Class dates: Oct 31, Nov 7, 14, 21, Dec 5 (5 weeks)

Class time: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm

Location: Assumption, Kennedy 119

The course will center on Shakespeare’s tragedy of Othello. In addition to close analysis of the text, we will examine the play within its historical context, including early modern representations of black Africans, fear of the Ottoman empire, and constructions of female gender roles. After close examination of the text, we’ll also discuss the ways the play has been performed and received from its inception in 1603 to the present.

Required Reading : Othello, Folger Edition, ISBN 1501146299; free online

Instr uctor: Virginia Vaughan taught Shakespeare’s plays and poems at the college level for 40 years, the last 37 at Clark University. Her book, Othello: A Contextual History , was published by Cambridge University Press in 1994 and is still in print.