This seminar explores the themes of love and death in two of Shakespeare’s best known plays: Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. By reading a tragedy in conjunction with a comedy, the seminar will reveal how social expectations shape the human experience, especially when they clash with passion, honour and secret scheming.
Through close readings of the plays we will examine how Shakespeare dramatizes the extremes of emotion and how these affect individual agency and societal norms. Students will gain a deeper understanding of how love and death function not just as themes—but as forces that drive drama, character, and meaning.
Student should buy the Arden Editions (Third Series) of Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. |
