William Shakespeare is undoubtedly the greatest dramatist —even the greatest writer— of all time. His impact on Western culture and language is unmistakable, but his works have also been continuously read and performed around the world, illustrating his global significance. This course is focussed on the close reading of three plays whose main are topics are power and leadership. Hamlet is a tragedy that is linked to modernity: its hero faces doubt and resistance to reality by refusing the codes of the past. In Macbeth, ambition and power are mixed up with supernatural and madness to represent the fall of man in modern terms. And finally, Henry V presents a positive hero who is able to lead an entire nation in an almost impossible task, giving a unique model for teaching leadership in business administration and management courses.
Primary sources:
W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Marsilio, testo a fronte
W. Shakespeare, Henry V, Garzanti, testo a fronte
W. Shakespeare, Macbeth, Garzanti, testo a fronte
Secondary sources:
M. Stanco (a cura di), La letteratura inglese dall'Umanesimo al Rinascimento, Carocci, 2016
Bill Bryson, Il mondo è teatro, Tea, 2008
Ronald Knowles, "Hamlet and Counter-Humanism", Renaissance Quarterly, 52, 4 (Winter, 1999), pp. 1046-1069
Richard Halpern, "Eclipse of Action: "Hamlet" and the Political Economy of Playing", Shakespeare Quarterly , 59, 4 (Winter, 2008), pp. 450-482
Christopher Dowd, "Polysemie Brotherhoods in Henry V", Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 , 50, 2, (Spring 2010), pp. 337-353
Anny Crunelle-Vanrigh, "Henry V" as a Royal Entry", Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 , 47, 2, (Spring, 2007), pp. 355-377
J. Gregory Keller, “The Moral Thinking of Macbeth”, Philosophy and Literature, 29, 1 (April 2005), pp. 41-56
Kristina Straub, “The Soldier in the Theater: Military Masculinity and the Emergence of a Scottish Macbeth”, The Eighteenth Century, 58, 4 (Winter 2017), pp. 429-447
Further study materials will be given to students during the course.
