Unit name | Revenge Tragedy |
---|---|
Unit code | ENGL29008 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Dr. Ian Calvert |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of English |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Revenge has been a central preoccupation from Aeschylus to Tarantino. Acts of vengeance raise perplexing questions about the ethical meaning of retribution, the responsibilities of the living to the dead, and the relationship between mourning and memory. This course will explore the representation of revenge across a wide selection of literary texts, some of which will be read in translation. Among the topics investigated will be: tensions between the vengeance of the individual and the operations of law, the moral and emotional transformation of the revenger, the haunting presence of the dead, and ideas about pollution and expiation. Starting with plays from the classical period which form an essential background to revenge tragedy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we will study a range of tragedies, relating individual texts to dramatic ideas of genre, to traditions and conventions of stage representation, and to the historical contexts of the period. Students will be given the opportunity to submit a draft or outline of their final essay of up to 1,500 words and to receive feedback on this.
Aims:
This unit aims to introduce a principal dramatic genre of English Renaissance drama. Starting with plays from the classical period which form an essential background to revenge tragedy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, students will study a range of tragedies, relating individual texts to dramatic ideas of genre, to traditions and conventions of stage representation and to the historical contexts of the period.
Students will be given the opportunity to submit a draft or outline of their final, summative essay of up to 1,000 words and to receive feedback on this.
By the successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1 x 2 hour seminar per week.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Thomas Middleton, The Revenger’s Tragedy
Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye
Clint Eastwood (dir.), Unforgiven
Lesel Dawson and Fiona McHardy (eds), Revenge and Gender in Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Literature