剑桥大学格顿学院
在线课程
人文学与西方文化
在线课程
课程详情
课程名称

人文学与西方文化 (Shakespeare's World: Literature and Culture in Early Modern England)

课程概览

莎士比亚的戏剧和诗歌是英国文学史上最有影响力和最重要的著作。本课程将把莎士比亚的作品置于16世纪和17世纪英国的背景下进行学习。学生将了解塑造莎士比亚生活和作品的政治、思想和社会背景,学习现代早期戏剧和文学文化的发展,包括表演、赞助和观众的历史。本课程包含专业课与阅读课,专业课将讲述对莎士比亚在其历史背景下作品的关键思考;一系列的阅读课将带领学员们赏析莎士比亚的作品。

课程师资

本项目由剑桥大学格顿学院指定的专业教师授课,往期课程教师包括:

约恩·德弗林(Dr. E. Devlin)

  • 剑桥大学休斯学院,历史学研究主任
  • 剑桥大学唐宁学院,院士

他是研究近代英国和欧洲的历史学家,研究兴趣涵盖国际关系、文化交流和政治宗教文化。他在剑桥教授早期现代史和近代史。他曾在伦敦国王学院英语系教授莎士比亚和早期现代文学文化课程,并在华盛顿特区的福尔杰莎士比亚图书馆担任访问学者。

日程表
周数类别内容
    注:以上课程时间安排为拟定,具体安排视情况会略有调整
第一周 周末

项目导览、欢迎致辞

专业课(1):现代早期英国社会

本课程将讨论16和17世纪英国的政治、社会和文化历史。这是一个发生了重大变化的不稳定的时期,宗教改革带来了长期的危机。莎士比亚生活在伊丽莎白女王一世(Queen Elizabeth I)和詹姆斯一世(King James I)统治时期,学生们将了解这些君主以及他们对文化的广泛影响。本课程将向学生介绍莎士比亚的生平,以及他在近代早期英格兰的生活经历如何影响了他的作品。

第二周 周中

阅读课(1):凯撒大帝与政治

这节课将学习莎士比亚的《裘力斯凯撒》关于现代早期英国政治的态度。它将带领学生思考共和主义、暴政、群众政治和道德责任。这个戏剧的背景虽然是过去的罗马,但也包含很多关于莎士比亚所在的英国的内容。

第二周 周末

专业课(2):莎士比亚的艺术

该课程主要介绍英国文学文艺复兴时期莎士比亚作品的风格。课程将探讨莎士比亚的艺术哲学和古代美学理论对其作品的影响。课程将把莎士比亚的作品置于现代早期英国知识和文化变迁的背景下,探讨莎士比亚的作品如何与同时代的文学作品相关联。课程还将探讨莎士比亚究竟是一个激进的天才,还是只是作为那个时代文化假设产物的保守人物。

第三周 周中

阅读课(2):罗密欧与朱丽叶

尽管《罗密欧与朱丽叶》常被视为莎士比亚的伟大爱情作品,但这部戏剧也展示了爱情的破坏力和毁灭性的后果。本课程将让学生探索莎翁如何在剧中呈现暴力,结合凯普莱特家族与蒙泰古家族之间的对抗,莎翁语言中暴力意象的运用,以及剧中爱情故事中的暴力暗示。

第三周 周末

专业课(3):莎士比亚诗歌

莎士比亚不仅是剧作家,而且是诗人。本课程将探讨莎士比亚的各种诗歌作品,包括他的长诗和十四行诗系列。课程将探讨诗歌在现代早期英国的功能,特别关注赞助、观众和接受度的问题,思考莎士比亚为什么写诗,他是如何受到当时诗歌传统的影响,以及他的作品如何挑战那些传统。我们也会关注莎士比亚诗歌风格与他的剧本创作之间的关系。

第四周 周中

阅读课(3):亨利五世与王权

莎士比亚在他的许多戏剧中质疑了优秀领导的本质。本次课程将在亨利五世身上详细深入研究这个问题,特别是根据莎士比亚所描述的真实的英国国王亨利五世。学生将在课程中探索战争时期政治和军事权力的使用与滥用,并思考国王亨利是否在剧中被塑造为了一个“好”的国王。

第四周 周末

专业课(4):英国历史与君主

莎士比亚的许多戏剧都是以英国的过去为背景的。本课程将学习16世纪对于历史的理解,以及莎士比亚的戏剧如何利用过去来回应他所处时代的政治和宗教危机。课程将探讨历史戏剧怎样被视为用来宣传英国君主制,莎士比亚是如何通过阅读和各种素材来构造戏剧情节,以及他如何在真实人物的基础上塑造与虚构人物特征。

第五周 周中

阅读课(4):驯悍记与性别

《驯悍记》通常被认为是莎士比亚最难以为现代观众呈现的戏剧之一,因为它是基于男性优于女性的观点。本课程将让学生思考这是否是对戏剧的公平回应,学生将了解更多关于现代早期社会对性别的观点以及现代早期英国男性和女性之间的差异。

第五周 周末

专业课(5):英国的黄金时代

莎士比亚生活在英国帝国主义和殖民主义时期。在这几十年里,英国人通过定居和军事巩固了在爱尔兰的存在,他们在美洲的利益为大英帝国的诞生奠定了基础。现代早期的另一个标志是旅游和旅游写作的兴起,因为越来越多的英国人接触到欧洲、非洲和近东的不同文化。本课程将探讨这种对其他民族和文化的广泛了解是如何影响莎士比亚的戏剧,以及他对种族、民族和文化差异的描述。

