Approaching Shakespeare
- Free
- No certificate
Approaching Shakespeare is Emma Smith's open lecture series from Oxford's Faculty of English Language and Literature. Each of its 32 episodes takes a single play and a central critical question about it, from Love's Labour's Lost and The Two Gentlemen of Verona through the histories, comedies and tragedies to Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello. Rather than offering one overarching interpretation, the lectures deliberately vary their approach to show the range of ways a play can be read and the kinds of evidence that strengthen critical analysis. You can listen in any order, which makes the series usable alongside whatever play you are reading or seeing.
The episodes are audio only, playable or downloadable from the series page or through Apple Podcasts and RSS, and every episode page offers a transcript. Everything is free, with no enrolment, assessment or certificate. The recordings are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK licence, allowing non-commercial reuse with attribution.
What you’ll learn
- Frame a central critical question about each of 32 Shakespeare plays
- Apply several critical approaches to one play instead of a single overarching reading
- Use different kinds of evidence to strengthen a critical argument
- Move between comedies, histories and tragedies, from Love's Labour's Lost to Othello
Who it’s for
Students and theatre-goers who want a scholarly but accessible lecture on a particular play; dip in for the play you are reading.
Source: University of Oxford (opens in a new tab) · Verified · Report a change
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