Politics and Power:
Shakespeare’s Kings and Concepts of Rule
Instructor: DeDee Aleccia
1878 Palm Harbor/Dunedin
Mondays, October 13, 20, and 27
1:30 - 3:30 pm
1879 Continuing Education Center
Wednesdays, October 15, 22, and 29
1:30 - 3:30 pm
Shakespeare, a keen observer of human behavior and an astute analyst of political situations, was ever conscious of the role and power of kings and the need for pleasing the people, maintaining order, and making progress. Through his cycles of history plays he provides us with lessons in leadership. His English kings demonstrate favorable and unfavorable qualities of political power. Each king defines his role and establishes his vision of the power of kingship. Each chooses to seek counsel or to exert authoritarian rule. Each makes and enforces laws that favor his views. His kings all possess power and wield authority. Some rule wisely, some weakly, some disastrously.
This seminar will take a close look at three of Shakespeare’s kings. It will examine their concept of rule, the actions they take to establish their kingship and their legacy, and the consequences of those actions. lt may even provide some insight into understanding the politics of this current election season.
The three plays will be discussed in the following order: Richard II, Henry V, and Richard III.
Member: $39; Non-member: $59
1880 Dracula
Instructor: Dedee Allecia
Friday, October 31, 4:00 - 8:30 pm
Bram Stoker’s Victorian Gothic novel Dracula is a horror tale of blood and gore. Loosely based on the historical figure of Transylvania’s Vlad Tepes the Impaler, the novel goes well beyond historical fact to present Count Dracula’s journey to England to seek the blood necessary for his survival. This Gothic cult hero, both graceful and fearful, solitary and sexy, wins our admiration and strikes fear in our hearts.
However, Dracula is much more than a Gothic horror story. It is a fictionalized account of Victorian England’s fear of an invasion from Eastern Europe and all the tainting that a foreign culture would bring to the nexus of the British Empire. Britain prided itself on its strict rules of primness and propriety; its sexually repressed young women were exemplars of strict mores. Dracula, with his diabolical passions, preys upon innocent victims. His bloodthirstiness turns them into night creatures with strong sexual desires – an anathema to the Victorian mindset. Hence, the need to stop him and stamp out the cultural contamination which this foreigner brings becomes the focus.
Join OLLI for a discussion of Bram Stoker’s novel, a ghoulishly good dinner, a film version of the novel, and an after-film discussion.
Member: $25; Non-member: $35
Be sure to check out our Special Interest Groups section for reading groups.
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