Undergraduate Courses Summer 2005

CL 201 Introduction to Pre-Modern Literatures/Tragedy in Athens and London
MTWR@ 11:45-2:25 - 474 Van Hise

Professor Chris Livanos
Ph (608) 263-3851 - 950 Van Hise

We will begin with a study of Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy and Sophocles’ Antigone, concentrating on the qualities of the tragic hero, tragedy’s origins as part of the worship of Dionysos, and the innovations in character delopment and psychological insight made by Sophocles and Euripides after the groundbreaking work of Aeschylus. We will then read Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Othello and Macbeth and discuss differences between the tragedy of ancient Athens and that of the Renaissance playwrights who saw their work at least partially as a rebirth of the ancient genre. A central question will be whether Shakespeare portrays tragic circumstances as the inevitable outcome of man’s flawed nature or as the result of social conditions that could be changed.

Reading list:

Aeschylus: The Oresteia Trilogy (translated by Robert Fagles)
Sophocles: Antigone
Shakespeare: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth
Euripides: Medea, The Bacchae (translated by Paul Roche)