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 ‘Elizabethans in togas’.
This course challenges these two ideas. Despite being set in a city often associated with military might and imperial conquests, Shakespeare’s Rome offers surprising insight into the deep and complex nature of human relationships: from friendship and companionship to the nature of desire, marriage and erotic drive and passion. Likewise, the Romans of Shakespeare’s days do not merely value the power and richesses offered by this world, but are often haunted by the thought of the hereafter: attitudes to death and the afterlife, from murder to suicide, from dishonourable surrender to heroic death, all play a part the complex dramatic world of Rome.
This course will explore three plays (Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra) and a long poem (The Rape of Lucrece) to explore our themes. Delving into a wealth of ancient authors newly rediscovered in the Renaissance, such as Plato, Plutarch, Epicurus, Chrysippus, Seneca and others, we will also highlight Shakespeare’s complex, compelling and often surprising use of his classical sources to treat these themes. Hence, this course will reveal both Shakespeare’s engagement with such sources and his enduring and timeless insights into the human condition.
Learning outcomes
- To enable students to gain familiarity with and insight into the texts studied as well as themes and dramatic devices within them;
- To enable students to gain knowledge and understanding of wider cultural and literary contexts that constitute the background to the play: specifically, Shakespeare’s relationship to the classics and their philosophical treatment of the issues of love and death;
- To enable students to develop greater confidence in approaching, discussing and interpreting Shakespearean drama as a whole, whether in written, oral or group discussion form.
