#MeToo Shakespeare
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Lit 179AB: #MeToo Shakespeare
Prof. Ambereen Dadabhoy email: dadabhoy@g.hmc.edu phone: 72614 office: Parson 1268 office hours: M/W 10-11, 1-3, or by appointment
Course Description:
Founded in 2006 by activist and community organizer, Tarana
Burke, the “Me Too” movement has cultivated “empathy and empowerment” for
women who have experienced sexual harassment and sexual violence. It became viral, however, in 2017 when prominent women in Hollywood began to share their stories of sexual exploitation and retaliation from the Hollywood (male) elite and then rapidly spread to various institutions and industries. Amid these very contemporary and pressing concerns, where then, might Shakespeare fit in? We know that sexism and patriarchy were not invented in the 21
st
century, they are seemingly, as old as human history and communities.
Taking that as our starting point, in this course we will examine how Shakespeare’s work
engages in concerns that we identify as being germane to those of #MeToo. Some of the questions we will be asking during the course include: how does an early modern playwright depict and interrogate notions of sexual violence, exploitation, and coercion? How does his work offer opportunities to intervene in a hyper-patriarchal and masculinist society? What
opportunities do his plays suggest for women’s power and agency? Is there a way that we can use Shakespeare’s plays to comment on the sexual politics of our own era? Some of the texts we
will read are,
Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer N
ight’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The
Taming of the Shew, and Measure for Measure.
Course Objectives
: In this course you will:
gain familiarity with a broad range of Shakespearean drama.
be exposed to a variety of theoretical approaches to literary study.
analyze the literature through the above mentioned methodologies.
critically interpret texts through oral presentations and written assignments.
craft written and oral presentations that engage in public-facing humanities.
Course Texts
: All of these texts are available at Huntley Bookstore. You may buy them independently; however, please purchase the edition that I have assigned; however, if you have another edition of Shakespeare that you prefer, please make sure that it has act, scene, and line numbers.
I reserve the right to change or reassign the readings as required. I might also add some readings should news events occur that are germane to our inquiry.