ENGL 3273

As an English major, I loved this class. Although it's time-consuming to read one play per week, it was fun to read so many plays back to back and see how Professor Parker finds common themes and ideas throughout all of Shakespeare's canon (he especially likes to talk about magic and witchcraft). The exams are easy if you read the plays and pay attention in class. There are two papers, but Parker lets you decide what to write about, which made it much more enjoyable because I could explore topics that interested me. There's a fair amount of work for this class, but it never felt like a waste of time.

Parker is also my favorite professor ever. His lectures are always engaging and funny, he knows a LOT about Shakespeare and drama, and he's approachable outside of class. I've gone to his office hours several times and he's always friendly and encouraging, even letting me borrow books to use as sources for my papers. Take a class with Parker before you graduate!

I got an A in this course, but I would not call this an easy A at all. It is a lot of effort especially before the midterm and final.

Instructor:
John Parker tries to be entertaining and he is a funny guy. I would say he is a decent lecturer. Your TA is arguably more important because they grade your papers and exams. I recommend picking Austin Benson as a TA because I felt like he graded fairly.

Course Structure:
We read 10 Shakespeare plays (Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline, The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale). We usually read 1 play a week, but with Hamlet, Othello, and Lear we had 2 weeks. This means that outside of class you are responsible for reading/listening/watching the play.

Grading:
Weighting: Paper 1 (5 pages) = 20%, Paper 2 (5-7 pages) =25%, Midterm = 25%, and Final Exam = 30%
Paper: You are given a lot of flexibility on the papers to chose what you are most interested in talking about, but the papers must be close readings. You are not given a prompt directly.

Midterm Style: During the lecture section, you are given 8 sections from the 4 plays you have read so far. You have to identify 4/8 of the passages. You must identify each of the 4 plays, identify the characters speaking, and then write about the context for what is happening in the play at the time of this scene. He uses a lot of passages that were discussed in lecture or main plot points.

Final Style: You are given even more passages (12) and you have the identify the 6 plays for the second half of the course and contextualize them as you did in the first midterm. Then, there is an additional paper that asks you about major themes you discussed in the course and you must reference one of the earlier 4 plays from before the midterm.

Overall, you will learn A LOT about Shakespeare in this course. It is hard, but I felt like it was cool to learn so much and read so many plays.