Women who behave badly in early drama take murderous revenge on their betrayers; manipulate their husbands; defy the wishes of their families; and deceive their communities. They also strive to choose their own paths in life, by whatever means they can, sometimes cutting truly frightening figures, sometimes showing admirable strength and fortitude.

Reading and viewing a variety of tragedies and comedies, including Euripides's Medea, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Aristophanes's Lysistrata and Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, we will scrutinize these women's actions and place them in their historical and social contexts. By examining women's roles in Ancient Greece, Roman Italy, and Renaissance and Restoration England, we will gain a sense of how these female characters' behaviors on the stage aligned with expectations in society at the time. What did it mean to society and to audiences of drama for a woman to choose her own marriage partner, or for her to reject the duties of a wife and daughter? And how do these women's dramatic actions help us understand our own actions more fully?

This course fulfills the pre-1800 requirement and the Capstone requirement for the English and Literary Studies majors. It is Writing Intensive. All majors are welcome.

We will be using the following texts. Please buy the specific editions listed below:

Euripides, Medea, trans. Rex Warner. New York: Dover Thrift Edition, 1993. ISBN 0486275485 or 978-0486275482

Aristophanes, Lysistrata, ed. Thomas Crofts. New York: Dover Thrift Edition, 1994. ISBN 0486282252 or 978-0486282251

Middleton, Thomas, and William Rowley, The Changeling, ed. Michael Neill. London: A & C Black, 2006. ISBN 0713668849 or 978-0713668841

Shakespeare, William, Othello, ed. Kim Hall. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's (Texts and Contexts Series), 2007. ISBN 0312398980 or 978-0312398989

Shakespeare, William, Macbeth, ed. William C. Carroll. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's (Texts and Contexts Series), 1999. ISBN 0312144547 or 978-0312144548

Shakespeare, William, The Taming of the Shrew, ed. Frances E. Dolan. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's (Texts and Contexts Series), 1996. ISBN 0312108362 or 978-0312108366

Shakespeare, William, Twelfth Night, ed. Bruce R. Smith. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's (Texts and Contexts Series), 2001. ISBN 0312202199 or 978-0312202194

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, The Rivals, ed. Kathy Casey. New York: Dover Thrift Edition, 1998. ISBN 0486404331 or 978-0486404332

Sophocles, Antigone. New York: Dover Thrift Edition, 1994. ISBN 0486278042 or 978-0486278049

Webster, John. The Duchess of Malfi. Ed. Brian Gibbons. London: A & C Black, 2003. ISBN 0713667915 or 978-0713667912

(If some of you have David Bevington's The Necessary Shakespeare, you can use this instead of buying the separate Shakespeare plays.)