Last modified: 31 Jul 2023 11:19
This course begins by considering the theatre that gave us Marlowe and Shakespeare, among other major dramatists, as an institution actively engaged in the controversies of politics and religion of the age. Part 1 of the course focuses on the plays of Christopher Marlowe, whose controversial life is unusually well documented and whose plays starkly anticipate later tensions in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama . Part 2 considers how those tensions in politics and religion developed in later drama, giving particular attention to the genre of revenge tragedy.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | First Term | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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Cast outside of London's walls, subject to censorship, Renaissance drama revelled in the controversies of its age, and no dramatist was more controversial than Christopher Marlowe. Taking in the place of the stage and its censorship-conditions, this course will begin by considering Marlowe's shocking treatments of ethics, politics, sexuality and religion on the English stage. It will then consider the development of these themes in authors such as Kyd and Shakespeare, in such influential works as The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet, and the dramatic heritage of revenge tragedy these plays gave rise to in the turbulent eras of Renaissance and Reformation. Hamlet said theatre can show 'the very age and body of the time his form and pressure'. This course will study the pressures of his time, through the medium of some of its most striking dramatic works.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
Alternative Assessment
(45%) Essay 1, 3000-words
(45%) Essay 2, 3000-words
(10%) SAM
Alternative Resit Assessment
1 x 3,500-word Resit Essay (100%)
There are no assessments for this course.
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Factual | Remember | ILO’s for this course are available in the course guide. |
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