Spring 2024 – LIT 321 – 01/Shakespeare’s Sources and Contexts

LIT 321 – 01
1 course unit
Term: Spring 2024
Time: 2:00-3:20pm TF
Room: Bliss Annex 235		 Prof. G. Steinberg
Office: Bliss Hall 216
Office Phone: 771-2106
Office Hours: 2-4:50pm M or by appointment
E-mail : gsteinbe@tcnj.edu

TEXTBOOKS:

      • Ovid, The Metamorphoses, trans. Rolfe Humphries (Indiana, 2018), ISBN 9780253033598
      • Plautus, The Menaechmus Twins & Two Other Plays, ed. and trans. Lionel Casson (Norton, 1971), ISBN 9780393006025
      • Seneca, Four Tragedies and Octavia, ed. and trans. E. F. Watling (Penguin, 1966), ISBN 9780140441741
      • Plutarch, Makers of Rome:  Nine Lives by Plutarch, trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert (Penguin, 1965), ISBN 9780140441581
      • John Gassner, ed., Medieval and Tudor Drama (Applause, 2000), ISBN 9780936839844
      • Arthur F. Kinney, ed., Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, 3rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2022), ISBN 9781118823972

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  The official catalogue description of the course is available in PAWS.

The focus of LIT 321 is the reconstruction of the literary “horizon of expectations” for Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies at the time of their first performance.  The course is not a course in Shakespeare per se but rather a course in the literary, dramatic, and cultural texts that shaped the literary expectations, perceptions, and tastes of Shakespeare and his audience.  We reconstruct what an Elizabethan audience might have expected when it went to the theater to see a play “from a pre‑understanding of the genre, from the form and themes of already familiar works, and from the opposition between poetic and practical language” (Hans Robert Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, p. 22).

When the College went through a curriculum revision several years ago, the vast majority of undergraduate courses were “transformed” from 3-credit to 4-credit (1-unit) learning experiences.  While most of the classes continued to meet for only 3 academic hours per week, it was understood that the “transformed” courses offered a depth of learning with additional learning tasks unfolding in the equivalent of a fourth hour, including, sometimes, an actual additional hour of class interaction.  As the equivalent of the fourth hour in this course,

F) students are assigned additional learning tasks that make the semester’s learning experience more deeply engaged and rigorous, and no other additional classroom space is needed.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTATIONS.  The principal learning activities in this course are reading, writing, and discussion.  The readings that I have chosen to assign to you are the foundation of your learning.  If you do not do the readings, you miss out on that foundation, so keeping up with the readings is absolutely essential.  Upon the foundation of the readings, you build by writing response papers, which are more about writing-to-learn than writing-as-assessment.  Response papers are a safe, low-stress space for you to try out ideas, increase your understanding of texts and concepts, and improve your retention of what you’re learning.  By writing, you reinforce and expand the learning that you’re gaining from your reading.

Building on your reading and writing, discussion is also very important for your learning in this class.  In general, my approach to class discussion is to begin by posing a question, topic, or problem, then to have us brainstorm lots of ideas together in response to the opening question/topic/problem, then to move to evaluating the ideas that we’ve brainstormed, and finally to come to a consensus, as a class, about the best answers/solutions to the opening question/topic/problem.  Your input to the discussion is absolutely critical.  Even though I’ve taught the readings in this class many, many times, no two classes have ever had exactly the same discussion about them.  Different classes come up with different perspectives, different solutions, different ideas.  As the professor, I’m not looking for one perspective or one solution or one idea in particular.  I want us to think things through together – to throw out as many ideas as possible, to test and evaluate those ideas against the evidence of the text in front of us, and to draw the best conclusions that we can.  We all learn so much by working together in a free and open discussion to answer a question or solve a problem.  I learn so much from your fresh perspectives, and you learn so much from each other.  But this means that our class discussions always depend on your preparedness (how thoroughly and thoughtfully you’ve done the readings and written your response papers before class) and on your participation (how willing you are to take risks and share your ideas – even when they’re only half-baked – with your classmates).  I can’t make a good discussion happen.  Only you all can do that.  I can work to create a classroom space that feels safe, and I can pose provocative questions for us to discuss, but a good discussion – along with the incredible learning that comes from a good discussion – only happens if you all come to class prepared and willing to join in.

