Shakespeare in the Spring

Course Description

Desire and Liberation in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest: Shakespeare in the Spring 2026 

This annual discussion-based literature course will focus on two plays on offer at the Stratford Festival this coming summer: Shakespeare’s masterpiece comedy of 1595-96, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his popular late romance of 1611, The Tempest, bring his audiences to places outside of the order of cities, into exotic realms. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the characters escape to the woods outside of Athens, ruled by fairies, and in The Tempest, they find themselves on an island in the Mediterranean Sea, where an exiled Duke of Milan rules thanks to the magical powers he has acquired on the island.  

In the comedy, this other world appears as a realm of desire, of the Id unleashed. Sexual longing abounds, from the young Athenians pursuing their love quests, to the Queen of the Fairies becoming amorous of the “rude mechanical” actor Bottom, transfigured with an Ass’s head. And yet, while desire is unleashed, it is also directed by the Fairy King and his helper, the mischievous Puck. What does A Midsummer Night’s Dream tell us about the relation between love and fantasy? How is eros shaped and guided as we pursue our dreams in a world seemingly beyond rule and order? 

The exploration of the exotic in The Tempest also has magical powers at work. Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan who twelve years earlier, along with his young daughter, had been put to sea and left to die by the usurpers of his throne, his brother and the King of Naples, uses his magical powers to shipwreck these usurpers onto his island. The play thus begins as a revenge tragedy but by the end, it has turned into a story marked by grace, as Prospero forgives and liberates all in his power. Why does Prospero turn to forgiveness? Is he meant to be a god-like character or a philosopher king? If so, why does Shakespeare have him ask the audience for liberation at the end of the play? Is there a darker side to Prospero, and to the play, one which is alluded to in the context of his relationship with the man indigenous to the island, Caliban, whom he has made his servant? Written during a time when Englishmen voyaged to “exotic” spaces in the Atlantic, what is Shakespeare telling us about other worlds and other people? What does liberation mean for the characters of The Tempest? 

We will explore these and other questions through careful readings of the plays, video clips of productions, and interpretations by critics such as Harold Bloom, Northrop Frye, Marjorie Garber, and Emma Smith.  

Required texts:

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (suggested edition: The Pelican Shakespeare, edited by Russ McDonald, ISBN 9780143128588)

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest (suggested edition: Oxford World’s Classics, edited by Rory Loughnane, ISBN 978-0-19-286587-8)

Course Details