Approaching Shakespeare

Each lecture in this series focuses on a single play by Shakespeare, and employs a range of different approaches to try to understand a central critical question about it. Rather than providing overarching readings or interpretations, the series aims to show the variety of different ways we might understand Shakespeare, the kinds of evidence that might be used to strengthen our critical analysis, and, above all, the enjoyable and unavoidable fact that Shakespeare's plays tend to generate our questions rather than answer them.

Not Shakespeare Faculty of English Language and Literature

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Displaying 1 - 32 of 32 episodes

Episode	Description	People	Date
Love's Labour's Lost	Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on the play Love's Labour's Lost.	Emma Smith	12 February, 2024
The Two Gentlemen of Verona	Professor Emma Smith gives the last of her 2017 Shakespeare lectures on his early comedy, Two Gentlemen of Verona.	Emma Smith	15 December, 2017
Henry VI, Part 2	Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a 2017 lecture on the early history play, Henry VI, Part 2.	Emma Smith	9 November, 2017
The Merry Wives of Windsor	Professor Emma Smith lectures on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.	Emma Smith	25 October, 2017
All's Well That Ends Well	Professor Emma Smith lectures on Shakespeare’s comedy All's Well That Ends Well.	Emma Smith	25 October, 2017
Cymbeline	Professor Emma Smith continues her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on one of Shakespeare’s later plays, Cymbeline.	Emma Smith	25 October, 2017
Timon of Athens	Emma Smith finishes her Approaching Shakespeare series with a lecture on the play Timon of Athens.	Emma Smith	23 June, 2015
Julius Caesar	This lecture on Julius Caesar discusses structure, tone, and politics by focusing on the cameo scene with Cinna the Poet.	Emma Smith	18 May, 2015
Romeo and Juliet	This lecture on Romeo and Juliet tackles the issue of the spoiler-chorus, in an already-too-familiar play. This podcast is suitable for school and college students.	Emma Smith	5 May, 2015
Coriolanus	This lecture takes up a detail from Shakespeare’s late Roman tragedy Coriolanus to ask about the representation of character, the use of sources and the genre of tragedy.	Emma Smith	5 May, 2015
The Merchant of Venice	This lecture on The Merchant of Venice discusses the ways the play's personal relationships are shaped by models of financial transaction, using the casket scenes as a central example.	Emma Smith	20 November, 2012
Taming of the Shrew	Emma Smith uses evidence of early reception and from more recent productions to discuss the question of whether Katherine is tamed at the end of the play.	Emma Smith	9 November, 2012
A Midsummer Night's Dream	This lecture on A Midsummer Night's Dream uses modern and early modern understandings of dreams to uncover a play less concerned with marriage and more with sexual desire.	Emma Smith	5 November, 2012
Much Ado About Nothing	Emma Smith asks why the characters are so quick to believe the self-proclaimed villain Don John, drawing on gender and performance criticism to think about male bonding, the genre of comedy, and the impulses of modern performance.	Emma Smith	30 October, 2012
Hamlet	The fact that father and son share the same name in Hamlet is used to investigate the play's nostalgia, drawing on biographical criticism and the religious and political history of early modern England.	Emma Smith	23 October, 2012
As You Like It	Asking 'what happens in As You Like It', this lecture considers the play's dramatic structure and its ambiguous use of pastoral, drawing on performance history, genre theory, and eco-critical approaches.	Emma Smith	23 October, 2012
King Lear	Showing how generations of critics - and Shakespeare himself - have rewritten the ending of King Lear, this sixteenth Approaching Shakespeare lecture engages with the question of tragedy and why it gives pleasure.	Emma Smith	22 February, 2012
King John	At the heart of King John is the death of his rival Arthur: this fifteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series looks at the ways history and legitimacy are complicated in this plotline.	Emma Smith	10 February, 2012
Pericles, Prince of Tyre	Pericles has been on the margins of the Shakespearean canon: this fourteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series shows some of its self-conscious artistry and contemporary popularity.	Emma Smith	1 February, 2012
Richard III	In this thirteenth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series the focus is on the inevitability of the ending of Richard III: does the play endorse Richmond's final victory?	Emma Smith	25 January, 2012
The Comedy of Errors	Lecture 12 in the Approaching Shakespeare series asks how seriously we can take the farcical exploits of Comedy of Errors, drawing out the play's serious concerns with identity and selfhood.	Emma Smith	23 January, 2012
Henry IV part 1	Like generations of theatre-goers, this lecture concentrates on the (large) figure of Sir John Falstaff and investigates his role in Henry IV part 1. Lecture 11 in the Approaching Shakespeare series.	Emma Smith	16 November, 2011
The Tempest	That the character of Prospero is a Shakespearean self-portrait is a common reading of The Tempest: this tenth Approaching Shakespeare lecture asks whether that is a useful reading of the play.	Emma Smith	14 November, 2011
Antony and Cleopatra	What kind of tragedy is this play, with its two central figures rather than a singular hero? The ninth lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series tries to find out.	Emma Smith	10 November, 2011
Richard II	Lecture eight in the Approaching Shakespeare series asks the question that structures Richard II: does the play suggest Henry Bolingbroke's overthrow of the king was justified?	Emma Smith	1 November, 2011
Twelfth Night	The seventh Approaching Shakespeare lecture takes a minor character in Twelfth Night - Antonio - and uses his presence to open up questions of sexuality, desire and the nature of romantic comedy.	Emma Smith	20 October, 2011
Titus Andronicus	Focusing in detail on one particular scene, and on critical responses to it, this sixth Approaching Shakespeare lecture on Titus Andronicus deals with violence, rhetoric, and the nature of dramatic sensationalism.	Emma Smith	19 October, 2011
The Winter's Tale	How we can make sense of a play that veers from tragedy to comedy and stretches credulity in its conclusion? That's the topic for this fifth Approaching Shakespeare lecture on The Winter's Tale.	Emma Smith	9 November, 2010
Macbeth	In this fourth Approaching Shakespeare lecture the question is one of agency: who or what makes happen the things that happen in Macbeth?	Emma Smith	2 November, 2010
Measure for Measure	The third Approaching Shakespeare lecture, on Measure for Measure, focuses on the vexed question of this uncomic comedy's genre.	Emma Smith	26 October, 2010
Henry V	The second lecture in the Approaching Shakespeare series looks at King Henry V, and asks whether his presentation in the play is entirely positive.	Emma Smith	20 October, 2010
Othello	First in Emma Smith's Approaching Shakespeare lecture series; looking at the central question of race and its significance in the play.	Emma Smith	18 October, 2010

Approaching Shakespeare

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