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 requirements for the Literary Studies major; it fulfills the Capstone requirement for English Teaching.

Spring 2024 Special Topic: Lighting up the Dark, Short Story Collections

In this course we’ll contemplate craft and creativity in short stories, reading a diverse array of collections. We’ll identify unifying themes, ponder the order and presentation of the stories, and consider links whether by character, recurring idea, setting, or simply the author’s particular style. Texts will include Revenge by Yoko Ogawa, Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty, That Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, After the Quake by Haruki Murakami, Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan, What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi and others. Starting each class with a short essay by an acclaimed writer featured in Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration and Artistic Process, we’ll also explore our own individual creative processes. As we question each author’s intent and choices, we'll reflect on what inspires and lights the imagination in our own fiction, as well as try our hand at writing short pieces, completely unique, but inspired by these stories and essays.