VS-Culture - Gender - Media: Shakespeare's Othello: Text, Stage, Screen
Sabine Schülting
Comments
The course will be concerned with Othello, one of Shakespeare’s most controversial tragedies. It is a play about love and jealousy, but also racism and misogyny. The course will start with a close-reading of the play, its contextualization in early modern debates about gender and race, and an overview of important critical responses to the play. We will then have a look at the stage history of Othello and different approaches to performing Blackness. This will include a consideration of more recent stage productions and film versions. Our discussions of these contemporary interpretations and adaptations of Othello will consider the ways in which the tragedy has been used to address current debates about cultural and racial differences as well as the intersections of gender and race.
Texts: Students should purchase a scholarly edition of Othello (preferably the Arden, Cambridge or Oxford edition) and have read the play by the beginning of the semester.
Assessment will be on the basis of regular attendance, active participation in class activities (such as short presentations, group work, short written assignments etc.) and the submission of an essay (of c. 4000 words). Exchange students with a background in English and/or Cultural Studies are welcome; your proficiency in English should be at least B2. Exchange students can get up to 10 ECTS for this course.
16 Class schedule
Regular appointments