[NEW CONTENT] Shakespeare is justly celebrated as a masterful poet and dramatist, perhaps the greatest writer in the English language. But do his plays have a larger purpose or intention; do they have ideas to share? What are his plays about? What do all those enchanting fairies and mythical Athenians in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, not to mention the mechanicals’ farcical performance of Pyramus & Thisbe, have to do with that play’s otherwise mundane love story? Which Macbeth is meant by the title of that eponymous play? Why did Shakespeare choose to retell Homer’s Iliad through Troilus and Cressida, two characters all but invisible in the earlier story. What do these oddities have to do with Shakespeare’s overall point, if any? By closely considering his text, this course explores how such features point to Shakespeare as more than a “mere” playwright but also as a thinker with big ideas. This is a continuation of a course begun this summer, but prior participation is not a prerequisite for this session which will cover the three plays mentioned above, together with Measure for Measure and perhaps an additional play. Because we will be reading carefully, everyone is encouraged to read or reread the plays as necessary. Optional Text: Texts of plays Discussion, Lecture, Reading