ENGL 3240

Blood Politics: Comparative Renaissance Drama

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

Blood is everywhere. From vampire shows to video games, our culture seems to be obsessed with it. The course examines the power of "blood" in the early modern period as a figure that continues to capture our imagination, not only as a marker of racial, religious, and sexual difference and desire, but also as a dramatic player in its own right. How does a politics of blood appear on stage when populations are being expelled and colonized for reasons (mis)understood in terms of blood? In the course of trying to answer this and other questions of blood, we will read plays by Shakespeare, Webster, Kyd, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderón de la Barca. Topics include honor, revenge, purity, the body, sexuality, conversion, and death.

When Offered Fall or Spring.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS) (CA-AG, LA-AG)

Comments This course counts toward the pre-1800 requirement for English majors.

View Enrollment Information