Shakespeare and Selfhood
Autumn 2015
Anthropole 4129
Tuesday, 10:15-11:45
Prof. Kevin
Curran
Office: Anth
5123
Consultation:
Tuesdays, 1:00-3:00 PM
Email:
kevin.curran@unil.ch
Description
What is a self? Are we minds that just happen to
perceive a body and physical surroundings, or are we bodies whose sensory
experience of material reality creates something that feels like an independent
mental world? Are we free agents, or are our actions determined by our
environment? And if we can figure out who we are, does that make it easier to
know how we should live? For example, is there a certain system of governance
(monarchy, democracy, socialism) that is more in sync with human nature than
others? There have been many attempts to answer these questions in philosophy,
politics, science, law, and religion. The premise of this course, a premise
shared by many readers and theatergoers from the eighteenth century onwards, is
that Shakespeare, too, has something to tell us about selfhood. Focusing on a
selection of plays, this course will explore the relationship between
Shakespearean drama and the idea of selfhood from two perspectives: (1)
Historical: Shakespeare wrote his plays during what is typically taken to be a
watershed period in the history of selfhood, a period during which some have
argued the modern self—closed, autonomous, interiorized, uniquely
individual—begins to emerge. (2) Theatrical: the social and material contexts
in which Shakespeare’s plays were performed and the gestural and rhetorical
practices used to form character on stage contribute to specific ways of
understanding the self.
