Skagit Valley College

Catalog Course Search Details

 Course Title:   Intro to Shakespeare

 Title Abbreviation:   INTRO TO SHAKESPEARE

 Department:    ENGL&

 Course #:    220

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    500501

 EPC:    n/a

 REV:    2018


 Course Description  

An introductory survey course that explores the plays of William Shakespeare from literary and historical perspectives.

 Prerequisite  

Prerequisite: Completed ENGL& 101 with a grade of 2.0 or higher.

Additional Course Details

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0


Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Academic Humanities  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Other Institution Equivalencies Table
Institution Course # Remarks
U of W ENGL225 Shakespeare (5) VLPA
WSU ENGL305 Shakespeare
WWU ENGL214 Introduction to Shakespeare (5)

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Analyze a play for theme, plot, character relationships and theatrical style.
  2. Understand Elizabethan play structure.
  3. Recognize the dual function of play script as dramatic literature and a blueprint for live theatre performance.
  4. Recognize the rich complexity of Shakespeare's plays as expressed through motifs, symbols, and poetic language.
  5. Understand the challenges of producing Shakespeare's plays for the modern audience.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2008 and affects outlines for 2008 year 1 and later.

1. Information Literacy

Definition: Recognizing when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
1.1 Determine the extent of information needed.
1.2 Access the needed information effectively, efficiently, ethically, and legally.
1.3 Evaluate information and its sources critically.

2. Critical Thinking

Definition: The ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge within a discipline and about the ways in which that knowledge is constructed and validated and to be sensitive to the ways these processes often vary among disciplines.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
2.1 Identify and express concepts, terms, and facts related to a specific discipline.
2.2 Analyze issues and develop questions within a discipline.
2.7 Identify and evaluate connections and relationships among disciplines.

3. Communication

Definition: Understanding and producing effective written, spoken, visual, and non-verbal communication.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
3.1 Recognize, read, and comprehend academic and/or professional writing.

4. Community & Cultural Diversity

Definition: Recognizing the value of human communities and cultures from multiple perspectives through a critical understanding of their similarities and differences.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
4.3 Understand the historically and socially constructed nature of—and the meanings attributed to—human differences.

6. Individual Awareness & Responsibility

Definition: Understanding, managing, and taking responsibility for one’s learning and behavior in varied and changing environments.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
6.3 Apply successful organizational strategies of planning, goal setting, prioritizing, resolving conflict, and managing time to specific goals and/or projects.

7. Aesthetics & Creativity

Definition: Interpreting human experience through engagement with creative processes and aesthetic principles.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
7.2 Demonstrate knowledge of aesthetic principles.
7.4 Demonstrate an understanding of the role of arts and creative expression in societies.

Course Contents

  1. Culture and mores of Elizabethan England.
  2. Shakespeare's work in the historical and artistic perspective of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
  3. The development of Shakespeare's dramatic technique.
  4. Interpretations of Shakespeare in performance.