This course builds on and deepens the theoretical and methodological knowledge acquired in the foundational modules ‘Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies’ I and II. We will combine close readings of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Twelfth Night with discussions informed by a range of theoretical approaches.

We will read two of Shakespeare’s plays with a special focus on the male hero and their romantic failure. Romeo and Juliet (1595) and As You Like It (1601) seem to foreground overt heteronormative couplings, yet the conventionally romantic plotlines do not really come to fruition when we look at the plays closely. While this is necessarily also a matter of genre (which we will discuss), both plays allow an equally plausible reading of the heroes’ refusal to engage in conventional heterosexual unions. The plays seem to resist conventional romantic love not only through subversive portrayals of atypical masculinities but also through a critical engagement with early modern notions of stereotypical masculinity. We will try to deconstruct the overt stories of these plays into drama that is expressive of non-normative sexualities as subversive of Elizabethan ideologies and we will focus on how both language and dramatic and visual representation enable a queer reading of Shakespeare.

Please make sure you have read both plays at least once before the beginning of term.

Our first meeting is on Oct 16.

Kurs im HIS-LSF