Shakespeare and Game of Thrones

The hit franchise Game of Thrones is based on the Wars of the Roses, a bloody fifteenth-century civil war between feuding English families. This intensive January session course shows how that connection was mediated by William Shakespeare, and how a knowledge of the Shakespearean context enriches our understanding of the literary elements of Game of Thrones. On the one hand, Shakespeare influenced Game of Thrones indirectly because his history plays significantly shaped the way the Wars of the Roses are now remembered, including the modern histories and historical fictions George R.R. Martin drew upon. On the other, Game of Thrones also responds to Shakespeare's first tetralogy directly by adapting several of its literary strategies (such as shifting perspectives, mixed genres, and metatheater) and tropes (including the stigmatized protagonist and the prince who was promised). By comparing contextual circumstances of composition, such as collaborative authorship and political currents, this course also lodges a series of provocations about writing and acting for the stage in the Elizabethan age and for the screen in the twenty-first century. Readings and viewings include some of Shakespeare's history plays, selections from Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, episodes of HBO's Game of Thrones, and key criticism and theory that illuminate our texts.