Stephen Greenblatt

Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of twelve books, including The Swerve: How the World Became Modern; Shakespeare's Freedom; Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare; Hamlet in Purgatory; Marvelous Possessions; and Renaissance Self-Fashioning. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare, has edited seven collections of criticism, and is a founding editor of the journal Representations.
Areas of Expertise:
- Shakespeare
- Early Modern Literature and Culture
- Literature of Travel and Exploration
- Religion and Literature
- Literature and Anthropology
- Literary and Cultural Theory

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

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 [...]

Shakespeare’s Othello: The Moor (edX)

Explore acts of storytelling in Shakespeare's Othello alongside world-class artists who interpret Othello's story in new forms and contexts today. In this course, we'll read William Shakespeare’s Othello and discuss the play from a variety of perspectives. The goal of the course is not to cover everything that has [...]

Shakespeare's Life and Work (edX)

Learn how to read William Shakespeare's plays through his biography, Elizabethan and Jacobean history, and modern performance. How do we read Shakespeare? Do his plays belong to the past, or the present? To a famed dramatic genius or to readers and audiences around the globe? What do his plays [...]

Shakespeare's Hamlet: The Ghost (edX)

Explore the haunting figure at the heart of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays. In the first act of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Ghost of the dead King of Denmark appears to his son, setting off a chain of events that culminates in the play’s notoriously bloody finale. [...]