The Literature and Cinema of Revenge
HON 493 (2D), EH 492 (2D) – 3 credit hours
Rusty Rushton
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
UAB Honors Program
Dr. Michael Sloane, Director
Course Description: This course will explore the moral and aesthetic tenets of revenge passion as represented in Western literature and film. In addition to viewing such cinematic works as The Godfather and Dead Man Walking, we will be reading Greek and Renaissance drama, passages from The Bible, Romantic poetry and philosophy, and essays concerned with contemporary instances of revenge. We will be particularly interested in the historical shift from family- and clan-oriented societies to those based on national judicial systems, as well as in the emotional price we continue to pay in moving from the one type of satisfaction to the other.
Texts
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
Aeschylus, The Oresteia
Euripides, Medea
Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (or Four Revenge Tragedies, ed Katharine Maus)
Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy & The Genealogy of Morals
Freud, Civilization and its Discontents
Shelley, The Cenci
Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
Syllabus
| Date | Topic |
| 7 Jan |
Introduction, handouts for discussion |
| 9 Jan |
Personal touches: students share their suppression, their wrath (2-page |
| 14 Jan |
Shakespeare, Hamlet (Acts I – III) |
| 16 Jan |
Hamlet (Acts IV - V) |
| 21 Jan |
Vengeance & the Legal System (handouts, guest lawyer Richard Stockham) |
|
23 Jan |
Passages from The (Judeo-Christian) Bible (handout)” |
| 27 Jan |
Showing of The Godfather I, 8:00 p.m. Honors House |
| 28 Jan |
The Godfather I (film) |
| 30 Jan |
Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy |
| 4 Feb |
Aeschylus, The Oresteia (intro + Agamemnon) |
| 6 Feb |
The Oresteia (The Libation Bearers & The Eumenides) |
| 10 Feb |
Showing of The Godfather II, 8:00 p.m. Honors House |
| 13 Feb |
Euripides, Medea |
| 18 Feb |
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (Acts I – III) |
| 20 Feb |
The Merchant of Venice (Acts IV – V) |
| 21 Feb | Recitation in my office of Portia’s speech on mercy (IV.i.181-89) or Shylock’s on being a Jew (III.i. ”He hath disgraced…humility? Revenge.”) |
| 24 Feb | Showing of Dead Man Walking, 8:00 p.m. Honors House |
| 25 Feb | Dead Man Walking (film) |
| 27 Feb | Simon Weisenthal, from The Murderers Among Us; Gerry Spence, “O.J.: The Last Word”; Michael Ignatieff, “Digging Up the Dead” (on Council of Truth & Reconciliation in S.A.); M. L. King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” |
| 28 Feb | First essay (5-7 pages) due in my office by end of day |
| 4-13 Mar | Student-groups meet w/ me in my office |
| 4 Mar | Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals: Preface & First Essay |
| 6 Mar | The Genealogy of Morals: Second Essay (1, 11, 12, 23) |
| 10 Mar | Showing of Betrayal, 8:00 p.m. Honors House |
| 11 Mar | Harold Pinter, Betrayal (film) |
| 13 Mar | Michel Foucault, from Discipline and Punish (handout) |
| 14 Mar | Revisions of first essay due in my office by end of day |
| 18 Mar | Group presentations on modern political situations & issues* |
| 20 Mar | Group presentations (cont’) |
| 25 Mar | Freud, Civilization and its Discontents (I – IV) |
| 27 Mar | Civilization and its Discontents (V – VIII) |
| 8 Apr | Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” & “The Tell-Tale Heart”; Faulkner, “Barn Burning” (all handouts) |
| 10 Apr | No Class (2-page film review due in my office by end of day) |
| 15 Apr | Percy Bysse Shelley, The Cenci |
| 17 Apr | Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (reading quiz) |
| 22 Apr | The Crying of Lot 49 (cont’) |
| 24 Apr | Conclusion, wrap-up, second essay (10-12 pages) due by end of day |
| 1 May | 10:45 – 1:15 our final exam, here in the Honors House |
*possible topics for group presentations include Rwanda, Bosnia, Israel/Palestine, South Africa, Gandhi, M. L. King, the prosecution of Nazi war criminals, the American legal system, America’s “war on terrorism.”
Grades:
20% first essay (5-7 page)
30% second essay (10-12)
20% final exam (essay style)
10% student group-presentations
5% 2-page film review
5% the two recitations of either Portia’s or Shylock’s speech
10% class participation (can’t hurt, can help) & attendance (can’t help, can hurt)