(Recorded course) Romeo and Juliet with Dr. Henry Russell

In this course, you will study Sheakespeare’s fabulously beautiful use of language and learn why Romeo and Juliet are the best-loved couple in love ever created. Romeo and Juliet live in a world full of conflict and danger as all love must, and it is to teach us how to love well in such a world that Shakespeare wrote his play.

How to get the most out of Romeo and Juliet with Dr. Henry Russell:

  • First, read the course materials below before the first class meeting.

  • Then have a notebook ready and available for class notes each live session.

  • Read assignments before class meetings

  • Watch that week’s recording if you need to revisit information from our live session.

  • Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that week.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total classes: 7

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: Ability to read the books, underline and take notes and ask questions.

Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grades.

Suggested credit:1/2 semester credit. Combine with A Midsummer Night’s Dream for 1 full credit

Instructor: Dr. Henry Russell

Instructor Email: maryshire@gmail.com

Zoom Link: 

Course description: As always, the play will be discussed in terms of its actions, the moral lessons, its Biblical and Cultural references, and Shakespeare’s constant concern with the relations between the Catholic Church and the English state. Techniques of construction and language will be highlighted as possible. Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most misunderstood well-loved play of the bard of Avon. As a tragedy, we must keep in mind that it is based on a fault of the main characters, at the least. But there is fault enough to go around to many in the play. So easy is it to get on the wrong side of this play that Shakespeare had to write A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a true comedy, to help his audience figure it out.

Course outline:

Week I: The Catholic Shakespeare biography

Week II: Act I

Week III: Act II

Week IV: Act III

Week V: Act IV

Week VI: Act V

Week VII: General Topics from Play

Course materials: Any edition with Act, Scene divisions and line numbers is fine.

Homework: Expect to spend about one and one-half hours per week outside of class on reading and notetaking. There will be weekly automated-graded quizzes available for immediate feedback, as well as two exams, one in the middle and one at the end of the course. Please come to class with thoughts and questions about what you have read.