Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice (In-person)
Spring (9 - 13 hours) | Registration opens 3/6/2025 12:00 AM EST
In this course, we will take a deep dive into Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.
Each of the first five classes will be devoted to a single act. We will read it together out loud and discuss each scene. Through this close reading, we will explore the complexities of the characters, the intricacies of the language, the dynamics of the plot and its component subplots, and the variety of thematic elements that make this such a rich andrelevant play nearly 500 years after it was written. In the last class, we will look at the entirety of the play and tackle some of the questions that have plagued scholars about this work.
Participants will be asked to do a quick read, or listen, to the entire play before the first class. Before each class, they will be asked to reread each Act, making notes of questions and observations. The last class will be constructed around the debate as to whether this is an antisemitic play.
This course will consist of discussions between the Study Leader and participants.
Deborah Springhorn
Deb Springhorn is a retired History/English teacher. The bulk of her 40 year teaching career has been in the Upper Valley, first at Lebanon High School (LHS) and then at Kimball Union Academy (KUA). In the spring of 2013, Deb was awarded the Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical sponsored by the NH Charitable Foundation. During the year she wrote an interdisciplinary contemporary history course titled Global Issues Since the Fall of the Wall, which she taught at both LHS & KUA.