There are no pre-requisites for this module to be added

This module considers the thematic and theatrical power of violence on the early modern stage, paying attention to different typologies of violence and the stage technologies used to represent them. We will cover tragedies from the Elizabethan and Jacobean, including plays by canonical authors, such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe alongside less-studied works. In doing so, the module aims to give you a deeper understanding of the social, political, and cultural contexts that informed the dramatization of violence, and a richer sense of early modern theatrical culture. Each week centres a form of violence that animates the play in which it appears, for example assassination in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, or domestic violence in John Webster's Tis Pity She's Whore. Through a combination of historically informed close-readings and an analysis of early modern staging, you will evaluate the rich and myriad meanings of violence in these plays, questioning orthodoxies about senseless violence, and evaluating the appeal of violence to dramatists and spectators.

Upon completion of this module you will be able to

LO1: Identify and critically reflect upon the ways early modern drama represents different typologies of violence.

LO2: Demonstrate a well-informed understanding of the political, social, and cultural contexts that informed early modern violence and its dramatic representation.

LO3: Undertake close readings and critical analyses of early modern drama that account for the materiality of the stage and the effects of performance.

LO4: Access and search key scholarly resources and databases relating to the study of early modern violence and drama.

LO5: Appraise key trends in the history of criticism on violence in early modern drama and evaluate these trends in your own assessment of drama.