ENGL 312
Shakespeare and Magic Spring 2010
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

The mysterious powers of magic play an important, often problematic, and always challenging role in many of Shakespeare’s plays–Puck’s flower, Othello’s handkerchief, Macbeth’s witches, Prospero’s books. But how devious–or how redemptive–are these forces? What is the audience expected to believe, question, or wonder about? How much actual power should we suppose a magician–or a witch–possesses, and what are its costs? How are the deceptions of magic like the manipulations of the theater? In this seminar we’ll look closely at the different ways magic operates in five of Shakespeare’s plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest.