English Literature

In this course, we explore several aspects of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, thinking in particular about the play in performance. In the first module, we think about how Shakespeare manipulates, fuses, and pays with genre, before moving on to...

In this course, Professor John Roe (University of York) explores Shakespeare's As You Like It – a play that was written in 1599, first performed in 1603, and first published in the First Folio, 1623. We begin by thinking about...

In this course, Professor John Roe (University of York) explores Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I. The course begins by introducing the tetralogy as a whole (Richard II—Henry IV, Part I—Henry IV, Part II—Henry V), before focusing on the play’s four...

In Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's first tragedy, the fragmentation of sacrificed and mutilated bodies gives rise to a polyphony of dismemberment. Over the course of these six lectures, Andrew Zurcher explores how Shakespeare figures the...

In this course, Dr John Lennard explores Shakespeare's Hamlet. In the first module, we explore the idea of Hamlet as a revenge tragedy, and think about how Shakespeare has complicated the basic structure. In the second module, we consider the...

In this course, Professor Tiffany Stern (University of Oxford) explores how Shakespeare was originally rehearsed, acted and watched, and how this might change our understand of some of his plays. In the first module, we think about actors' roles...

In this course, we explore several aspects of King Lear. We begin by looking at some of the textual problems of the play, before looking at aspects of the play and its performance. In particular, we explore the play’s comedic...