Module manager: Dr Alexander Thom
Email: a.d.thom@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is not approved as an Elective
Appreciating Shakespeare’s artistry must often return to the topic of metamorphosis, both as a method and as a dramatic theme. This course will emphasise Shakespeare’s knack for adapting existing stories for the stage, while also exploring his distinctive preoccupation with personal transformation. From the earliest point of his career, Shakespeare accentuates profound, world-altering experiences: violence, madness, banishment, love, and betrayal. His drama often correlates these inner crises with moments of physical or spiritual transformation also, for better and for worse: coronation, mutilation, exile, gender-swapping, and disguise. While touring Shakespeare’s metamorphoses – whether cataclysmic or liberatory – the course will also carefully introduce texts from different genres, mediums, and points in Shakespeare’s career. By doing so, students will develop an appreciation of the playwright’s own formidable capacity for stylistic change. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
This module aims to introduce students to a range of Shakespeare’s texts, forms, and genres. Through workshop discussion, close reading, and essays, you should be able to:
· appraise Shakespeare’s use of source material
· analyse Shakespeare’s texts in relation to relevant historical and cultural contexts
· evaluate and apply current scholarship to Shakespeare’s writing
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
1. Analyse how transformation has been depicted in Shakespeare’s plays and poems
2. Analyse specific narratives concerning transformative events in detail
3. Critique scholarship and debates around Shakespeare’s writings and the circumstances of their production.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
4. Conduct independent research, gathering information from a range of sources, and engaging in good academic practice.
5. Produce independent arguments demonstrating advanced proficiency in critical thinking and writing skills.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| Private study hours | 280 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300 | ||
Weekly dialogue in small-group seminars; one-to-one meetings, if requested, in weekly office hours; individual written feedback on mid-semester assignment.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 20 |
| Coursework | Essay | 80 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated.
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 30/04/2025
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