Introduction
Over the past three or four years I have begun condensing my lectures on Shakespeare's plays and putting them on my website to assist students in understanding these wonderful dramas. The exercise has been good for me, and each semester students tell me that they find my written remarks helpful. Because they have been written over a period of a few years, the length and scope of my remarks vary. In some cases I am quite thorough in my discussion of the action of the play. In other cases I gloss over fairly large patches of details and focus on the major or essential elements of the drama. In all cases, however, I try to maintain my own voice or my own angle on the play, which in many cases is a little unorthodox. The plays that you see listed this semester are those which I have included in the syllabus; however, I have remarks on many other plays which I do not post as we are not studying them. As time goes on I hope to include remarks on Shakespeare's life, on the conditions of Renaissance England, and on the Elizabethan theater.
As a student you should not assume that by reading my remarks you need not read the play or that you need not attend class. My classes are a mixture of lecture and discussion. In the classroom I hope to help students read with greater understanding and comprehension. We will examine passages, discuss Shakespeare's phrasing, his diction, and his vocabulary. I will try to answer student's questions, and I hope that you might comment on questions which I pose. These remarks are to help students reviewing the plays or, if you have time, to get a sense of my direction on the play before you come to class. As I said at the beginning, I find that writing these remarks also helps me focus on what I believe is significant in the play and what I want to stress. Often in the remarks I only raise issues which I hope in class to consider more fully. In any case, I hope you find my thoughts helpful to you. Please email me any questions or comments at djudkins@uh.edu or just ask me in class.