Course details

Name: ENGL - 455

Title: RESTORATION AND 18TH CENTURY DRAMA

Section: 41

Semester: Summer - 2022

Credits: 3

Description:
This course focuses on a spectacular part of the 18th century, its dramas, which include intrigues, sensuality, & a fight or two. This is the age of the libertine. The Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the throne of what soon became Great Britain overthrew Puritanical laws, allowing for the reopening of the theaters, where women finally worked as actresses. The 18th century globally includes a time of technological change, nearly constant war, & Enlightened discourse that challenged traditions, culminating in the American & French Revolutions. In response to such turbulence, the plays of this period reflect (& sometimes & in some ways critique) a public sphere increasingly identified with pleasure, leisure, and commerce. We will focus on how these past plays relate to concerns of the present by discussing their relationship to transgender rights and cross-dressing, rape culture and the Me Too movement, and the social stature of actresses. Texts may include William Wycherley's The Country Wife (1675), Aphra Behn's The Rover (1677), John Gay's Beggar's Opera (1728), and the play it inspired: Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera (1928). We will also read The Marriage of Figaro (1778/1786) by the French author Beaumarchais, which Mozart adapted into the most popular opera of all time. This course takes place asynchronously online. There will be deadlines but no meeting times.

Last updated on 2021-11-28 By Nielsen Wendy (nielsenw)

Schedule:

Graduation requirements:

• Any Literature (1e)
• Genre Study (Drama)
• Pre-1700 (1a)
• Pre-1800 (1b)
• Pre-1900 (1c)
• Women and Gender Studies (3c)
• Class Issues (3d)
• Pre-1800 British (TE 1b)

Teaching Faculty: Nielsen Wendy (nielsenw)

Is course canceled: No