We will begin with a Comedy of Errors, an early farce written under the influence of Latin writers Plautus and Terence Shakespeare studied in school. We will then look at the lyric comedy Midsummer Night's Dream and the related lyric tragedy Romeo and Juliet. As Queen Elizabeth grows older, the question of her successor prompts Shakespeare to write a series of history plays. We will study Richard II, 1 Henry IV, and Richard III to survey the whole of the Tudor Myth. Finally, we will look at the triumph of Hamlet.

There will be three papers and three tests. Class participation is encouraged and rewarded.