Please note: Due to alternative arrangements for teaching and
assessment in place from 18 March 2020 to mitigate against the restrictions in
place due to COVID-19, information shown for 2019/20 may not always be accurate.
Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Hamlet: Text and Interpretation |
| Unit code |
ENGLM3012 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
M/7
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. Lee |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of English |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This Unit involves an in-depth study of Hamlet. Particular emphases are placed on the interpretative history of the play, in both discursive and creative forms, and on the textual problems which the play presents. The unit examines intertextual Shakespeare by way of a number of categorizations current in literary study including history, gender, and genre. The last mentioned includes Shakespeare and poetry, Shakespeare and the Novel and Shakespeare and Film. Specific texts studied will vary from year to year.
Intended Learning Outcomes
- A better understanding of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and issues surrounding its interpretation.
- A better understanding of the different texts of Hamlet and how they have been understood by critics and editors.
- A knowledge of the different ways Hamlet has been interpreted in literary criticism over time.
- Developing an appropriate style of critical writing for the discussion and analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet Developing an appropriate style of critical writing for the discussion and analysis of Shakespeare and intertexuality.
Teaching Information
8 x 2-hour seminar, 1 reading week, 11 Consultation Hours
Assessment Information
1 essay of 4,000 words. Each student will also be required to give a 1000 word presentation in class
Reading and References
- Shakespeare, Hamlet
- Harold Bloom, Hamlet: Poem Unlimited (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2003)
- Graham Bradshaw, Shakespeare’s Scepticism (Brighton: Harvester Press, 1987)
- Wells, Stanley, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986)
- Wells, Stanley, ed., Shakespeare: A Bibliographical Guide (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990)
- Shakespeare and the Question of Theory, ed. by Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman (London: Methuen, 1985)
