Required Texts:

Beer, Lisl, ed. The Second Shepherd's Play; Adapted from the Townley Manuscript by Lisl Beer. The Silver Series of Puppet Plays. Boston: Branden P, 1963.

Goldsmith, Oliver. She Stoops to Conquer; or, The Mistakes of A Night. Crofts Classics. Ed. Katharine C. Balderston. Arlington Heights: Harlan Davidson, 1951.

Orton, Joe. The Complete Plays; Introduced by John Lahr, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot, What the Butler Saw, The Ruffian on the Stair, The Erpingham Camp, Funeral Games, The Good and Faithful Servant. New York: Grove P, 1976.

Shakespeare, William. The Comedy of Errors. The Arden Shakespeare. Ed. R. A. Foakes. London: Methuen, 1968.

__________. Much Ado About Nothing. New Penguin Shakespeare. Ed. R. A. Foakes. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1968.

Shaw, [George] Bernard. The Arms and the Man: A Pleasant Play by Bernard Shaw, Definitive Text. New York: Penguin Books, 1952.

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The School for Scandal. Crofts Classics. Ed. John Loftis. Arlington Heights: Harlan Davidson, 1966.

Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest and other plays by Oscar Wilde with an introduction by Sylvan Barnet. New York: New American Library, 1985.

Wycherley, George. The Country Wife. Regents Restoration Drama. Ed. Thomas H. Fujimura. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1965.

Note One: Critical readings should be purchased at Kinko's, 1667 Mt. Hope Ave., 271-0454

Note Two: the above bibliography follows the MLA style sheet; use this form for your bibliographies.

Course Objectives:

(1) To become familiar with dramatic terminology

(2) To read and understand several great comedies

(3) To write fifteen pages of clear, concise prose demonstrating an engagement with the intellectual and aesthetic dimensions of at least two comedies

(4) To view several performances of the great texts in question

(5) To read and understand a few of the important theories of comedy

(6) To become familiar with important authors, works, and dates connected with British drama

(7) To have a basic understanding of the history of British drama

Grading: Papers 60%
Quizzes 40%

Note: Extensions will be granted to students in emergency situations: illness, personal crisis, unpreventable accidents, etc. Late papers will drop one-third of a letter grade per day.

Class Schedule

Monday 24: Introduction; The Second Shepherd's Play

Tuesday 25: The Second Shepherd's Play; Introductions to The Second Shepherd's Play (handout); "How to Analyze Drama"; "Guidelines for Nonsexist Language in APA Journals"

Wednesday 26: The Second Shepherd's Play; Excerpts from Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World
Thursday 27: Excerpts from Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World; The Comedy of Errors

Friday 28: The Comedy of Errors; Introduction to The Comedy of Errors; Film

Monday 31: "The Mythos of Spring: Comedy"; The Comedy of Errors; Much Ado About Nothing

Tuesday 1: Much Ado About Nothing; Introduction to Much Ado About Nothing

Wednesday 2: Much Ado About Nothing; The Country Wife

Thursday 3: The Country Wife; Introduction to The Country Wife; Brief selections by Fowler, Johnson, and Goldsmith

Friday 4: Brief selections by Fowler, Johnson, and Goldsmith; She Stoops to Conquer; Prologue to She Stoops to Conquer; Film

Monday 7: She Stoops to Conquer; Introduction, Dedication for She Stoops to Conquer

Tuesday 8: She Stoops to Conquer; The School for Scandal

Wednesday 9: The School for Scandal; Introduction to The School for Scandal; Excerpts by Lamb and Meredith

Thursday 10: Excerpts by Lamb and Meredith; The Importance of Being Earnest

Friday 11: The Importance of Being Earnest; Introduction and Appendix to The Importance of Being Earnest; The Arms and the Man

Monday 14: The Arms and the Man; Entertaining Mr Sloane
Tuesday 15: Entertaining Mr Sloane; Introduction to The Complete Plays of Joe Orton; Film

Thursday 17: Last day to turn in papers-----------------------------------------------------------------

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Useful Books for Studying The Second Shepherd's Play Available in Reserve

Cawley, A. C., ed. The Wakefield Pageants in the Townley Cycle.
Manchester: Manchester UP, 1958. The definitive text.

Gardner, John. The Construction of the Wakefield Cycle.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1974.

Helterman, Jeffrey. Symbolic Action in the Plays of the Wakefield
Master. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1981.

Kolve, V. A. The Play Called Corpus Christi. Stanford UP, 1966.

Rose, Martial, ed. The Wakefield Mystery Plays. New York:
Norton, 1961. An easy to read translation, great
introduction.

