| Unit name | Freud and Shakespeare |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL30028 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Mr. Donaldson |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will investigate Shakespeare's plays in psychoanalytic interpretation, and the usefulness of psychoanalysis in interpreting Shakespeare’s plays, by looking at plays that Freud wrote about, and at plays that Freud did not write about but which seem peculiarly susceptible to Freudian readings (for example, Henry IV, 1 & 2, Othello, Coriolanus, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest). It will also investigate Freud's responses to Shakespeare, in his supposed person as well as in his plays, and the consequences in psychoanalysis and for literary criticism of Freud's ideas about art and the artist, more generally.
On successful completion of this unit students will have (1) developed a sound knowledge and critical understanding of the usefulness and consequences of Freud’s responses to Shakespeare; (2) developed a detailed familiarity with and understanding of the relationship between psychoanalytic interpretation and literary criticism; (3) reflected upon the psychoanalytic themes of Shakespeare’s works; (4) written critically and analytically upon these themes
1 x 2-hour seminar per week.
Both elements will assess ILOs (1), (2) and (3) through the demonstration of (4) advanced skills in critical essay writing.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth.
Sigmund Freud, essays, including 'Psychopathic Characters on the Stage', 'The Theme of the Three Caskets', 'Some Character-Types Met With in Psychoanalytic Work', 'The Uncanny', 'Mourning and Melancholia', and 'On Narcissism: An Introduction'.
Janet Adelman, Suffocating Mothers: Fantasies of Maternal Origin in Shakespeare’s Plays, Hamlet to The Tempest (London: Routledge, 1992).
Harry Berger, Jr., Making Trifles of Terrors: Redistributing Complicities in Shakespeare (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997).
Stanley Cavell, Disowning Knowledge: in Six Plays of Shakespeare (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1987); reprinted as Disowning Knowledge: in Seven Plays of Shakespeare (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
