FRS 001E — Sec. 001 — (1 unit) — CRN 65497 — T 4:10-5:00 PM — 273 SSH
Shakespeare’s Politics

Instructor: Larry Peterman, Department of Political Science, College of Letters and Science

Description: Shakespeare provides a fascinating account of the development and character of English politics in his history plays. His political philosophy, in this respect, has long been the subject of scholarly interest. This course will take up the matter of what he intends politically, particularly in the Lancastrian Tetrology ("Richard II", "IHenry IV", "IIHenry IV", "Henry V"). I hope to introduce the students to the political questions Shakespeare raises dramatically and to the way we can trace the movement from feudal to modern England in the plays. Students will read and discuss the plays mentioned above - if time permits, I will add others - and write a four to five page paper at the conclusion of the course that will address whether they detect a Shakespearean political intention in the plays. On the final day of the course, students will orally present arguments on what they think to be Shakespeare's intention in the plays.

Format: The seminar will meet for one hour each week. Students and instructor will discuss the assigned texts and at the end of the course students will write a four to five page paper (1200-1500 words) on what, in terms of political philosophy, they discern in the plays or, alternatively, in any single one of the plays. On the final day of the course, students will deliver an oral presentation on what they consider Shakespeare's object, in political terms, in the plays. Grading: Students will be graded on the quality of their participation (33%), their oral presentations (33%), and their papers (33%).

About the Instructor: Professor Peterman is a long-time member of the faculty of the Political Science Department. His research interest and teaching area is political philosophy. Many years ago he taught an undergraduate course on Shakespeare's politics and two years ago he taught a graduate seminar on the same subject. Last summer he was invited to lecture on Shakespeare's "Henry V" in the Publius Program of the Claremont Institute. Currently, he is teaching an undergraduate course on Modern Political Thought and a graduate Seminar on Plato's "Statesman" and Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics."