BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Area Osher Lifelong Learning Institute presents their fall 2019 lecture series, “Kingship and Authority in Selected Shakespeare Plays.”
Led by Geraldine Pittman de Battle, this course will consider the cultural context of the plays such as the belief in the Great Chain of Being, the belief in the Divine Right of Kings and the practice of Witchcraft.
Emphasis will be placed on those qualities so necessary for an enlightened and safe community: the importance of truth and language, the importance of trust and transparency, the honoring of historical and spiritual values shared by citizens. John Rawls' definition of justice as fairness, and the relationship between the king, the nobles, and the commoners.
Pre-reading of the plays is strongly encouraged.
Lectures are held Mondays, 10 a.m. to noon, at New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat Street. The schedule is as follows: Oct. 7: MacBeth; Oct. 14: Richard II; Oct. 21 and 28: Henry IV Parts 1 & 2; Nov. 4: Henry V; and Nov. 11: Richard III.
Pittman de Battle has taught at Marlboro College; studied at Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford; worked for the Vermont Council on the Humanities; and served on the Ethics Committees for the Vermont Bar Association and for the National Endowment of Science.
Admission is $30 for the series or $6 per individual lecture. To learn more, contact Julie Lavorgna at 802-365-7278 or julielavorgna@gmail.com.