English 2530:
Shakespeare's Tragedies & Histories

Professor: Dr. Ace G. Pilkington

Office: MC 224
Office Phone: 652-7809
E-Mail: pilkingt@cc.dixie.edu

Dudley Knight as Falstaff in the
Utah Shakespearean Festival`s 1996
production of Henry IV Part 1

Click here for Spring 1999 TV class syllabus.

GOALS

Students who successfully complete this or other literature classes will be able to do the following:

Enjoy, appreciate, and evaluate representative literature
Think, speak, and write critically about the literature studied
Demonstrate their understanding by analyzing various aspects of literature.

English 2530 will introduce you to Shakespeare's plays, his theatre, his times, and his vision of English history. The class will work equally well (I hope) for those who are new to Shakespeare and those who are "native here and to the manner born." The main purpose of English 2530 is to help you enjoy Shakespeare's work as literature (We'll look at plot, language, ideas, and historical background.) and as theatre (You will be expected to watch videotaped productions available in the Dixie College Library and, in some cases, from local video-rental stores). The class should also (as most literature classes do) increase your understanding of yourself and others, broaden your experience of history and the world, and provide you with images of man that illuminate the perils and possibilities of humanness.

TEXTS

GRADES are based on the following:

  • 1. Four tests, each worth one hundred points, which will contain multiple choice and essay questions: The first test will come approximately three weeks into the semester and will cover Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, material from Screening Shakespeare, and from our class sessions up to that point. The second test will come approximately six weeks into the semester and will cover Henry IV Part 2, Henry V, material from Screening Shakespeare, and from our class sessions between the first test and the second. The third test will come approximately ten weeks into the semester and will cover The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, material from Shakespeare’s Tragedies & Histories: The Text, and from our class sessions between the second test and the third. The fourth test will come during the last week of the semester and will cover Hamlet, Macbeth, material from Shakespeare’s Tragedies & Histories: The Text, and from our class sessions between the third and fourth tests. All tests will be taken in the Dixie College Testing Center.
  • 2. One short paper (500-700 words) Typed, double-spaced, correctly punctuated and so forth, using one of the possible essay questions in Shakespeare's Tragedies and Histories: The Text as your thesis.
  • 3. Extra Credit: Reading any of the titles on the extra credit book list, writing a 100 word reaction to it, and discussing it with me is worth 5 points (unless it is marked otherwise). Writing a 500 word paper (typed, double-spaced) is worth 5 points for the paper, plus 5 points for the book, and no discussion is necessary. You may earn up to 20 points of extra credit in this way. All extra credit must be in two weeks before the semester ends.
  • 4. Attendance: Although I expect you to attend class, I will not penalize you for a reasonable number of absences. However, at the point when you miss more than half the class sessions, you also miss passing the class. Each play will be allotted approximately two weeks of class time.

NOTE: Test dates will be announced well in advance (there will always be a review on the day before the test). If you miss a test without having made arrangements beforehand, college policy requires that you pay a makeup fee.

NUMERICAL-LETTER GRADE EQUIVALENTS

95-100 = A
90-94 = A-
86-89 = B+
83-85 = B
80-82 = B-
76-79 = C+
73-75 = C
70-72 = C-
66-69 = D+
63-65 = D
60-62 = D-
0-59 = F

Copyright © 1998 by Ace G. Pilkington