CLAS 112 - Greek and Roman Drama in Translation

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
Greek drama has cast a long shadow over theatrical history. This class examines the original plays and their reception from Aristophanes to Shakespeare. The first half of the semester is spent reading plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, highlighting the various ways the plays were understood in antiquity and today (from performance criticism to Freud and Lacan). In the second half of the semester we investigate comedies by Aristophanes, Plautus, and Terence, before tackling the complex “theater of blood” of Seneca. We finish the semester exploring both the comic and tragic traditions as exemplified by select plays of Shakespeare.