Shakespeare’s comedies are marvelously funny at every level from low humor to grand comedy of Godly forgiveness. We will see how the Master combines both to keep us penny-groundlings amused and in order, even while he is soaring over our heads into Heaven!

Instructor Access (Optional grading support) is available for this course. Please note: this is ONLY recommended if you wish to write the optional paper. All quizzes are internally graded in this course. Optional papers will be completed via this page (click here) for an Instructor Access fee of $75.

How to get the most out of Early and Late Comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest with Dr. Henry Russell:

• First, read the course details below.

• Purchase or borrow the book and begin reading.

• Prepare a notebook for taking notes as you read and watch the lectures.

• Students begin the course by clicking on the "Recording" and watching the lecture for Class One.

• Complete the weekly quizzes, which are graded automatically by the computer. Report your grade to your parent.

• If you need review, go back and watch the recording again.

• Repeat until all 12 classes are complete.

• Once the course is done to the parent's satisfaction, complete the Certificate of Completion at the bottom for your records.

• Make sure to record your grades (HSC does not provide record keeping services).

Total classes: 12

Duration per class: 55 minutes
Prerequisite: The ability to read, understand, and enjoy the plays

Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade
Suggested credit: One semester Literature, English Literature, or Early Modern Literature

Instructor: Dr. Henry Russell

Course Description: This semester’s plays will examine how Shakespeare used the “spirit world” in drama to stand in for the great actions of God himself. This was necessary to avoid English law against explicitly religious drama, but it also created delightful characters.  
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is structured around six (!) different sets of romantic lovers, descending from the spiritual Oberon and Titania, down through the humans: Theseus and Hippolyta; Lysander and Hermia; Demetrius and Helena; to the union of a spirit, Titania, and a human-animal, Bottom; and finally to the fantastical Pyramus and Thisbe. This ladder of lovers and fools shows many ways that love can be distorted by sight that looks only to the physical, or by our petulant wills that override reason. Yet in the end, each lover is healed or aided by Oberon’s spiritual guidance, even if that guidance is marred by the erratic acts of Puck. Duke Theseus creates a New Law of love fitting for the Feast of St. John the Baptist (Midsummer) who announces the New Law of Christ.
The Tempest’s lead character, Prospero, can command the winds, the sea, the fire, can foresee the future to the minute, and open graves at his command. These attributes of God, the Father, mark his true nature in Shakespeare’s final allegory, a full return to the Catholic Mystery Plays outlawed by Queen Elizabeth when the playwright was a teen. The action of the drama is simple. Prospero draws his enemies, who have driven him from Milan into his island of exile, to bring them to repentance and offer them forgiveness, culminating in unifying his family and theirs through marriage with his perfect daughter. The play also presents the two sides of Man to the audience: the spiritual, angelic Ariel (pure spirit that is forgetful and even sometimes impatient at the low necessities of the world) and the base, animal-like Caliban—the picture of unredeemed man.

Course outline:

Week 1: The Catholic Shakespeare. Biography and Typology
Week 2:  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I
Week 3: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act II
Week 4: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III
Week 5: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act IV
Week 6: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V
Week 7: The Tempest, Act I
Week 8: The Tempest, Act II
Week 9: The Tempest, Act III
Week 10: The Tempest, Act IV
Week 11: The Tempest, Act V
Week 12: Trying Conclusions
 
Course Materials: Any edition of the two plays, as long as they have line numbers. Without such numbers you will not easily know where we are in the plays. Best editions: David Bevington, or Signet, or Cambridge.
 
Homework: Expect about one hour of reading per class, plus approximately one-half hour for note taking. Computer-graded quizzes will be available each class, as well as a Final.

Technical Help: If you have any technical trouble or questions about course content, please email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com.

©2023 Homeschool Connections and Henry Russell.   All rights reserved. This course is designed by Henry Russell.

• This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment (yes, the 7th commandment) and in violation of US and International copyright laws. 

• You may print or download to local hard disk extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. This is not to be used for homeschool co-ops without express written permission from Homeschool Connections.