GOALS.  In this course, you will learn

      1. to grow ever more responsible for and independent in your own learning,
      2. to write in multiple modalities (e.g., academic papers, social media, newspapers, business communications), in different genres (e.g., scholarly essay, blog, press release, readers’ report, book review, business memo), for different audiences (e.g., scholarly, general, business),
      3. to pursue a sustained investigation of the idea of literature itself by examining what literature is and how it is culturally, politically, philosophically and/or sociologically defined and influenced,
      4. to demonstrate sensitivity to the concrete historicity and cultural specificity of texts and to the development of literary traditions, cultural values, modes of thought, and uses of language over time,
      5. to acquire perceptual habits and conceptual lenses conducive to the appreciation of specific media, genres, and styles, and
      6. to demonstrate greater facility with critical practices in the field of English.

Also, the following goals for the School of Humanities & Social Sciences apply in this course:

#1 Written Communication
#5 Critical Analysis and Reasoning:  Ability to critique the arguments of others in the discipline and the construction of one’s own arguments in the discipline, using data/evidence as a focus of instruction and/or the ability to analyze linguistic and cultural patterns
#7 Interpret Language and Symbol
#8 Intercultural Competence:  The development of understanding of other cultures and/or subcultures (practices, perspectives, behavior patterns, etc.)
#12 Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of critical, generic, and literary traditions (including recent theoretical approaches) that shape – and are shaped by – literary discourses and texts of particular periods or movements
#14 Students will be able to identify historically specific elements relevant to a particular text
#15 Students will be able to read a literary work and characterize its main aesthetic, structural, and rhetorical strategies in an argumentative, thesis-driven essay or in a writing workshop
#17 Analyze how creative texts, artworks, or performances reflect, shape, exalt, or challenge the values of a culture

REQUIREMENTS.  For this course, you must complete the following graded assignments:

      1. eight response papers (all together worth 20% of your final grade),
      2. a midterm exam (worth 20%),
      3. a cumulative, comprehensive final exam (20%),
      4. one academic essay (25%), and
      5. a group social media campaign (15%).

Your final grade will be based on the following scale:  A = 93%-100%, A- = 90%-92%, B+ = 87%-89%, B = 83%-86%, B- = 80%-82%, C+ = 77%-79%, C = 73%-76%, C- = 70%-72%, D+ = 67%-69%, D = 60%-66%, and F = below 60%.  This scale is absolute.  Because the response papers are in a sense a form of extra credit built into this course from the start, I do not give extra credit at the end of the semester to help students raise their grade even a whisker.  So, even if, at the end of the semester, you are just .0001 points away from 90%, your final grade will be a B+.

RESPONSE PAPERS.  In the course of the term, you are required to submit eight short, informal papers (about 2 pages each) on the readings for class.  You may choose for which days you want to write a response paper, as long as you have completed eight response papers by the end of the term.  For each response paper, choose one of the following topics and analyze the reading assignment for the day with respect to the topic you’ve chosen:

