English Faculty State Schools' Open Day

Year 12 pupils are warmly invited to attend our annual State Schools’ Open Day, hosted by the English Faculty, University of Oxford, on Saturday 9th April 2022. This year, the day will be held online using Microsoft Teams. Those who attend will hear talks about the English course and admissions process, attend two live lectures, and ask current students about their experiences of Oxford. The virtual open day will run from 11:00 – 14:00.

Details of the lectures are:

Shakespeare and Character
Dr Emma Smith
We tend to think of Shakespearean characters in psychological terms – their motivation, their arc, their true feelings. This lecture suggests some different, more theatrical ways to think about how Shakespeare does character, drawing on lots of different plays for the examples.

Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray: Truth, Art and Immorality
Dr Sos Eltis
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray were commissioned for Lippincott's over the same dinner with the magazine's editor. This lecture will look at the crucial differences and surprising similarities in the attitudes to truth, beauty and crime that made Holmes an icon of justice and Dorian a poster-boy for corrupt aestheticism.