Along with the plays, we'll read a number of essays from an anthology of criticism that reinterprets Elizabethan and Jacobean drama under the rubric "staging the Renaissance." We'll explore some of the common (or divergent) qualities and assumptions of these reinterpretations, and the ways in which "staging" in this anthology is seen as integral to "the Renaissance." In doing so we'll become familiar with some of the historicist, feminist and poststructuralist impulses that have shaped the reinterpretation of the Renaissance stage and Renaissance culture over the past two decades.

Required Texts:
English Renaissance Drama, ed. David Bevington et al. All plays but Merry Wives are in this anthology
Staging the Renaissance (SR), ed. D.S. Kastan and P. Stallybrass
An edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor
On-line readings available on the web version of this syllabus at my home page: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rmatz (please print out)

Course requirements: Class participation, three five-page papers, a final
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Note: Schedule subject to change (I will give warning, however).

Jonson, Bartholomew Fair
Leah S. Marcus, "Pastime and the Purging of Theater" (SR, 196-209)

Readings:
The readings for each class are due on the date listed above. Approach each assignment actively by always reading with a pen or pencil in hand. Note words, phrases or sentences that interest you, that seem significant in the context of the work, or that you have questions about. Jot down in the margins any questions or ideas you have about a particular point or the work as a whole. This practice will help you come prepared to discuss the plays in class and get the most out of class discussion; it will also help you become a more skillful reader of literary texts in general.

Participation and Attendance:
I may occasionally lecture for a portion of a class, but we will also open up class time to discussion, to observations about the ideas presented in a text, about its style, its uses of language, its puzzling qualities--whatever grabs our attention. I am interested in your ideas. Contribution to class discussion will not be formally calculated into grades, but I will take participation into account for grades that are borderline. If you aren't in class, you can't participate in discussion, nor will active class participation wholly excuse excessive absences.

Reading Responses:
Reading responses should be about a page of interpretive commentary on the day's reading. You might, for example, consider some image or idea that a play repeats, the implications of a metaphor, the ambiguities of tone in the text, the values implied by a play's heroes or villains, or the relation of the text to the critical reading for the day. You could also write about a question you'd like to discuss in class--but please add how you'd answer the question so far and why it seems like it might be an important one. Try to write about one or two ideas, rather than making a list of many. I'd like your responses typed. You will receive credit for a reading response if you turn it in at the end of a class you have attended and its meets the criteria above. The grade for reading responses is based on the number of no credits: 0-2=A; 3=B; 4=C; 5=D; 6 or more=F.

Paper Deadlines:
Please hand in papers on time. Late papers will be graded down a half grade for each day late. Additionally, papers two and three will be due twice: paper two in conference with me on Oct. 27 and paper three at a paper exchange on Dec. 1. I will mark the final version of papers two and three down if their first versions due on these days are not done, not typed or obviously incomplete. The purpose of this policy is to build revision, so necessary for good writing, into your assignments

Papers:
Each paper should be about five pages long, typed with standard margins, spacing and type size. It should be carefully proofread and neatly presented. The paper topics will relate to issues we have discussed in class, and you are encouraged to bring to bear class discussion in your writing. You are also encouraged to expand on these discussions and credit will be given for new ideas.

While I grade papers two and three on the bases of your final versions only, I would like you to hand in your first versions of these papers along with the final one.

Paper Helps:
For papers two and three some feedback will be built into the structure of the course: at conference for paper two and at a peer exchange for paper three. I encourage you, however, to see me at my office for paper one as well, and, more generally for all your papers. When we meet, it's best to have a draft of the paper you are working on. This will give us something more concrete to talk about. There is also available a Writing Center at Robinson A116 that can provide you with further individual attention to your writing. I encourage you to take advantage of this excellent facility.

I would also suggest that you give yourself plenty of time to work. Writing a paper at one sitting is, for most people, unpleasant, and the results are not likely to be satisfactory. Start early!

Plagiarism:
You are not expected or encouraged for this course to consult secondary sources beyond those assigned for class. If you do choose to look at such work, however, you must cite, using a standard citation format, all the articles, books or other sources that your own writing draws on, either directly or indirectly. Such sources include (but are not limited to) introductions to editions of the texts we're reading, any kind study aid and resources found on the internet.

Also note that uncited sources will constitute plagiarism even if they ended up in your work without your conscious knowledge (e.g. you forgot you read the material; you confused your own notes with notes on a source), since part of the scholarly responsibility that comes with using secondary sources is keeping track of which words or ideas were yours and which came from a source. If you do not wish to take on this responsibility then you should not consult secondary sources.

I will take all suspected cases of plagiarism to the Honor Committee.

Final:
The final will require you to recall and synthesize ideas from the entire semester, as well as to demonstrate your skills as a close reader. It will likely also address any plays (e.g. Women Beware Women) that you've had no chance to write about.

Grading:
The final grade will be derived as follows:
 

Reading Responses	15 %
First paper	16 %
Second paper	23 %
Third paper	23 %
Final	23 %

Please come see me if you have any questions about grading, the syllabus or the class. I look forward to having the chance to meet you. Best wishes for a good semester!

B Specific thesis, thesis generally developed through the course of the paper, consistently good interpretation of text, competent prose, minor mechanical problems

C Has a thesis, but one that needs greater specificity or complexity, thesis developed with some digression or repetition, some good interpretation, some mechanical problems

D Very general thesis, thesis development digressive or repetitive, plot summary or thoughts/speculations not based on textual evidence, major mechanical problems

F No thesis or thesis development