230631 Shakespeare's "Others" (S) (SoSe 2009)

Elizabethan and Jacobean England was as much concerned with stabilizing its internal political and cultural unity as it was fascinated by phenomena outside the confines of the island: the cultural difference of the countries on the continent and the exotic realms of the new world that were just being discovered. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that we encounter a number of characters in Shakespeare's plays whose interest for the contemporary audiences is likely to have resided in the unresolved tension between their alienness and their comparability to the English.

In this seminar, we will explore ways of interpreting the varieties and functions of such 'others' in four of Shakespeare's plays. We will discuss the origins and uses of Shakespeare's Italian settings and his understanding of Roman History, in combination with his use of extreme psychological tension as one variety of human otherness. Students will be expected to read Othello, Titus Andronicus, Anthony and Cleopatra and The Tempest. A reader containing the plays will be provided at the beginning of the semester. If you already possess a good scholarly edition of these plays and do NOT require a reader, please let me know (via e-mail).