DTS2210

The woman's part

D Cuthbert

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should have a sound knowledge of Shakespearean and Jacobean drama and an understanding of the ways inwhich gender difference is produced by discourse; they will also have a working familiarity with some of the methods of feminist, historicist and materialist criticism.

Synopsis This subject explores the representation of women in a range of English dramatic texts from the first half of the seventeenth century, in light of the position of women in that society and the approaches offered by feminist literary criticism. The subject will raise a number of topics for discussion including (i) the range and significance of female character types (the shrew, the widow, the whore etc.); (ii) female sexuality; (iii) love, marriage, property; (iv) male attitudes to women, especially stage misogyny; (v) relations between the sexes (husbands and wives, fathers and daughters); (vi) intersections of gender, class and racial difference.

Assessment Exercise (1500 words): 20%
* Short essay (1500 words): 30%
* Long essay (3000 words): 50%
* Seminar participation.

Prescribed texts

Middleton T Five plays Penguin, 1996
Shakespeare W The Merchant of Venice Signet, 1996
Shakespeare W Antony and Cleopatra Signet, 1996
Shakespeare W Othello Signet, 1996
Shakespeare W As You Like It Signet, 1996
Shakespeare W The Winter's Tale Signet, 1996
Webster J Three plays Penguin, 1996

Recommended texts

McLuskie K Renaissance dramatists Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989