      1. Values/Tastes.  What tastes or values does the work seem to advance, reinforce, question, or criticize?  On what values and tastes does the work seem to rely?  What values and tastes does it assume?  What seems to be the work’s main purpose in terms of cultural work – propaganda, social critique, education, social bonding, pacification?  To what social class(es) might the values and tastes of the work appeal?  To what social class(es) might the work be directed?  Why might this text appeal specifically to an Elizabethan audience?  How do its values compare to those of previous assignments in class?
      2. Conflict.  Does the conflict of the text focus more on the psychological, the personal, the social, or the political?  Is the focus more on internal demons and emotional issues, on private affairs and family life, on communal situations and social norms, or on civic events and national repercussions?  Is the focus more on mental health (internal), private morality (personal), group identity (social), or power (political)?  Is there a psychological, apersonal, a social, and a political aspect to the story?  How do the psychological, personal, social, and political elements of the conflict relate to one another?  What do Elizabethans seem to expect in terms of conflict in their plays and stories?
      3. Setting.  Where is the text’s story set?  How does the setting affect our perception of the plot and characters?  Does the setting change?  How is any change of setting significant to the action and characterization of the play?  Is the setting symbolic?  If so, how?  How does the symbolism of the setting compare to the symbolism of setting in previous reading assignments?  What assumptions do Elizabethans seem to make about the significance of certain settings (e.g., forests, Italy)?
      4. Genre.  NOTE:  This topic only applies to dramatic texts (i.e., plays).  To what genre does the play belong (comedy, tragedy, romance, history play, something else)?  Does it belong to a particular sub-genre of that genre?  What seem to be the critical elements in the play that associate it with its particular genre?  How does the play reflect or upset the “horizon of expectations” for its genre?  How does it compare to other examples of its genre that we have read for class?  How does it fit or change the specific conventions of its genre (as suggested by other reading assignments from the same genre)?  Is its genre easy or difficult to identify?  What dramatic genres seem to have been popular in Elizabethan England?
      5. Spectacle.  NOTE:  This topic only applies to dramatic texts (i.e., plays).  What kind of “special effects” does the text use?  What kind of props and costuming?  How does the staging work?  How is the staging awkward, sophisticated, simple, complex, innovative, fantastical, realistic?  In what ways does the spectacle of the performance fit the themes and ideas of the play?  How does the spectacle of the play compare to that of other plays we’ve read?
      6. Language.  NOTE:  This topic only applies to texts originally written in English (i.e., no translated texts).  What are the characteristics of the language of the text?  What kind of language is used?  What kind of tone and style is exhibited?  Is the text’s language bombastic, elegant, contrived, colloquial, educated, simple, coarse, conventional, all of the above, none of the above?  Do different characters speak differently – in a different style or tone?  How do the text’s language and tone compare to that in earlier assignments?
      7. Gender.  How are men and women portrayed in the text?  What seems to be the attitude of the author toward men and women?  What are the characteristics of a good man in the text? a good woman? a bad man? a bad woman?  Does the text generalize about male and female gender roles?  What does the text imply or say about what are appropriate roles for each gender?  Does the text seem to favor or criticize either gender, portray one or the other gender negatively or positively?  How does the text’s treatment of gender relate to that of previous reading assignments in class?  How might the text’s treatment of gender fit (or not fit) the “horizon of expectations” in Elizabethan England?  How do the Elizabethans seem to conceive of gender and gender roles?  Don’t generalize wildly about how the Elizabethans viewed gender.  Use the evidence of the text (and others we have read this semester) to think about how gender is viewed.
      8. Religion.  How are religion and religious ideas portrayed in the text?  How Christian is the work in outlook, doctrine, and/or symbolism?  Does the text use Christian images?  Does it allude to Christian stories?  Does it espouse Christian values (with or without explicit Christian content)?  Does it reflect on or mention Christian doctrine?  How is organized religion portrayed?  How are Church figures (such as the pope, friars, monks, priests, ministers, and nuns) portrayed?  Does the text seem specifically Catholic or Protestant in outlook?  If so, how so?  How does religion in the text compare to that in previous readings?  What do the Elizabethans seem to expect in terms of religious content or sympathies in their popular stories and plays?
      9. Character. How does the reading assignment represent characters – through exposition, a character’s speech and actions, and/or the reflections of other characters?  Does the reading use stock characters?  Does the reading portray character as a perfectly consistent identity?  Do characters sometimes act “out of character”?  Are characters morally black or white (good guys or bad guys), or do characters have moral complexity?  Do characters do both good and bad – sometimes even through the very same action?  How does the reading represent the characters’ motives (making invisible motives visible)?  Are characters completely in control of their own actions and lives, or do outside forces control their fates?  How does characterization in the text compare to that in previous readings?  What do the Elizabethans seem to expect in terms of characterization in their popular stories and plays?

Keep in mind that some topics are more relevant to some readings than others (and some topics aren’t relevant at all to some readings).  Don’t choose to focus on a topic for a reading for which that topic is irrelevant.

