LTEN 113—SHAKESPEARE II: THE JACOBEAN PERIOD

“FAKE NEWS, KNOWLEDGE, AND POWER”

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will explore the phenomenon of "fake news" and the relationship between knowledge and power in a range of texts that Shakespeare wrote during the Jacobean period—that is, during the reign of King James I (1603-1625). What is “fake news,” and why do we fall for it? Why do we so often prefer lies to truth? How is disinformation purveyed, and how do we combat it? How do we establish and convince others of the truth? What happens when the State becomes the sole gatekeeper and arbiter of information? To consider these issues and more, we will first examine the concept of “fake news” and why we are so susceptible to it by reading Francis Bacon’s “Idols of the Mind,” a concept developed in his Novum Organum, and Plato’s Gorgias, in which Socrates examines the dangers of persuasion, of the death of expertise, and of the pursuit of power. We will then read and discuss a selection of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Othello, The Winter’s Tale, Coriolanus, Measure for Measure, and The Tempest.

 

REQUIRED COURSE TEXTS

  • Plato, Gorgias (Penguin, 978-0140449044)

  • Shakespeare, Coriolanus (Pelican, 978-0143132271)

  • Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (Pelican, 978-0143131731)

  • Shakespeare, Othello (Pelican, 978-0143128618)

  • Shakespeare, The Tempest (Pelican, 978-0143128632)

  • Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (Pelican, 978-0143131748)

*All texts marked with an asterisk (*) in the Course Schedule below are available on TritonEd.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students must fulfill all course requirements to pass the course.

  • Participation: 20%

  • Weekly Responses (#1-4): 40%

  • Final Paper: 40%

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

7/2 | Introduction to Shakespearean Drama; Fake News & Why We Fall for It

  • *Francis Bacon, “Idols of the Mind,” from Novum Organum (1620)

7/4 | Independence Day. No Class.

7/9 | The Art of Persuasion & The Death of Expertise

  • Plato, Gorgias (380 BCE)

7/11 | Love in the Sonnets: A Case Study in Why We Prefer Lies to Truth

  • *Selections from Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609)

7/16 | Iago: The Master of Disinformation

  • Shakespeare, Othello (1603-4)

7/18 | Leontes: The Purveyor and Victim of Disinformation

  • Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (1610-11)

7/23 | Menenius Agrippa: Manipulating the Masses

  • Shakespeare, Coriolanus (1607-8)

7/25 | “Who Will Believe Thee?”: Combatting Disinformation

  • Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (1603-4)

7/30 | The State as Gatekeeper of Knowledge

  • Shakespeare, The Tempest (1610-11)

8/1 | Conclusion