Welcome to Elizabethan Drama!
Dear students,
I’m so happy to welcome you to this course! Together, we’ll step into one of the most exciting periods in literary history — the Elizabethan Age — a time when the stage came alive with passion, wit, and imagination.
Throughout the semester, we’ll explore what made this age so vibrant: its unique spirit, its view of the world, and the ways drama became a mirror for human experience. We’ll look closely at the key elements and characteristics of Elizabethan drama — its structure, themes, language, and the social and cultural forces that shaped it.
Our journey will take us through Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, a play that captures so much of what defined Elizabethan theatre: the blend of comedy and tragedy, the moral and emotional complexities, and the power of words to question and move audiences.
I hope this course will be both an exploration and a conversation — one that helps you see drama not as something distant or old, but as something alive, daring, and deeply human.
Welcome aboard, and I look forward to discovering this world of theatre with you!
Warmly,
Dr Rania Elshabassy
Dear students,
I’m so happy to welcome you to this course! Together, we’ll step into one of the most exciting periods in literary history — the Elizabethan Age — a time when the stage came alive with passion, wit, and imagination.
Throughout the semester, we’ll explore what made this age so vibrant: its unique spirit, its view of the world, and the ways drama became a mirror for human experience. We’ll look closely at the key elements and characteristics of Elizabethan drama — its structure, themes, language, and the social and cultural forces that shaped it.
Our journey will take us through Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, a play that captures so much of what defined Elizabethan theatre: the blend of comedy and tragedy, the moral and emotional complexities, and the power of words to question and move audiences.
I hope this course will be both an exploration and a conversation — one that helps you see drama not as something distant or old, but as something alive, daring, and deeply human.
Welcome aboard, and I look forward to discovering this world of theatre with you!
Warmly,
Dr Rania Elshabassy
- Teacher: Rania Mohamed Elshabassy