Shakespeare's plays dramatize, on the one hand, the rise and fall of empire (Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra), assassination of a dictator (Julius Caesar), succession crises (Lear, Cymbeline), and political domination (The Tempest). On the other, these plays stage the significance of a different kind of politics: race, gender, sex, and sexuality. How does this latter category inform the operations of the former? In this seminar we examine the space of the political in Shakespeare's period and our own.
3 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
Shakespeare's plays dramatize, on the one hand, the rise and fall of empire (Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra), assassination of a dictator (Julius Caesar), succession crises (Lear, Cymbeline), and political domination (The Tempest). On the other, these plays stage the significance of a different kind of politics: race, gender, sex, and sexuality. How does this latter category inform the operations of the former? In this seminar we examine the space of the political in Shakespeare's period and our own.
Offered in Winter 2026 at Stanford University.