Please note that, when you do a response paper, you are writing about the reading assigned for the day on which you’re submitting the paper. So, you’re writing about the reading before we discuss it in class and submitting the paper before the class meeting for which that reading is assigned. You can’t submit a response paper about a past day’s reading assignment.  You should submit each response paper by “sharing” it with me as a Google Doc before class on the reading’s assigned day.  Be sure to grant me “editing” or “suggesting” status when you share the Google Doc with me (so that I can comment on it).

The purpose of the response papers is

      1. to help you in your preparation for class discussion,
      2. to allow you to try out new and different ideas in a safe, low-stress space,
      3. to help me see where you’re struggling with the readings and concepts in class,
      4. to help you reinforce and expand on what you’re learning in class,
      5. to help you explore the relationships among the texts we’re reading,
      6. to practice comparative literary analysis (in preparation for your academic essay), and
      7. to help you develop your intellectual independence and your confidence as a reader.

Response papers are graded Pass/Fail, so they need not be a perfect, polished product.  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response.  Think about one of the topics  that I have asked you to consider; then write a response.  Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Don’t worry about answering every question I ask under a particular topic.  In fact, focus on the one question that seems most interesting to you, and be as specific as you can, getting down as much as you can, as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more like a journal entry than like a formal paper.  I don’t want a five-paragraph theme.  Rather, I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the reading assignment for the day.  But don’t focus too narrowly on just one scene or passage from the reading assignment.  Try to generalize about the reading and then look at specific examples from all over to support your generalization.

Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it before class on the assigned day), you will receive all the points that the response paper is worth.  You may submit more than eight response papers in the course of the semester (to make up for any response papers that do not pass), but no matter how many extra response papers you turn in, you will not receive credit for more than eight total.  You may not submit more than one response paper on a single day’s reading assignment (even if the day’s assignment comes from more than one work), nor may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class.  But you may submit more than one response paper on the same text if there are multiple reading assignments from that text spread over multiple days in the course outline below.  In other words, if we spend multiple days on a work, you can write response papers for each day that we spend on it, but the response papers should be on the different reading assignments for each of the days.  (NOTE: Even if you do not submit a response paper on a particular day, you should still come to class prepared to discuss the response paper topics in relation to the reading assignment, since we will focus on these topics in our in-class discussions all semester; in other words, the response paper topics above are a great guide for your class prep every day.)

ACADEMIC ESSAY. Choose one of the following options for your academic essay:

      1. Earlier Shakespeare Option: Choose either Romeo and Juliet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream and one text that we have read for class.  In a paper of 5-7 pages, argue a clear and specific thesis about how Shakespeare’s play reflects or upsets the Elizabethan “horizon of expectations” as represented by the reading from class that you have chosen.
      2. Later Shakespeare Option: Choose either Merchant of Venice or Hamlet and one text that we have read for class.  In a paper of 5-7 pages, argue a clear and specific thesis about how Shakespeare’s play reflects or upsets the Elizabethan “horizon of expectations” as represented by the reading from class that you have chosen.

To help you think about what to write, consider the topics listed under “Response Papers” above.  How does Shakespeare’s play compare to the material that we have been reading for class in the areas of values/tastes, conflict, setting, genre, spectacle, language, etc.?  What is the most important similarity or difference between Shakespeare’s play and the readings for class?  How does that most important similarity reinforce (or how does that most important difference challenge) the Elizabethans’ “horizon of expectations”?  (NOTE:  The answer to this last question should be the thesis of your paper.)  Remember that, in addition to your chosen Shakespeare play, you should use only one of the texts that we’ve read for class in order to characterize what the Elizabethan “horizon of expectations” would have been.  What one text from class would be best for comparison to Shakespeare’s play to illustrate how Shakespeare reinforces (or challenges) Elizabethan expectations?  You may refer in passing to other readings from class, but your paper should focus in detail on just one class text.  You need not use any other sources for this paper.  In fact, I would encourage you not to use other sources (because I’d rather hear what you think than what some published scholar thinks).  But if you do use any other sources, be sure to cite and document those sources appropriately.

