Course Name: Shakespeare’s Comedies of Love (莎翁愛情喜劇)
Class Time/Credit: Periods 2, 3, 4, Wednesdays; 3 Credit
Instructor: Prof. C. P. Hsieh （謝君白老師）
Classroom: Rm. 206, A-V Center
Class Size: No more than 30 students

This course is designed to familiarize the students with the major Shakespearean comedies, particularly those playfully bringing into question the nature of romantic love. Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It and Twelfth Night will be the three plays chosen for a relatively close reading this term. Drawing upon the video-audio sources available, the course will also expose the students to the colorful spectrum of Shakespeare’s comic repertory. Aside from Shakespeare’s lines, the students will get to read several critical essays pertinent to the concerns of the course, i.e., the stylized, conventional elements in the comic form, the signature characteristics of Shakespeare’s comedies, some popular conceptions of love in Shakespeare’s time, and how Shakespeare’s comic portrayal of romantic love--given the heavens and hells promised--subverts as well as conforms to the norms of the Renaissance culture.

Requirements:
1. regular attendance and participation in class activities;
2. quizzes and final exam;
3. term project