Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)
This course has been cancelled. Please register your interest by using the ‘Ask a Question’ function and we will notify you when this course, or a similar course, is next run.
Shakespeare’s Roman plays are often presented as ‘political’ plays, staging complex power games and machinations and the relentless drive of the personal ambition of their characters. We are frequently led to believe too, that Shakespeare’s knowledge of the classics was poor, and that his Romans were no more than ‘Elizabethan in togas’.
This course challenges these ideas. Delving into a wealth of ancient authors rediscovered in the Renaissance this course will highlight Shakespeare’s complex, compelling and often surprising use of his classical sources to treat the themes of human relationships and thoughts of the hereafter.