Featuring English 253: Advanced Shakespeare

In my second post “Featuring” post, I turn to my other English course in my schedule, ENG 253/353 Advanced Shakespeare, taught this semester by Professor Vaughan. Like almost all of the English Department Seminars, Advanced Shakespeare is both an undergraduate- and graduate-level course, my classmates being mostly English majors and English M. A. students.

Last year, I began my Shakespeare journey by taking Intro to Shakespeare last spring semester. I took the course mostly because of Professor Vaughan’s reputation for being a highly-regarded Shakespeare expert and knowing she was retiring after that semester. The course was amazing, our TA Stephanie Grace was fantastic both directing student performances and taking on an entire play’s worth of teaching, and the students were really engaged with the material considering it was an introductory course.

I knew I wanted my last English Department seminar (I am a second semester senior) to be Advanced Shakespeare, and when I heard Professor Vaughan was being kind enough to come back for one more section of it, I was thrilled. The class is full of some of Intro alums, graduate students, and some undergrads who are interested in the topic. The class, while very different from Intro in structure (taking on a more student led discussion set up, working through a greater number of texts, and incorporating more literary criticism) has a great energy with everyone engaged with the text and willing to voice their opinions and consider the thoughts of others. I’ve enjoyed every minute so far—and that is saying something, because currently we are entrenched in Shakespeare’s histories, my least favorite category of Shakespeare’s works.

The huge "Brick o' Shakespeare", better known as The Norton Anthology of Shakespeare

This week I am presenting on both Richard II and 1Henry IV. These histories are the first two in Shakespeare’s second tetralogy. My research question is regarding the continuity between the two works as they share three characters. Henry Bolingbroke who becomes King Henry IV is, in my opinion, the most interesting character to see transform. While I will not get into the details of my presentation here, I will say this:  the second tetralogy appears to begin a meditation on the relationship between king and subject, more precisely reflecting on how one is to be a good ruler and how one can create stability when rule is interrupted. I am looking forward to what my classmates have to say on the topic.