Download 1 Shakespeare`s Rome Political Science 141 Classics 91 Tufts

Shakespeare’s Rome
Political Science 141
Classics 91
Tufts University
Fall Semester 2010
This course will utilize Shakespeare’s poetry to examine a central question of political
philosophy: how does the character of the regime affect the character of the individuals
who compose it? In addition to considering Shakespeare’s views on the reasons for
Rome’s greatness and on the causes of its decline, the course will examine ancient Rome
as a model of civic participation, the demands of Roman virtue, the role of women in a
martial regime, and the place of philosophy in the city. The study of Shakespeare’s works
on Rome, in conjunction with Shakespeare’s classical sources, Plutarch and Livy, will
lead to consideration of whether Shakespeare diverges from his classical sources to come
to an independent judgment of Rome, and if so, why?
Office Hours
Vickie Sullivan
Packard Hall 111
x72328
[email protected]
Tuesday 11-12
Wednesday 1:30-2:30
Thursday, 11-12
Other times by appointment
Required Books
Livy, Early History of Rome
Plutarch, Plutarch’s Lives, vols. 1 & 2
Shakespeare, Rape of Lucrece
Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare, Coriolanus
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
Books on Overnight Reserve at Tisch
Blits, The End of the Ancient Republic
Bloom, Shakespeare’s Politics
Brower, Hero and Saint: Shakespeare and the Graeco-Roman Heroic Tradition
Cantor, Shakespeare’s Rome: Republic and Empire
Charney, Shakespeare’s Roman Plays
Donaldson, The Rapes of Lucretia: A Myth and its Transformations
Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City: A Study of the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of
Greece and Rome
Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman
Huffman, Coriolanus in Context
Kahn, Roman Shakespeare: Warriors, Wounds, and Women
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Books on Overnight Reserve at Tisch (continued)
Knight, The Imperial Theme: Further Interpretations of Shakespeare’s Tragedies
Including the Roman Plays
MacCallum, Shakespeare’s Roman Plays and Their Background
Miles, Shakespeare and the Constant Romans
Miola, Shakespeare’s Rome
Phillips, The State in Shakespeare’s Greek and Roman Plays
Platt, Rome and Romans According to Shakespeare
Simmons, Shakespeare’s Pagan World: The Roman Tragedies
Spencer, William Shakespeare: The Roman Plays
Traversi, Shakespeare: The Roman Plays
Requirements
When we begin studying each of the four selected works by Shakespeare, I will distribute
paper topics for a five-page paper on that particular work. Students are required to write
two such papers, but are free to choose which two. Papers submitted after their due date
will be penalized for each day they are over due. I will also distribute topics for the final
paper. Proposals for the final paper are due on Thursday, November 18 and the final
paper itself on Thursday, December 16. Again, late papers will be penalized, and no work
will be accepted after the end of the semester. For any paper, students may elect to write
on a topic different from the ones I have specified, provided that they consult with me
prior to the time they begin writing in the case of a five-page paper, or prior to the due
date for the proposal in the case of the final paper. An in-class writing assignment on
Plutarch will be given on Thursday¸ October 28. Participation will be an integral part of
the course.
Final grades will be determined in the following manner:
Attendance and participation
Two five-page papers
In-class writing assignment
Final paper (10-15 pages)
20%
20% (each)
10%
30%
Learning Objectives
This is a course in the subfield of Political Theory and Philosophy within the discipline of
Political Science. Courses in this subfield deal with the study of the history of ancient and
modern political philosophy and its influence in shaping and understanding the Western
political tradition; they also debate and discuss concepts such as justice, liberty,
sovereignty, citizenship, oppression, tyranny, revolution, war and empire, and the
relationship between religion and politics. You will encounter many of these themes in
this course.
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DATE AND TOPIC
ASSIGNMENT
Introduction to the Course
Tuesday, September 7
Rome’s Beginnings
Thursday, September 9
Livy, Book I, pp. 33-57.
The Ouster of the Kings and the Beginning of the Republic
Tuesday, September 14
Livy, Book I, pp. 57-101. (Livy
unavailable in English until 1600.
Livy’s story of Lucretia available to
Shakespeare in The Pallance of
Pleasure by William Painter [1566].)
Augustine’s commentary.
Thursday, September 16
Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece (1594).
Tuesday, September 21
Shakespeare’s Rape of Lucrece, continued.
Paper Due.
Thursday, September 23
Plutarch’s Life of Coriolanus.
Livy, Book II, pp. 140-51. (Plutarch
available in English in North’s Lives of the
Noble Grecians and Romanes [1579].)
Tuesday, September 28
Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (ca. 1608).
Thursday, September 30
Coriolanus, continued.
Tuesday, October 5
Coriolanus, continued.
Paper Due.
The Decline of the Republic
Thursday, October 7
Matthias Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and
Statesman, chapters 1 & 2.
Tuesday, October 12
Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar.
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Thursday, October 14
Plutarch’s Life of Cato, pp. 270-6, 283-91,
298-306, 312-17.
Tuesday, October 19
Plutarch’s Life of Brutus.
Thursday, October 21
Plutarch’s Life of Cicero.
Tuesday¸ October 26
Plutarch’s Life of Pompey, pp. 104-39.
Thursday, October 28
In-class writing assignment.
Tuesday, November 2
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1599).
Thursday, November 4
Julius Caesar, continued.
Tuesday, November 9
Julius Caesar, continued.
Tuesday, November 16
Julius Caesar, continued.
Paper due.
The Beginning of Imperial Rule
Thursday, November 18
Plutarch’s Life of Antony.
Proposal for final paper due.
Tuesday, November 23
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (ca.
1607).
Tuesday, November 30
Antony and Cleopatra, continued.
Thursday, December 2
Antony and Cleopatra, continued.
Tuesday, December 7
Antony and Cleopatra, continued.
Paper due.
Thursday, December 9
Conclusions
Thursday, December 16
Final Paper Due at noon
Department of Political Science
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