Part I 

Lecture 1: Shakespeare's Wavelengths

Lecture 2: The Multiple Actions of a Midsummer Night's Dream

Lecture 3: The Form of Shakespeare's Sonnets

Lecture 4: Love in Shakespeare's Sonnets

Lecture 5: Love and Artifice in Love's Labor's Lost and Much Ado about Nothing 

Lecture 6: As You Like It

Lecture 7: The Battles of Henry VI

Lecture 8: Richard III and the Renaissance


Part II 

Lecture 9: History and Family in Henry IV

Lecture 10: Action in Hamlet

Lecture 11: Coriolanus—The Hero Alone

Lecture 12: Change in Antony and Cleopatra

Lecture 13: The Plot of Cymbeline

Lecture 14: Nature and Art in The Winter's Tale

Lecture 15: Three Kinds of Tempest

Lecture 16: History and Henry VIII


Book Description


Shakespeare: The Word and the Action 

Course Number 273—16 lectures (45 minutes/lecture)
Taught by: Professor Peter Saccio—Dartmouth College 

"I've taught and loved Shakespeare for over 30 years and was captivated 
and stunned by Peter Saccio's eloquence and knowledge of the material. 
Every high school English teacher needs to own this tape."
—Rayna Goldfarb, Bryn Mawr, PA

For almost 400 years, his work has been the standard against which all 
writers have been judged, his stature as the most important literary 
figure in history unlikely to ever be challenged.
Yet the great majority of us have until now been denied the myriad pleasures 
Shakespeare offers—betrayed by well-meaning teachers who so pried apart 
his every line and sentence that they often managed to hide the dramatic 
tension, excitement, and humor that made his work so remarkable! 
The result? We never had the chance we deserved to experience Shakespeare’s 
words as he meant them to be experienced! And we missed out on a literary 
encounter that should have been very, very special.
But now you can learn to enjoy and understand Shakespeare—through a 
brilliantly entertaining course on Shakespeare: The Word and the Action. 
Taught on audio- or videotape in 16 wonderful lectures by one of the 
nation’s most honored and popular Shakespeare teachers—Professor Peter 
Saccio of Dartmouth College.
The Teaching Company is offering Shakespeare: The Word and the Action 
to introduce you to the special pleasure of learning from a teacher 
of Professor Saccio’s unique gifts. The course is an excellent companion 
to William Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, Professor 
Saccio's other lecture series specifically devoted to Shakespeare.
Teaching as both a lecturer and a trained actor and director, and assisted 
by two additional Shakespearean actors, Professor Saccio shows us the 
extraordinary ways in which Shakespeare used language, action, and structure 
to create the dramatic impact and deep insight that forever set him 
apart.