ENG 295-01 - Special Topic: Shakespeare and Succession

4 credits (Spring)

Cross-listed as: GLS 295-01. Now that Jesse Armstrong’s Succession is complete, how do we understand the political, literary, and artistic allusions present in the HBO drama, particularly its use of Shakespeare? In this course, we will consider how Succession uses some of Shakespeare’s plays for inspiration in its plotting, characters, and themes. How is power acquired, wielded, and ultimately lost in families, in nations, and in today’s multinational corporations? How do Shakespeare and Succession represent the ways in which power is mediated through patriarchy, the performance of gender, and, ultimately, narrative itself? As we watch the four seasons of Succession, we will read Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and The Taming of the Shrew, as well as other relevant texts, and together we will make sense of Succession’s allusions and consider their importance to the narrative arc of the series.

Prerequisite: ENG 120, ENG 121, or a 200-level GLS course with grade S, C, or better.
Instructor: Arner, Herold