This course will first examine Shakespeare's comedies and attempt to come up with a description of kinds of comedy. Then it will examine how Shakespeare uses these different kinds of comedy in his histories and tragedies in order to make complex arguments about leadership, tradition, governance, spirituality, and imagination. Emphasis will fall on the architectonics of the plays. We will read Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Hamlet, King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra. There will be 2 papers about 8 pages in length.