Shakespeare’s Green World

Shakespeare 363 Instructor: Todd Andrew Borlik

When: Thursday 6:30=9:20 Email: tborlik@bloomu.edu
Where: Bakeless 102 Office: Bakeless 111B
Spring 2011 Office Hours: Tu, Th 10-12, M 3-4

From the fairy-haunted forests outside Athens to the desolate heath in Lear, the
natural world is more than a mere backdrop in Shakespearean drama: indeed, it
often assumes the significance and agency of a human character. In addition to
equipping students with an ability to understand and appreciate sixteenth-
century English, this course will focus on Shakespeare’s representations of
nature in seven plays and one narrative poem. We will discuss some of the myriad
ecological concerns that fired the playwright’s imagination – such as cosmology,
climate change, green aesthetics and ethics, forestry, animal sentience, and the
nature/culture boundary – and which still enkindle controversy today.
Texts

1. Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt

et alt (New York: Norton, 2008). 978-0-393-92991-1
• The Sonnets
• Venus & Adonis
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• As You Like It
• King Lear
• Timon of Athens
• Macbeth
• The Tempest
• The Winter’s Tale

2. Briggs, Julia. This Stage-Play World (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997). 978-
0192892867
 3. Course-pack
• Ovid, Metamorphosis – Book 1: 1-231, 496-524, 727-70 “The
Creation and Four Ages”; Book 4:62-201 “Pyramis and Thisbe,”;
Book 7: 248- 289 “Medea’s Spell”; Book 10: 261-318, 547-645
“Pygmalion” and “The Birth of Adonis,” “Venus and Adonis”; Book
11:171-216 “Midas”; Book 15:66-198, 261-298, 507-532 “Pythagoras”
• Montaigne, “Of Cruelty” and “Apology for Raymond Sebond”;
Sidney “As I my Little Flock at Ister Bank”
• Hooker, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity; Donne’s “Anatomy of the
World (First Anniversary)”
• Thoreau,Walden pp. 1-85
• Bacon, New Atlantis pp. 245-302

Grading
Reader’s Report 10%
1 Annotated Bibliography 10%
Midterm 20%
1 Research Paper (5-6 pp.) 20%
Participation 20%
Final Exam 20%
Course Reserves
• Berry, Edward. Shakespeare and the Hunt
• Borlik, Todd. Ecocriticism and Early Modern English Literature: Green
Pastures
• Egan, Gabriel. Green Shakespeare: From Ecopolitics to Ecocriticism
• Fudge, Erica. Brutal Reasoning: Animals, Humanity and Rationality in
Early Modern England
• Lewis, C.S. The Discarded Image
• Roberts, Jeanne Addison. The Shakespearean Wild
• Thomas, Keith. Man and the Natural World 1500-1800
• Watson, Robert. Back to Nature: The Green and the Real in the Late
Renaissance

Group Discussions
On five different occasions throughout the semester we will split into small
discussion groups. The class will be divided into 4 groups of 5. Each student will
be responsible for giving a small presentation on one of the following topics:

Passage Analysis
The Passage Analysis will consist of a one-page, single-spaced essay in
which you perform a close reading of a 15-25 line chunk of Shakespeare’s
text. Pinpoint interesting poetic and rhetorical devices, identify word-
play, explicate imagery, metaphors, etc., paying attention to obscure or
archaic aspects of early modern English. Try to establish a
correspondence between the sound and the sense of Shakespeare’s
verse, i.e. how the style enhances the substance. Do not consult any
outside sources apart from the Oxford English Dictionary (accessible
online through the Andruss web- page).
Film Review
This one-page (single-spaced) essay will summarize the salient features of
this film adaptation, paying particular attention to its depiction of the
natural world.

Reader’s Report: Special Topic

Once per quarter you will present on a special topic to your
discussion group in lieu of a passage analysis. You will need to read the
assigned excerpts and prepare a three-page (double-spaced) report in
which you summarize the contents and relate them to Shakespeare’s play.

Annotated Bibliography
The annotated bibliography should include a rough preliminary sketch of
your argument (200 words) and a brief synopsis of two outside sources
(each approximately 100 words in length) you intend to incorporate into
your final paper. At least one of your sources must pre-date 1616; the
other must post-date 1970 (see Course Reserves).

Research Paper
The final paper consists of a 5-6 pp. (double-spaced) essay that explores
some significant aspect of Shakespeare and nature in a thoughtful and
cogent fashion. The paper must advance an argumentative claim, and
support it with evidence from the plays and from 3 outside sources (one of
which may be Briggs). Papers should follow MLA format and include a
Works Cited page.
Group Discussion 1 – 2/3
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Ovid: _________________________________
Hoffman’s Dream: ________________________

Group Discussion 2 – 2/10

Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Montaigne: _____________________________
Branagh’s As You Like It: _________________

Group Discussion 3 – 2/24

Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Hooker & Donne: ______________________
Kozinstev’s Korol Lir: ___________________

Group Discussion 4 – 3/24

Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Thoreau: _______________________________
Kurosawa Throne of Blood: _____________________

Group Discussion 5 – 4/14

Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Passage Analysis: _______________________
Bacon: _________________________________
McLeod’s Forbidden Planet: _______________
Participation
Participation will be evaluated on the following basis
• Attendance, In-class writing assignments, (60%)
• 4 Short Papers (20%)
• Contributions to class and small-group discussion (20%).