Note that each of the options for the essay is due at a different time of the semester.  You must submit the option that you choose to do on the appropriate due date in the course schedule below.  You may not submit the first option on the due date of the second option (or vice versa).

I encourage you, about a week before the paper is due, to submit a thesis paragraph (a draft first paragraph of your paper or just a paragraph that describes what you plan to write about) to me by email; if you do so by the date noted in the course schedule below, I will give you feedback on your proposed thesis.

Your paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

      1. Does the paper have a clear and specific thesis?  Does the thesis offer an interesting perspective or “hook” that is provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?  Does the paper highlight an interesting and illuminating feature of the texts discussed?
      2. Does the paper’s analysis progress logically, with a clear, consistent focus?  Does the paper have a coherent overall organization that relates all the ideas of the paper together in support of the thesis (rather than simply providing a list of random observations without relation to one another or to the thesis)?  Does the paper have appropriate transitions to aid the reader in seeing and following the logic of the paper (rather than weak transitions, such as “The first…,” “Another…,” and “Also…”)?
      3. Are the paper’s paragraphs properly developed – neither too long and wandering nor too short and deficient?  Are the topics of the individual paragraphs suitably narrow and focused rather than vague and broad?  Once a paragraph gets specific about anything, does it stay focused on that specific topic to the end?
      4. Does the paper provide relevant, concrete evidence (including brief quotations) and logically persuasive reasons for every assertion?
      5. Does the paper show sensitivity to the concrete historicity of the literary works under consideration (rather than treat them as timeless museum pieces or reflect on them anachronistically)?
      6. Does the paper exhibit confidence and insight when analyzing literary works or passages not discussed in class?
      7. Does the introduction to the paper offer an interesting, helpful preview of the content, logic, and organization of the paper?
      8. Is factual information in the paper accurate?
      9. Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, interesting, and appropriate to an academic setting?

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN. In assigned groups, put together a plan for a social media campaign on Shakespeare and the Elizabethan “horizon of expectations.”  The campaign should be designed to be used by the English Department on its Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account.

You are responsible, with your group, for

      • identifying a specific audience to target,
      • figuring out a strategy for reaching that audience,
      • deciding on a topic and goal(s) for the campaign,
      • choosing a platform for it (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram),
      • scheduling a calendar of regular postings,
      • generating original content of your own, and
      • providing curated content from other sources.

At different points in the semester (as noted in the course schedule below and in Canvas), you will submit these elements.  You are not responsible for actually executing your campaign plan (although good campaigns may be executed by the English Department) or for tracking performance or assessing the effectiveness of the campaign (if you do in fact execute it on your own).

For information about how to put together a social media campaign, I recommend the following resources:

Your campaign will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

      1. Does the campaign have a clear, specific, and reasonable audience, topic, goal(s), platform, and calendar?  Do the audience, topic, goal(s), platform, and calendar make sense on their own and in relation to each other?  Are they well thought out and explained in a concise, focused, persuasive manner?  Is there a clear, feasible strategy for reaching the desired audience?
      2. Is the campaign’s content presented in a way that is creative and appealing?  Would the format of the content’s presentation be likely to engender interest in the target audience and to achieve the campaign’s goal(s)?  Is there a creative, interesting “hook” to the campaign’s presentation strategy that is inviting and provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
      3. Does the campaign both use original, newly-created content and provide curated content from other sources?  Is the campaign’s curated content reliable and valuable?  Is the campaign’s original content interesting and insightful?
      4. Is factual information in the campaign’s content accurate?
      5. Is the writing in the campaign’s content clear, effective, and appropriate to a social media setting?

EXAMS.  The exams in this course are an assessment of how well you are learning, understanding, and retaining the material in class.  The exams include quotations from our course readings for you to identify and analyze, based on what we’ve learned and discussed in class.  The quotations are usually ones that we discuss at length together, although some quotations may be less discussed in class but still central to the plot and themes of the work from which they come (and therefore reasonable passages for you to be able to identify).  In addition, the exams assess your retention of important character names, settings, critical terms, and concepts by asking you to identify and describe them.  Finally, the exams offer you the opportunity to draw together all the different strands of what you’ve been learning in class in an essay that asks you to look broadly at overarching themes and ideas.

LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM.  A quarter-unit (one-credit) Languages Across the Curriculum (LAC) independent study may be added to this course for students who have intermediate-level proficiency in another language and who wish to complement the work in this course by utilizing their language skills. Students should complete this Enrollment Request Form (https://forms.gle/NCbYWWRVxfogTv5T7) to enroll in the LAC independent study by Tuesday, January 23. Please contact the LAC Director, Dr. Holly Didi-Ogren (holly.didi-ogren@tcnj.edu) with any questions.

PROFESSOR’S AVAILABILITY.  My office is Bliss Hall 216.  My in-person office hours this term are 2-4:50pm on Mondays.  If you have questions about class (or just want to talk about stuff), feel free to stop by during these hours (no appointment necessary).  I can also meet over Zoom if that’s more convenient for you – just let me know.  If you cannot come during my scheduled office hours, talk to me about meeting at another time, and we can set up an appointment.  You may contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu) or by calling my office phone (609-771-2106) and leaving a message (if I do not answer), but email is usually the best way to get in touch with me.  You may also leave a written message for me in my box at the English Department offices in Bliss Hall 124.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for your graded work.  If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of information for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If, however, you positively must miss a class, I expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.  Academic dishonesty is any attempt by a student to gain academic advantage through dishonest means, to submit, as your own, work which has not been done by you or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment. Such dishonesty would include, but is not limited to, submitting as your own a project, paper, report, test, or speech copied from, partially copied, or paraphrased from the work of another (whether the source is AI-generated, printed, under copyright, or in manuscript form). Credit must always be given for words and ideas quoted or paraphrased. The rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral.

ACCOMMODATIONS.  The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability. The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community. If you require special accommodations, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities are respected.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. We are all enriched by greater diversity, and we all bring different perspectives to this class. I want to create a learning environment that supports diversity and honors your identities and perspectives (including your race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, mental and physical health, differing abilities, politics, etc.). If you go by a name and/or set of pronouns that differ from those that appear in your official records, please let me know. If you feel that your performance in class is being impacted by a hostile environment related to your identity outside of class, please don’t hesitate to talk to me about it. If something is said or posted in class (by anyone, including me) that makes you feel that your identity is being targeted, stereotyped, or disparaged, please talk to me about it. I will expect our whole class (including me) to strive always to honor every form of diversity.

SCREENS.  I encourage you to use screens (laptops, phones, ipads) as little as possible in this class.  In the last decade or more, there has been a ton of research that shows that screens are bad for learning – that you are less likely to remember what happens in class if you take notes on an electronic device rather than with pen and paper, that you are less likely to comprehend and remember what you read if you read it on a screen rather than in a printed format, that you are more likely to be distracted and miss things in class if you use an electronic device during class time.  I am not a Luddite (someone who despises all technology); I love my screens and use them a lot.  But I have watched a lot of students over the last few years perform much worse in my classes than they could (or should) have performed, because they used screens for taking notes and reading.  And my anecdotal experience with students over the years is nothing in comparison with the towering tsunami of research that shows just how bad screens are for students.

For that reason, while I do not forbid you to use screens in and for class (because you are adults, responsible for your own choices), I nevertheless encourage you – with every fiber of my being – to consider taking the “minimal screens” pledge below:

In order to maximize my learning in this class, I pledge

        1. to take notes in class with pen and paper,
        2. to read assignments in print format if at all possible,
        3. to keep all electronic devices out of sight during class (unless needed for a reading assignment or to look up information requested by the professor), and
          if I do use an electronic device during class time for any reason,
        4. to avoid the temptation to “multitask” by opening only the programs, websites, and apps that I specifically need for class.

