ENGLISH LITERATURE 3

The course, part of the curriculum related to the languages taught in the LCSL degree programme, expands students’ knowledge of the literary and cultural heritage of Great Britain by focusing on the main features of early modern drama and its social and political context. Students will also become familiar with early modern English and further develop their knowledge of the language.

Students will develop skills in textual analysis and in relating dramatic texts to theatrical practice, as well as to their historical and cultural contexts and their contemporary relevance.

Advanced proficiency in reading, speaking, and writing in English.

OUTSIDERS: THINKING THE PRESENT WITH MARLOWE AND SHAKESPEARE

Environmental crisis, geopolitical conflict, cross-cultural encounters and interreligious strife, fake news and paranoid thinking, scientific breakthroughs and new challenges, and a society of the spectacle in which entertainment is used to distract and manipulate—all cut across nations, communities, families, and even individual subjectivities. Are we in the late sixteenth century or the early twenty-first? Or both?
Analogies can be both illuminating and misleading unless we approach them critically and self-consciously, reflecting on the present through the mirror of the past. We will read dramatic texts written four centuries ago that, for complex reasons explored in the course, remain central to contemporary theatre and education.
The course begins with an overview of late Elizabethan England through a vivid study that reconstructs an entire society around the life of the writer, spy, atheist, and subversive playwright Christopher Marlowe. We will then focus on two key figures of outsiderness: Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare’s Shylock. Through these texts, we will examine how stage dialogue generates and contests ideas—how language can fascinate, deceive, provoke, and persuade.

Stephen Greenblatt, RENAISSANCE DARKNESS (Norton & Company, 2026)
Christopher Marlowe, DR FAUSTUS (recommended editions: Second Norton Critical edition 2023 or IL DOTTOR FAUST. Testo originale a fronte, Mondadori 2017)
William Shakespeare, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (recommended editions: Arden edition, Bloomsbury 2010 or IL MERCANTE DI VENEZIA. Testo inglese a fronte, Rizzoli 2025).
Additional material will be available on Moodle.

The final written exam will consist of six open questions (two for each of the required texts), covering the mandatory readings, class discussions, and activities. Emphasis will be placed on the main events and concepts of the period, as well as on key scenes from the plays.

written

The instructor is responsible for ensuring the authenticity and originality of all examinations and coursework. In cases of suspected academic misconduct, an additional on-site assessment may be required during the exams, which may differ from the standard format.

The minimum grade is 18, the maximum grade is 30 cum laude. The grades will be assigned as follows:
A. band 18-22: sufficient content knowledge; limited ability to discuss independently, limited knowledge of theoretical tools, limited knowledge of the cultural-historical contexts and debates.
B. band 23-26: decent content knowledge; decent ability for independent discussion, decent knowledge of theoretical tools, decent knowledge of the historical-cultural contexts and debates.
C. band 27-30: good content knowledge; good ability for independent discussion; good knowledge of theoretical tools; good knowledge of the cultural-historical contexts and debates.
D. Cum Laude: awarded in case the content knowledge, independent discussion skills and knowledge of the theoretical tools, historical-cultural context and debates are excellent.

Lectures and class discussion

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development