A Continuing Professional Development Seminar for teachers of English and Drama.
Date: Wednesday 23 May 2018
Time: 4.30–6pm, with afternoon tea from 4pm.
Venue: Room 275, Global Change Institute (Building 20), The University of Queensland, St Lucia
Enquiries: uqche@uq.edu.au
Registration: Free. All welcome. Please RSVP by Monday 21 May 2018 to uqche@uq.edu.au via the link below.
Click here to RSVP
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The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was ambivalent about Shakespeare, citing what he felt was the haphazard or unfinished quality of the works: ‘His pieces give me the impression as of enormous sketches … as though they had been dashed off by someone who can permit himself anything, so to speak’. This sense of incompletion alarmed Wittgenstein, but for many readers, performers and audiences it has been the essence of Shakespeare’s achievement: the poet John Keats, for example, praised Shakespeare for his ‘negative capability’ – that is, his willingness to remain in moral and intellectual uncertainty. In this seminar, we will explore how effects of incompletion and uncertainty are central to Shakespeare’s approach to character and to the language of the plays and poems. We will also discuss the ways in which Shakespearean indeterminacy has been valued in the critical tradition.
Certificates of participation will be available for teachers of English and Drama.
Presenters
Presented by the UQ Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.
Image: Young Shakespeare Contemplating, by Ted May, Melbourne © 2004, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.