| Unit name | Freud and Shakespeare |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGLM3028 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Mr. Donaldson |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Freud is arguably the greatest writer of the 20th Century about human psychology, and psychoanalysis constitutes one of the most comprehensively developed attempts to investigate and describe, in its variety and complexity, human behaviour and the drives which underlie it. Freud not only read Shakespeare&�s plays, he also wrote about some of them: Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, and Macbeth; and most especially Hamlet$�in essays on psychopathology, metapsychology, and applied psychoanalysis. This unit will investigate the usefulness of psychoanalysis in interpreting Shakespeare&�s plays, by looking at plays that Freud wrote about, and at plays that Freud did not write about but which seem peculiarly susceptible to Freudian readings (for example, Henry IV, 1 & 2, Othello, The Winter&�s Tale, and The Tempest). It will also investigate the consequences for literary criticism of psychoanalytic theory and of Freud&�s ideas about art and the artist, more generally.