I can almost guarantee that you will do better in class – participate more, learn more, retain more – if you take this pledge and follow its guidelines than if you do not.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND COMMITMENT TO STUDENT SUCCESS, SAFETY, AND WELL-BEING.  The TCNJ community is dedicated to the success, safety, and well-being of each student. TCNJ strictly follows key policies that govern all TCNJ community members’ rights and responsibilities in and out of the classroom. In addition, TCNJ has established several student support offices that can provide the support and resources to help students achieve their personal and professional goals and to promote health and well-being. You can find more information about these policies and resources at the “TCNJ Student Support Resources and Classroom Policies” webpage here:  https://academicaffairs.tcnj.edu/tcnj-syllabus-resources/.

Students who anticipate and/or experience barriers in this course are encouraged to contact the instructor as early in the semester as possible. The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) is available to facilitate the removal of barriers and to ensure reasonable accommodations. For more information about ARC, please visit:  https://arc.tcnj.edu/.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  This schedule is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor.  Changes in the schedule made after the first day of class will be shown in red.

Dates Assignments
T Jan 23 Introductions
F Jan 26 The Murder of Abel and Noah and His Sons (both in Medieval and Tudor Drama)
T Jan 30 The Brome Abraham and Isaac and The Second Shepherds’ Play (both in Medieval and Tudor Drama)
F Feb 2 The Menaechmus Twins (in The Menaechmus Twins & Two Other Plays)
T Feb 6 Pseudolus (in The Menaechmus Twins & Two Other Plays)
F Feb 9 Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books I, IV, and VI
T Feb 13 Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books X-XI and XV
SNOW DAY!
F Feb 16 Seneca, Thyestes (in Four Tragedies and Octavia)
T Feb 20 Seneca, Phaedra (in Four Tragedies and Octavia)
F Feb 23 Plutarch, “Brutus” (in Makers of Rome)
T Feb 27 Plutarch, “Coriolanus” (in Makers of Rome)
W Feb 28 Thesis paragraphs for EARLIER SHAKESPEARE OPTION due by email before 11:59pm
F Mar 1 John Heywood, The Play Called the Four PP (in Medieval and Tudor Drama)
T Mar 5 Nicholas Udall, Ralph Roister Doister, Prologue; all of Acts I and II; Scenes 4-5 of Act III; Scenes 2-4, 6, and 8 of Act IV; and all of Act V (in Medieval and Tudor Drama)
W Mar 6 EARLIER SHAKESPEARE OPTION DUE in Canvas before 11:59pm
F Mar 8 Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, Gorboduc (in Medieval and Tudor Drama)
T Mar 12 NO CLASS (Spring Break)
F Mar 15 NO CLASS (Spring Break)
T Mar 19 MIDTERM EXAM
F Mar 22 John Lyly, Gallathea (in Renaissance Drama)
M Mar 25 Last day to withdraw from this course with a W
DRAFT OF SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN PLAN DUE in Canvas by 11:59pm
T Mar 26 Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (in Renaissance Drama)
F Mar 29 NO CLASS (Good Friday)
T Apr 2 Robert Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (available in Canvas under “Files”)
F Apr 5 NO CLASS (Sigma Tau Delta conference)
FINALDRAFT SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN PLAN DUE in Canvas by 11:59pm
T Apr 9 Arden of Faversham (in Renaissance Drama)
F Apr 12 Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (available in Canvas under “Files”)
T Apr 16 Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (in Renaissance Drama)
Thesis paragraphs for LATER SHAKESPEARE OPTION due by email before 11:59pm
W Apr 17 FINAL SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN PLAN DUE in Canvas by 11:59pm
F Apr 19 Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, The Tragedy of Antony (in Renaissance Drama)
M Apr 22 SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN CONTENT and PERSONAL NARRATIVELATER SHAKESPEARE OPTION DUE in Canvas by 11:59pm
T Apr 23 Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday (in Renaissance Drama)
Thesis paragraphs for LATER SHAKESPEARE OPTION due by email before 11:59pm
F Apr 26 Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (in Renaissance Drama)
T Apr 30 NO CLASS (Celebration of Student Achievement)
LATER SHAKESPEARE OPTIONSOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN CONTENT and PERSONAL NARRATIVE DUE in Canvas before 11:59pm
F May 3 John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (in Renaissance Drama)
ASSIGNED FINAL EXAM PERIOD FINAL EXAM