Fall Classes - Shakespeare & the Revenge Play

Fall Classes with Peter Arcese:

Shakespeare & the Revenge Play: Why So Much Blood, Guts & Gore?

What kind of a person would write such bloody plays & why?

• Was Shakespeare pandering to the insatiable Elizabethan appetite for blood?
• Was Shakespeare inciting racism for profit?
• Or was Shakespeare trying to show us a better way to live?

We can learn more about Shakespeare from reading his plays than by reading his biographies. By saturating his audience with visions of violence, he prompted them (and us) to imagine paths to peace and justice. Reading the following three plays, we can discover Shakespeare as a humanitarian who used the conventions of bloody entertainment to overcome the basic human desire for vengeance and the destructive distortions of prejudice.

Titus Andronicus (1593/94): a tragedy of human depravity
The Merchant of Venice (1596/1600): a sinister comedy of cold reason
The Tempest (1610/23): a romance of cruelty & compassion

Five sessions, Tuesdays 2-4pm: 9/21, 10/12, 10/26, 11/16, 12/7
Location: NYC Bar Association, 42 West 44th St (between 5th & 6th Avenues)

$145 for the series, $35 per individual session

Course Selections

All 5 sessions $145.00 Session 1 - 9/21 $35.00 Session 2 - 10/12 $35.00 Session 3 - 10/26 $35.00 Session 4 - 11/16 $35.00 Session 5 - 12/7 $35.00