EdX

Shakespeare on the Page and in Performance: Tragic Love (edX)

Offered by Wellesley College,
Shakespeare on the Page and in Performance: Tragic Love (edX)

Explore Shakespeare's mature plays of tragic love, Othello and King Lear, and learn what makes them so powerful and enduring. This literature and theater course will study two of the most sublime and gut-wrenching plays in the English language: Othello and King Lear. We will try to understand the reasons for their centrality to literary history as well as their continuing power to mesmerize audiences in theatres and cinemas across the world.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see EdX's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

As we explore the genius of the plays on the page, we will also study the lives of the plays in performance, from Shakespeare's own theatre to the stages and screens across the globe today. To help us further, actors will occasionally join our effort to demonstrate ways of bringing the text alive as living theatre.

What you'll learn:

  • A new appreciation for Shakespeare's greatness and popularity, on the page and in performance across the globe.
  • How to combine literary and historical analysis with theatrical approaches to bring Shakespeare most fully alive.
  • New ways of understanding Shakespeare’s continuing relevance to us today as we explore recurring themes in plays that trace the arc of Shakespeare's career.
  • Analyze Shakespeare’s plays Othello and King Lear.
Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice: Shylock (edX) EdX
HarvardX,Harvard University

Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice: Shylock (edX)

Humanities Languages & Literature

An exploration of the magnetic and ambivalent character of Shylock in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. In the first act of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice , the Jewish moneylender Shylock proposes a “merry sport” to the merchant Antonio: he will lend Antonio the money he needs if Antonio agrees to let Shylock take a pound of his flesh should he default. Shylock calls this contract a “merry bond,” and Shakespeare’s First Folio calls the play a comedy. But what does Shylock want from the bond, and how merry does the play ultimately prove?

Self Paced
Self-Paced
William Shakespeare Shakespeare Jewish
Details
Book Sleuthing: The Nineteenth Century (edX) EdX
Harvard University

Book Sleuthing: The Nineteenth Century (edX)

Humanities

Go behind the scenes at Harvard’s libraries to discover how readers in the first information age interacted with their books. Do you love printed paper and wonder how much longer it will survive in the age of ebooks? Are you curious about how the mass-produced modern book emerged in the first place? Come behind the scenes in Harvard’s libraries to explore the look, feel and even smell of nineteenth-century British and American books in this module of The Book: Histories Across Time and Space.

No sessions available
3 Weeks
Literature Book
Details
Uncovering the Voices of Japanese Literature (edX) EdX
Waseda University,WasedaX

Uncovering the Voices of Japanese Literature (edX)

Languages & Literature

This course explores issues of agency in premodern and modern Japan. Discover many facets of the Japanese literary, theatrical, and intellectual traditions which, although important, are rarely taught around the world. This course will provide you with an introduction and a basis for further study in Japanese history, culture, literature, arts, and other areas which you may intend to explore in the future.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Literature Japan Japanese Literature
Details
ChinaX Book Club: Five Authors, Five Books, Five Views of China (edX) EdX
HarvardX,Harvard University

ChinaX Book Club: Five Authors, Five Books, Five Views of China (edX)

Languages & Literature

An exploration of the dynamics of contemporary China using the tools of close reading, discussion, and analysis. How can literature and literary analysis allow us to understand the dynamics of contemporary China? China’s historical and cultural transformations, and its imaginary and actual engagements in everyday life are vividly dramatized by five Chinese authors featured in this course.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Literature China Literary
Details
Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature (edX) EdX
HarvardX,Harvard University

Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature (edX)

Humanities Languages & Literature

Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today. This short literature course, based on the first half of the Masterpieces of World Literature edX MOOC, examines how civilizations and cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how that literature has continued to contribute to our understanding of those civilizations and cultures today.

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Literature Odyssey Homer
Details
Invitation to The Tale of Genji: The Foundational Elements of Japanese Culture (edX) EdX
Waseda University,WasedaX

Invitation to The Tale of Genji: The Foundational Elements of Japanese Culture (edX)

Languages & Literature

Explore the world's oldest novel written in the eleventh century and develop the perspective to understand Japanese classical literature and the foundation of Japanese culture. The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) is a long-form narrative composed in Japan at the beginning of the eleventh century. It depicts relationships both harmonious and discordant among a wide cast of the men and women of the Heian court. These revolve around the many love affairs of the main character, the Shining Genji (Hikaru Genji).

Self Paced
Self-Paced
Literature Japan Novel
Details