nov. 18: Exam 2 (In-Class)

  • Week 13

    Mon., Nov. 23: Throckmorton Witchcraft Trial

    Wed., Nov. 25: No Class (Thanksgiving)

  • Week 14

    Mon., Nov. 30: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (A-Text), Acts 1-2

    Wed., Dec. 2: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (A-Text), Acts 3-5

  • Week 15

    Mon., Dec. 7: Final Review

    Wed., Dec. 9: Last Class :(

  • Finals Week

    Exam 3, Self-Scheduled, due by Dec. 18