PSCI 28
Shakespeare and the Law in the Movies
Winter 2025
Class Details
This course will begin with an analysis of the social, political and, most importantly, religious framework of the Elizabethan world into which Shakespeare was born in 1564. We will examine the development of the English common law from its earliest origins in medieval times through Shakespeare’s day and then analyze the relationship of a number of his early history plays to the Elizabethan concept of law and social order. We will consider several additional plays, including but not limited to, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Measure for Measure, to learn how Shakespeare used the law and legal principles in those works. Among the questions to be examined are how faithful was he to the law as he understood it? What dramatic licenses did he take? What did his use of the law tell us about Shakespeare the playwright and the dramatist? Film clips from Royal Shakespeare Company productions of the trial scenes in several of the plays listed above will be utilized to demonstrate the legal principles under discussion. In addition, we will take up the infamous “Authorship Question” much beloved by under-employed PhD. candidates. Was William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon the Author of the Plays, a man all but unknown outside of Oxfordshire, obscure, almost an historical nonperson, who could not even spell his own name the same way on any page of his last will and testament? Or was the true Author one of several much more prominent Elizabethans, who by birth, education and experience far outshone the Stratfordian and who had every compelling reason to keep his (or her…!) Authorship a secret? We will examine carefully all the evidence to reach a fair and just conclusion, and in the last class I will reveal for the first time in history to a mathematical certainty who was the real Author of the Plays. We will also meet with Allyn Burrows, artistic director of Shakespeare and Co, Lennox, MA
The Class:
Format: seminar
Limit: 10
Expected: NA
Class#: 1225
Grading: pass/fail only
Limit: 10
Expected: NA
Class#: 1225
Grading: pass/fail only
Requirements/Evaluation:
Presentation(s); Performance(s)
Prerequisites:
None except a willingness to read carefully the trial scene portions of the plays assigned and then participate enthusiastically in the ensuing class discussion about Shakespeare's use of the law as constrained by the requirements of the stage.
Enrollment Preferences:
Seniors before juniors before sophomores before first years
Unit Notes:
Philip R. McKnight, Esq., Williams 1965, J.D., 1968, University of Chicago Law School, trial and appellate attorney in New York, Connecticut and Europe. Adjunct Professor, Williams College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 2005-
Materials/Lab Fee:
$25
Attributes:
SLFX Winter Study Self-Expression
STUX Winter Study Student Exploration
STUX Winter Study Student Exploration
Class Grid
Updated 5:49 pm
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PSCI 28 - 01 (W) SEM Shakespeare and Law in Movies
PSCI 28 - 01 (W) SEM Shakespeare and Law in MoviesPhilip Rhinelander McKnightMWF 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
1225OpenNone