#MeToo Shakespeare
1
1
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.
 
#MeToo Shakespeare
2
2 The following texts are available on Sakai: John Berger,
Ways of Seeing
Lynda Boose,
“Scolding Brides and Bridling Scolds”
 Frantz Fanon,
 Black Skin / White Masks
Kim F. Hall,
Things of Darkness
 
 bell hooks, “feminism: a transformational politic”
 
 bell hooks, “the oppositional gaze”
 Kate Manne,
 Down Girl
Francesca Royster, “White
-
Limed Walls”
 Rebecca Solnit,
 Men Explain Things to Me
 The following can be found on YouTube
Ways of Seeing 
Attendance:
 This is a seminar course and its success is dependent upon your attendance and  participation. All absences must be accompanied by a valid excuse either from DOS or via communication with me.
Several unexcused absences will result in a lower final grade.
 You are allowed one unexcused and un-penalized absence over the course of the semester.
Participation:
 This seminar will be successful only through student participation. One of the goals of this class is to generate discussion which will help not only to increase your comprehension and appreciation of this literature but also to develop your critical perspective. We can only do so through a rich and thorough conversation that involves everyone.
Reading:
 You are required to complete the assigned reading
before
 our meeting time. You should also bring your text to all of our class meetings, as we will frequently be referring to the text.
 Not reading or bringing your text to class will count as an absence.
 In addition I reserve the right to give pop quizzes, so you must come to class prepared. Your quiz grade will be calculated into your overall participation grade.
Assignments:
 
Writing:
We will be experimenting with writing in this course. You will write one traditional close reading paper (1000-1200 words); turn that paper into a public humanities article; response  posts (on Sakai blog) to five online articles of your choice that are on our topic; and a final
“conference” on our topic.
 
For your papers, you will have a 48 hour no questions asked “grace
-
 period,” on any
one
 deadline of y
our choice. You just have to let me know that you’ll be using that option, no reasons need to
 be given.
1 close reading papers (1000-1200 words)
: The aim of this paper is to close read a portion of one of our primary texts. Close reading is a tool that literary scholars use to analyze and interpret a text. The way a passage is composed, the choice of words used by an author, certain images and figurative language, are all codes that help us decipher a text and arrive at meaning. You will receive a handout explaining how to close read more fully, and we will do a close reading in
 
#MeToo Shakespeare
3
3 class, so that you gain familiarity with this necessary skill. You are also permitted to use one of the theoretical texts through which to analyze the primary text.
Response Blog posts:
 You will be required to write a response blog post every other week on some kind of popular/public writing that takes up the themes of this course, broadly interpreted. Examples of such writing are:  NYT OpEds, literary sites, Medium posts,  podcasts or any site where you see authors engaging in deeply critical ways with contemporary social issues. If you have trouble finding such sources, please come see me. These responses should be about 250-300 words in length.
Public Humanities project:
using your popular/public research as a model, you will transform your close reading paper (or something new) into your own public facing humanistic research.
You will use one or more of Shakespeare’s plays and tie that into a contemporary issue or
 problem that engages with the topic of the course, #MeToo Shakespeare. The length of this  project will depend upon the publication model that you have selected. The minimum length will  be at least
750 words
.
Group presentation:
You will be responsible for leading discussion one time during the semester on one of our plays. The aim of this presentation is for you to show how the play is connected to our broader topic, #MeToo, sex, and gendered violence. Your responsibility is to expose how the play engages with these themes, supports or rejects them, and relate how the theoretical approaches we have adopted allow us to further interrogate the play. I will provide more detailed instructions for the content of your presentation via Sakai. The presentation will be 20 minutes long, so please use your time wisely and prepare ahead of time.
Conference:
This is a collaborative assignment. On the last day of our class, we will host a conference on #MeToo Shakespeare, where you will each present your research in conference format. You will be expected to field questions on your presentations from the class and to show your knowledge about your topic and subject. Further information and instructions will be  provided as we get closer to the end of the semester.
Grading:
Your course grade will be determined as follows: Participation 20% Papers 40% (close reading 20% and public humanities project 20%) Presentation 10% Blog posts: 10% Conference: 20%
Electronics:
 I would prefer if you took notes without using a computer. Please try to bring a hard copy of the text and a notebook and writing tool. While I will not ban laptops, I should not find your doing any work other than work for the course on them.
If I do, it will result in a lowered course grade
. As for cell phones, you should mute or turn them off while in class. If you are texting in class you will be asked to leave.
View on Scribd