William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies

Professor Peter Saccio—an award-winning Ivy League Professor of Shakespeare studies—is your guide for this marvelous exploration of 15 of Shakespeare's greatest plays. Learn how our most abundant poet and dramatist has been moving, delighting, and enlightening readers and audiences for 400 years, with no end in sight.

Lecture Titles:
1. Shakespeare Then and Now
2. The Nature of Shakespeare's Plays
3. Twelfth Night—Shakespearean Comedy
4. Twelfth Night—Malvolio in Love
5. The Taming of the Shrew—Getting Married in the 1590s
6. The Taming of the Shrew—Farce and Romance
7. The Merchant of Venice—Courting the Heiress
8. The Merchant of Venice—Shylock
9. Measure for Measure—Sex in Society
10. Measure for Measure—Justice and Comedy
11. Richard III—Shakespearean History
12. Richard III—The Villain's Career
13. Richard II—The Theory of Kingship
14. Richard II—The Fall of the King
15. Henry IV—All the King's Men
16. Henry IV—The Life of Falstaff
17. Henry V—The Death of Falstaff
18. Henry V—The King Victorious
19. Romeo and Juliet—Shakespearean Tragedy
20. Romeo and Juliet—Public Violence and Private Bliss;
21. Troilus and Cressida—Ancient Epic in a New Mode
22. Troilus and Cressida—Heroic Aspirations
23. Julius Caesar—The Matter of Rome
24. Julius Caesar—Heroes of History
25. Hamlet—The Abundance of the Play
26. Hamlet—The Causes of Tragedy
27. Hamlet—The Protestant Hero
28. Othello—The Design of the Tragedy
29. Othello—“O Villainy!”
30. Othello—“The Noble Moor”
31. King Lear—“This Is the Worst”
32. King Lear—Wisdom Through Suffering
33. King Lear—“Then We Go On”
34. Macbeth—“Fair Is Foul”
35. Macbeth—Musing on Murder
36. Macbeth—“Enter Two Murderers”