English 235: Shakespeare on Love

This semester (Fall 2019), I took Shakespeare on Love with Professor Sarah Beckwith. This class gathered an interesting range of students from theater studies majors to goodness-I-just-need-an-ALP upperclassmen. I signed up to fulfill the Area I requirement and because my advisor had nothing but praise for Professor Beckwith.

In her class description, Beckwith explains why she chose to focus on love in Shakespeare’s plays: “His plays explore the way in which love leads to transformed perceptions of the world and the lover all at once. Love carries an extraordinary philosophical burden in Shakespeare’s plays: the renewal of the world depends on it.”

The class began with the more obvious portrayals of love in the comedies such as As You Like It. The love-struck couple Orlando and Rosalind overcome a murderous brother, a tyrannical uncle, and a whole lot of confusion to be together. Shakespeare on Love then shifted into the tragedies which also explore love, but instead of showing its triumph, they focus on miscommunicated love and dangerous love.

For the first six weeks, Jonathan Cullen—who has acted, directed, and taught Shakespeare—led the class. Despite having to travel to a theater on East Campus twice a week, I still enjoyed the different perspective Jonathan brought to the class. Learning about how the play was performed and watching scenes acted out shows a side to Shakespeare that you rarely see in high school classes. Jonathan also noted the differences among the four types of love present in Shakespeare: eros (romantic love and desire), agape (unconditional love), storge (familial love and loyalty), and philia (friendship). Jonathan’s analysis revealed that the love of Shakespeare extends much further than Cupid, roses, and Valentine’s Day. Throughout his time with us, Jonathan focused on As You Like It while simultaneously assisting the student production of the play that was performed in November.

In the second portion of the class, we moved back to West Campus (thank goodness) and read Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Winter’s Tale. Professor Beckwith preferred to read scenes together and then discuss how they reflected key themes of the play. She brought in her own knowledge of numerous performances, critical commentaries, and literary connections. By describing a production that portrayed Desdemona from Othello in a dress while all the other characters (including the other women parts) wore military uniforms, Beckwith emphasized Desdemona’s adventitiousness and innocence. She provided interesting information that helped unravel the complexity of Shakespeare’s language.

Something to remember if you ever take this class is that the syllabus is flexible. Our class decided that we would prefer spending our last meeting on Shakespeare’s sonnets, and one of our essays was pushed back ten days. Your grade overall depends on essays (a blog post, one 5-8 page paper, and one 8-12 page paper), reading before class, and class participation. You do not need to know how to act to take this class. I was concerned about this at the beginning of the semester, but you really only need to be able to read lines out loud for class participation.

Overall, Shakespeare on Love is an engaging way to satisfy an English, Medieval and Renaissance studies, Theater, or ALP credit. You explore Shakespeare in a way that you never did in high school, and the class has a balance between reading and writing. The heaviest amount of reading is one play in a week, and the largest writing assignment is the final 8-12 page paper.

If you want to read Shakespeare, study both theater and literature, or extend your literary analysis skills, Shakespeare on Love is a lively and engaging opportunity to do so.