Exams
Please bring 3 sheets of notebook paper with you to the midterm and final exams.

Course Policies
• Absences: Since participation represents 20% of your final grade,
frequent absences will adversely impact your score (family and medical
emergencies excepted – please notify me as soon as possible). If you miss
class due to health reasons, please provide a note from your physician.
Any student who misses more than 40% of class may or may not be given a
passing grade at the professor’s discretion.

• Late Work: For each day an assignment is overdue, 5 percentage points

will be deducted from your score. Hard copies are preferred, but in the
event you cannot attend class on the day an assignment is due, you may
submit it electronically.

• E-mail: Periodically, I may send out emails and assignments to the class
through BOLT. Try to check your email daily, and I will do my best to
reply to your messages within 24 hours. Please avoid sending out 11th-hour
questions the night before an assignment is due.

• Etiquette: Please extinguish your cell phone before the start of class.
While debate is encouraged in this class, please remember to be respectful
of other people’s opinions.
 • Accommodations: Please inform me if you require accommodations of any
sort. I am very willing to work with the Office of Accommodative Services
to meet your needs.

• Writing Center: If a particular assignment is giving you trouble, don’t

hesitate to drop by my office. Also feel free to take advantage of the
wonderful Writing Center we have on campus. Call (570) 389-5232 to
schedule an appointment.

• Plagiarism: Plagiarism, or academic dishonesty, is presenting someone

else’s ideas or writing as your own. In your writing for this class, you are
encouraged to refer to other people’s thought and writing—as long as
you cite them. As a matter of policy, any student found to have
plagiarized will receive a zero for the assignment and be reported to the
Director of Student Standards.

Course Calendar
Week 1 In-Class Home-work
TH 1/20 Introduction Briggs, “The Theatre”
Read Over Syllabus A Midsummer Night’s
Shakespeare’s Life Dream
Shakespeare’s Language
Sonnets 1, 15, 20, 65, 67, 73, 97, 116, 130
Play-going in Elizabethan England
FRI 1/21 MACBETH at BTE
Week 2
TH 1/27 Amazons Venus and Adonis
The Little Ice Age Briggs, “Women and the
Athens vs. Greenworld Family”
Definitions of Comedy Ovid, Metamorphosis

Week 3
TH 2/3 Finish Up Dream As You Like It
 Group Discussion 1 Montaigne, “Of Cruelty”
Hoffman’s Film “Apology for Raymond
Ovid Sebond”
Venus and Adonis
Week 4
TH 2/10 The Pastoral Briggs, “World Pictures”
The Boy Actor Merchant of Venice
Gosson, Plays Confuted in Five Actions (5.1.48-87); Coriolanus
Group Discussion 2 (1.1); Hamlet (2.2.285-
Branagh’s Film 300, 4.4.9.20-56, 4.5,
Montaigne 4.7.134-166, 5.1);Troilus
and Cressida (1.3.74-137)
Week 5
TH 2/17 Finish As You Like It King Lear (1-3)
The Elizabethan World Picture Hooker, “Laws of
Humoral Theory Ecclesiastical Polity”;
Donne, “First
Anniversary,” Holy
Sonnets,” “The Flea”;
Week 6
TH 2/24 Group Discussion 3 King Lear (4-5)
Hooker & Donne
Q vs. F
Kozinstev’s Korol Lir

Week 7
TH 3/3 The Two Endings
Mid-term
Week 8
TH 3/10 Spring Break Timon of Athens (1-3)
Week 9
TH 3/17 Timon Timon of Athens (4-5)
Thoreau, Walden
Week 10
TH 3/24 Group Discussion 4: Macbeth
Thoreau
Definitions of Tragedy
Cumberland’s Revision
Week 11
TH 3/31 King James and Witchcraft Tempest (1-2)
SU 4/3 MACBETH @ Theatre for a New
Audience?
Week 12
TUESDAY Forest of Dunsinane Tempest (3-5)
4/5??? Throne of Blood Bacon, New Atlantis
The Late Romances
Prospero and Caliban
Week 13
TH 4/14 Group Discussion 5: The Winter’s Tale (1-2)
Bacon Annotated Bibliography
Forbidden Planet due April 21st

SA 4/16 MACBETH @ BAM 2 pm

Week 14
TH 4/21 Frye’s Theory of Romance Winter’s Tale (3-5)
Sidney, Defense of
Posey
Week 15
TH 4/28 Perdita’s Garden Papers must be emailed
Review for Exam to me by 4/29 @ 12 pm
FR 4/29 Final Paper due!
Week 16
TH 5/5 Final Exam @ 7:15 PM