Shakespeare's Greatest Villain

In this semester-long course, we will embark on a journey to determine: who is Shakespeare’s most evil villain? To answer this question, we will explore the nature of evil and man’s various paths to corruption. Each play selected for the class contains at least one truly deplorable fiend to contend for the title of “most evil.” Students will be tasked with closely examining each text, studying secondary sources that will help form our notion of evil, crafting original arguments, and learning how to effectively write those opinions in a structured argumentative essay and a verbal defense to present to the class at the end of the semester.

Course Description

• Students will be able to read and understand Shakespeare
• They will be able to critically analyze the text
• They will be able to form compelling and logical arguments and express them with finesse in their writing
• They will be able to speak in front of their peers
• They will learn the art of scholarly discourse on a text
• They will be able to support their own assertions with reliable secondary sources
• They will learn to think philosophically and critically

Texts

• Hamlet
• Measure for Measure
• Othello
• Richard III

(PDFs of additional short readings will be provided by the instructor. Though all of Shakespeare is in the public domain, I highly recommend buying the texts in book form for ease of notation and reference during discussion. We will use the Folger editions).