Module description
In comedies characters break the rules, and get away with it. They explore the two faces of identity: who we think we are, and who others think we are; and the exploration leads to crime, deception, and prohibited or stigmatized forms of sex. This module explores what comedy can do through a survey of stage comedies from the two greatest periods of theatrical creativity in London: the Elizabethan-Jacobean era and the Restoration era. It spans the entire seventeenth century, with attention to continuities and revolutions in dramatic practice and the changing forms of comedy.
Assessment details
1 x reader response forum (15%) and 1 x 2,500 word essay (85%)
Educational aims & objectives
This module aims to develop an understanding of the changing form of stage comedies, and the response to them, during the seventeenth century.
- Develop the ability to relate literary history to political events and social history.
- Develop the ability to reflect on printed plays as documents supporting performance.
- Develop the ability to think about personal identity as expressed in literature and created through personal and political commitments.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, the students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practical skills appropriate to a Level 5 module, and in particular will be able to demonstrate:
- Knowledge of a number of major playwrights and comedies of the seventeenth century.
- Familiarity with the history of comedy and its development in seventeenth-century England.
- Familiarity with broad social transformations in the seventeenth century.
- Ability to write interpretive essays on early modern plays grounded in an understanding of the history of the era.
Teaching pattern
1 lecture and 1 seminar weekly