Lit 404: Shakespeare as Political Philosopher
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William Shakespeare is the greatest writer and thinker that the English language can boast. In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates argues that the best kind of poet is capable of writing both comedy and tragedy; in other words, that the poet should be capable of understanding the full range of the human soul and the fundamental alternatives in human life. The best kind of poet is a wise poet.
When I first took a course on Shakespeare during college I questioned The Bard’s greatness. I thought that he was interesting, but I didn’t rate him anywhere near Plato in terms of his ability to teach humans about the deepest parts of the human soul. I eventually ended up spending a lot of time with his Twelfth Night and I suddenly understood that he was a thinker—perhaps even a philosopher—of the first rank.
This is a course page devoted to providing a simple way of accessing all of MCC’s Shakespeare content in one place.
So far, there is a conversation between myself and my friend Bolingbroke—a Shakespearean of the first rank—on Much Ado About Nothing, and there is a series of five conversations between myself and Bolingbroke on King Lear, examining each act of the play.
In the very near future you can anticipate solo recordings on The Tempest and Twelfth Night. In the more distant future I think that Bolingbroke and I will record one or more sessions on another play of his choosing and I hope to secure a special guest to record with me on Antony and Cleopatra.
Lectures / Conversations:
Much Ado About Nothing: On Reason and Love (with Bolingbroke)
King Lear Act One: Nature, Politics, and Self-Knowledge (with Bolingbroke)
King Lear Act Two: Kent, Accelerationism, and the Coup (with Bolingbroke)
King Lear Act Three: Lear and the Pagan-Christian Collision (with Bolingbroke)
King Lear Act Four: Edgar, Education, and Justice (with Bolingbroke)
The Tempest: Who Should Rule? (coming soon; solo)
Twelfth Night: The Problem of Interpretation (coming soon; solo)
Play TBD (with Bolingbroke TBD)
Antony and Cleopatra: (with a special guest? TBD)