Dates to Remember, Medieval Drama
(Crucial things are highlighted)

c. 1146-75 (12th C.) Earliest surviving Norman play in England (Ordo representacionis Ade)

1376 (14th C.) Earliest record of Corpus Christi
pageants (at York)

c. 1425 The Second Shepherd's Play

c. 1450-85 Date of manuscript of Townley Plays or
the Wakefield Corpus Christi play (32
plays)

1509-47 Rule of Henry VIII

1517 Luther breaks from the Roman Catholic
Church

1534 Act of Supremacy; Henry VIII establishes
himself as supreme head of church of
England

1540 Statute prevents the printing or
performance of all plays contrary to
religious doctrine as prescribed in 1540
(under Henry VIII)

1558-1603 Rule of Elizabeth I

1576 York Diocesan Court prohibits Wakefield
plays

1639 Last performance of Corpus Christi plays
in Kilkenny, Ireland

The Second Shepherd's Play

Directions: This guide is designed to help you prepare the play for class. You can read it before, during, or after the play. You do not have to turn in written copies of your answers to any questions in the guide. You should however jot down your answers and bring them to class to help you follow the class discussion and answer quiz questions.

Scene One:

Coll's speech: What is the setting of the play?
What is Coll upset about?

Vocabulary for Coll's speech:

page seven

"ill-happed" scantly clad, badly covered
"morrow" tomorrow
"silly" simple
"In faith" to tell you the truth
"near" practically
"out of the door" we are getting kicked off our land
"till" cultivation
"fallow" uncultivated land, or land plowed but not planted
"ken" know
"hammed" held back, crippled
"rammed" pushed around
"hand-tammed" tamed by hand

page eight

"ere" before
"lone" self, alone
"hearken anone" listen immediately/very soon
"trow" know
"pardie" believe me

Gib's speech: What is Gib upset about?

Vocabulary for Gib's speeches:

"oft" often
"keen" intense, sharp
"e'en" eyes
"mickle" much
"gall" bitterness
"maw" mouth

Daw's speech (page ten): Compare Daw's attitude towards the
weather with Coll's and Gib's.
(page eleven): How does Daw say he will get
even with Coll and Gib if they
don't feed him?


Note that Daw swears "by the Rood" or Christ's cross; Why might the playwright use such a phrase?

Vocabulary:

page ten

"ween" believe
"summat" something
"et" ate
"pate" head

page eleven

"swink" work
"gauds" ornaments, trinkets
"Rood" cross
"beguile" amuse

Mak's speech (page twelve): Compare Mak's complaint with those
of Coll, Gib, and Daw.

Note: Mak is dressed more elaborately than the others; he speaks in a Southern accent, pretending he is a rich southern gentleman or yeoman- not a poor northerner.

Mak's speeches (page sixteen): Why does Mak pray to Pilate?
What is the significance of the
circle Mak draws around the
shepherds?

Scene two, Vocabulary

"gavest light" gave birth
"far cast" well planned ("cast" also means to give birth, and in
scene three it means a trick)

Scene three: what phrases seem out of place or time for a
nativity play?

compare Daw and Mak's dreams

Vocabulary

" 'gin" engine, trap
"yestreen" yesterday
"travailed full sad" labored very sadly
"bairns" children
Scene four, Vocabulary

"pother" bother
"marrow" mate
"narrow" narrowly
"haro" help
"cast" trick

Scene six (the first scene six):

Note the shepherd's shifts in moods. How do they feel towards Mak and Gill when they first arrive? How do they feel when they find nothing? What is Daw's tone in his speech (page thirty-one)
when Mak rejects their attempts to be friends again? Why do the shepherd's hesitate at the door?

What excuse does Gill offer?

Why do you think the shepherd's do not have Mak and Gil punished by law? Why do you think they don't kill him?

Scene six (the second scene six), Vocabulary

"to rend the fiend that Adam had lorn" to take from the devil
what Adam lost to him
"Marry, three briefs to a long" Wow, three small notes for each
long note--in other words, what great rhythm

Scene seven: What gift does Coll give?
What gift does Gib give?
What gift does Daw give?

Paper Questions, Due Friday July 28th

1. Discuss the character of Mak. He is a traditional trickster
character. Do you feel he is a sinister figure, a representative of the devil? Does Mak represent a typical man in a fallen state? Why would the playwright include this figure in the play?
What does his character contribute?

2. Discuss fertility and birth imagery. Discuss the significance- intellectually and aesthetically--of the two nativities.

3. Discuss the use of anachronisms in the play. What might be the significance of blending the biblical and the contemporary?

4. Discuss the relationship between the three complaints of the shepherds and their three gifts to the Christ child.

5. How are music and noise used in the play? How do they contribute to the play's structure?