This spring series is designed to welcome participants at all levels of interest and experience—from those who love reading and discussing Shakespeare’s plays to those curious about the philosophical and intellectual traditions that shaped his world.

Approaching Shakespeare not simply as a dramatist but as a rigorous thinker, this course explores how his plays engage some of the most urgent debates of the early modern period. Through The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Measure for Measure, we examine how Shakespeare probes the instability of language, the authority of law, and the seductive power of illusion—both onstage and in life.

Drawing on Renaissance philosophy, legal culture, and theatrical practice, we ask how words shape reality, how legal systems define (and fail to define) justice, and how illusion becomes a testing ground for truth. Shakespeare’s plays emerge as laboratories of thought, where identity, authority, and meaning are continually unsettled and reformed.

Rather than treating philosophy as background material, the course places Shakespeare in direct conversation with it. Select ideas and excerpts from Plato (Cratylus, Republic), Aristotle (Poetics), and Sophocles (Antigone), among others, will be introduced as lenses, not prerequisites, for understanding the plays.

This course does not turn Shakespeare into a philosopher; rather, it reveals a playwright who relentlessly engages philosophical questions, sometimes testing, bending, or even undoing their premises through drama. No prior knowledge of philosophy is required—only curiosity and a willingness to think alongside the plays.

Plays: The Taming of the Shrew · A Midsummer Night’s Dream · Measure for Measure

Important Details:

• Please download the SLACK app to access reading materials and bring your laptop.
  I am happy help set up SLACK during the first week of class.

• Extra readings will be posted on SLACK. Although not required, these materials will
  enhance our understanding of the context in which these plays were written.

• Feel free to attend the discussions on one, two, or three plays and register
  accordingly. As constructed, the plays in this program “speak” to one another, providing
  an arc of study and allowing different facets of the topic to emerge and explore.
  However, coming to study one play will provide threads to investigate at your own pace.