第六周 周中

阅读课(5):奥赛罗与种族

这节课将带领学生探讨莎士比亚对种族差异的理解。对悲剧《奥赛罗》以及剧中的情节、台词和人物塑造的理解都将置于16世纪对种族理解的背景中。我们将特别关注莎士比亚如何发展奥赛罗和伊阿古之间的关系,以及莎士比亚如何以威尼斯和塞浦路斯为背景,探索大英帝国早期与英国日益相关的问题。

第六周 周末

小组结业汇报展示、项目结业仪式

NumberCategoryContent
     
Week 1 Weekend

Project Tour & Welcome Speech;

Academic Course (1): Early Modern England

This lecture discusses the political, social, and cultural history of England in the sixteenth- and seventeenth centuries. This was a time of significant change and instability, in which the religious change of the Reformation created a long-standing crisis. Shakespeare lived during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, and students will learn about these monarchs and their impact on the broader culture. The lecture introduces students to Shakespeare’s life, and how his lived experience in early modern England influenced his writings.

Week 2 Weekday

Reading Course (1): Julius Caesar and politics

This session will explore what Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar tells us about attitudes to politics in early modern England. It will allow students to think about republicanism, tyranny, the politics of the crowd, and moral responsibility in a play which, although set in the Roman past, has much to say about Shakespeare’s England.

Week 2 Weekend

Academic Course (2): Shakespeare's art

This lecture focuses on Shakespeare’s style, and situates his writings within the context of the English literary Renaissance. It explores Shakespeare’s philosophy of art and the influence of ancient aesthetic theories on his work. The lecture will situate Shakespeare’s work within the context of the intellectual and cultural changes of the early modern period, exploring how Shakespeare’s work related to that of his literary contemporaries. The lecture will question whether Shakespeare was a radical genius, or if we should think about him as a more conservative figure who was a product of the cultural assumptions of his age.

Week 3 Weekday

Reading Course (2): Romeo and Juliet

Although Romeo and Juliet is often remembered as Shakespeare’s great romance, the play is also about the destructive power and devastating consequences of love. This session will allow students to examine how Shakespeare presents violence in this play, within the context of the rivalry between the families of Capulet and Montague, the use of violent imagery in Shakespeare’s language, and the violent implications of the play’s central love story.

Week 3 Weekday

Academic Course (3): Shakespeare Poetry

Shakespeare was not only a playwright, but also a poet. This lecture explores the variety of Shakespeare’s poetic output, including his longer poems as well as his series of sonnets. It explores the function of poetry within early modern England, paying particular attention to the question of patronage, audience, and reception to consider why Shakespeare wrote poetry, how he was influenced by the poetic conventions of his time, and how his work challenged those conventions. Attention will also be paid to the question of the relationship of Shakespeare’s poetic style to his playwriting.

Week 4 Weekday

Reading Course (3): Henry V and Kingship

Shakespeare questions the nature of good leadership in many of his plays. This session will focus on Henry V to delve into this question in detail, with specific reference to Shakespeare’s characterisation of the real English king, Henry V. This session will allow students to explore the ways the play investigates the use and abuse of political and military power in a time of war, and it will question whether King Henry is really portrayed as a ‘good’ king in the play.

Week 4 Weekend

Academic Course (4): British history and monarchy

Many of Shakespeare’s plays are set in the English past. This lecture will explore what they tell us about sixteenth-century understandings of history, and how Shakespeare’s plays used the past to respond to the political and religious crises of his own times. It will explore the extent to which the history plays might be regarded as propaganda for the English monarchy, and what they tell us about Shakespeare’s reading and his use of sources to establish the plots of his plays, and the characterisations of his fictionalised versions of real people.

Week 5 Weekday

Reading Course (4): The Taming of the Shrew and gender

The Taming of the Shrew is often regarded as one of the most difficult of Shakespeare’s plays to stage for a modern audience because it relies on ideas about male superiority over women. This session will allow students to investigate if this is a fair response to the play, and students will learn more about early modern perspectives on gender and the differences between men and women in early modern England.

Week 5 Weekend

Academic Course (5): Britain's golden age

Shakespeare lived during a period of English imperialism and colonialism. These were the decades in which the English presence in Ireland was consolidated through settlement and military enterprise, and English interest in the Americas would set the foundations for the birth of the British Empire. The early modern period was also marked by the rise of travel and travel writing, as more and more English people were exposed to different cultures in Europe, Africa, and the Near East. This lecture will explore how this broader awareness of other peoples and cultures shaped Shakespeare’s plays, and his presentation of racial, ethnic, and cultural difference.

Week 6 Weekday

Reading Course (5): Othello and Race

This session will allow students the chance to explore Shakespeare’s understanding of racial difference. The tragedy Othello, and the plot, speeches, and characterisations in this play, will be situated within the context of sixteenth-century understandings of race. Particular attention will be paid to how Shakespeare develops the relationship of Othello and Iago, and the ways in which the settings of the play in Venice and Cyprus allow Shakespeare to explore themes which were becoming increasingly relevant to England during the early history of the British Empire.

Week 6 Weekend

Group Closing Report & Closing Ceremony