SHAKESPEARE AND HORROR

OCCULTISM, MONSTERS, DISMEMBERMENT, CANNIBALISM—these are some of the spectacles that earned Shakespeare star power in his time and continue to secure his cultural authority and commercial worth today. This two-session course will explore Shakespeare’s ongoing relationship to “horror.” In it we will begin with a broad overview of Elizabethan contexts (revenge tragedies, demonological discourse, monster shows); move to a discussion of Shakespeare’s unusual place among 19^th-century freak shows; and end by examining 20^th- and 21^st century “horror” films adapted from or inspired by Shakespeare’s most horrific mindbenders and gore-fests.