Course Outline: Revenge Tragedy

Abstract

English 412 is, in its official description, "A survey of drama from 1558 to 1603, including works by William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe." In this version from 2017, students focused on six revenge tragedies, the blockbuster genre of the Elizabethan theatre: plays filled with bloody violence, elevated rhetoric, and ghosts imploring justice. Like classic Hollywood films, revenge tragedies demanded more collaborations among writers than any other genre -- famous playwrights like Marlowe and Shakespeare, and the lesser-known Thomas Kyd, George Peele, John Marston, Henry Chettle, and Thomas Middleton. Students learned about their collaborations and their competitions for audiences, and their tragedies' adaptations of ancient sources to modern contexts