Critical Readings

Released on 30 December 2024:

The panel reads the final act, reflecting on the role of Brutus as a tragic figure, with attention given to his relationship with Cassius, his misunderstanding of Antony’s magnanimity, his stoic leanings, and his role in the final battle at Philippi.

Released on 23 December 2024:

The panel reads the fourth act, with special attention to the fraught relationship between Brutus and Cassius, the political situation in the late Roman Republic, and the declining fate of the conspiracy in the wake of Marc Antony’s speech to the plebs.

Released on 16 December 2024:

The panel discusses the play’s self-awareness, its complexity of character, the presence of character flaws which serve to advance the action of the drama, and the contrast between reason and emotion, rhetoric and sophistry, and idealism and pragmatism.

Released on 9 December 2024:

The panel discusses the the play’s contrasts of public and private settings, its parallelism of scenes and characters (especially Calphurnia and Portia), and how Caesar’s hubris, confidence, and superstition ultimately prove to bend the hinge of fate.

Released on 2 December 2024:

The panel discusses the first act of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, with attention to Caesar’s biographies, the fraught sociopolitical situation in Rome, the thread of ambition that runs through the play, and Cassius’ crafty manipulation of Brutus.

Released on 25 November 2024:

The panel discusses the biographical details of David Jones, and his participation in the Great War, before reading parts 5–7 of In Parenthesis, with attention to the role of mechanisation and the inversion of traditional forms of warfare and defence.

Released on 18 November 2024:

The panel reads Parts 1–4 of David Jones’ In Parenthesis, with attention to its Modernist and post-Romantic moves, its structure as a prose poem and its prose style, and its imagistic and impressionistic development of scenes and personal experiences.

Released on 11 November 2024:

The panel discusses the conclusion of Wuthering Heights, with special attention given to the message of the novel; its place in the genres of Gothic, Romance, and Tragedy; and how its cycles of revenge and pain are eventually broken through acts of love.

Released on 4 November 2024:

Guest expert Dr. Madeline Potter joins the panel to discuss chapters 17–24, with a focus on the cycles of violence and manipulation at Wuthering Heights, the symmetry of relationships, and the re-embodiments of abuse perpetuated by Heathcliff.

Released on 21 October 2024:

The panel discusses chapters 10–16, from Catherine’s marriage until her death, and examines Heathcliff’s increased severity, the potential innocence of Isabella and Hareton, and the role that Nelly has played in escalating the fraught circumstances.