It’s easy to look at books that were written long ago and think they are so outdated we cannot learn anything from them. After all, those people did not have cell phones, they did not have the internet, they did not even have air conditioning—what can we learn from them? What’s the point of reading old authors?
I must admit that for some authors, I would agree with you. But there are other old, even ancient, authors from whom we can learn a lot. I’m thinking specifically of Shakespeare and Plutarch. Let me tell you why.
When you first think about Shakespeare and Plutarch, it’s difficult to see any similarity. Shakespeare lived in the late 1500s; Plutarch, more than 1,000 years before that. Shakespeare wrote entertaining plays; Plutarch wrote historical biographies. What could these two authors possibly have to teach us or our students in their writings?
Well, in one word: character.
Both Shakespeare and Plutarch spotlight character in their writings. They share snapshots of people’s strengths and weaknesses, good decisions, bad decisions, strong wills, and weak wills. Through their plays and biographies we get to know a person, not just his actions.
That’s a big difference. Most historians focus on actions: the person’s achievements. But Plutarch focused on the person’s character, and Shakespeare did the same. They wanted their readers to really know the person in their writing, not just know about that person. There’s a difference.
Whenever I think of the difference between knowing about a person and knowing the person, I think of a scene in one of Jane Austen’s novels, Sense and Sensibility. Marianne Dashwood has just met a Mr. Willoughby and she is curious to know him better. So she and her mother take the opportunity to ask Sir John about him.
“You know him then,” said Mrs. Dashwood.
“Know him! to be sure I do. Why, he is down here every year.”
“And what sort of a young man is he?”
“As good a kind of fellow as ever lived, I assure you. A very decent shot, and there is not a bolder rider in England.”
“And is that all you can say for him?” cried Marianne, indignantly. “But what are his manners on more intimate acquaintance? What his pursuits, his talents, and genius?”
Sir John was rather puzzled.
“Upon my soul,” said he, “I do not know much about him as to all that. But he is a pleasant, good humoured fellow, and has got the nicest little black . . . pointer I ever saw. Was she out with him today?”
But Marianne could no more satisfy him as to the colour of Mr. Willoughby’s pointer, than he could describe to her the shades of his mind.
You may think you know someone, but can you describe “the shades of his mind”? That’s the difference between knowing about a person and really knowing a person. And that’s the difference that Shakespeare and Plutarch bring to your home school. They get past the he’s-a-pleasant-fellow acquaintance and peel back the layers to allow you to see that person’s human nature, in all of its beauty and ugliness, as well as his character. Your student learns that she can no longer simply categorize a person as either a good guy or a bad guy; there is usually a mixture of good and bad in a single soul.
And when you get to that level of knowledge, it naturally prompts two things: conversations and guidance. Shakespeare’s plays and Plutarch’s biographies lead to discussions on the choices the people made in life and the principles that informed their choices. Those conversations are deeply important in your student’s education as a whole person, especially in a society that seems to focus on what a person does rather than who a person is on the inside.
Shakespeare and Plutarch’s works also provide guidance in shaping your student’s own character. And that guidance is easy to accept because of the form in which it is given: plays and biographies. Neither author preaches at your child, belaboring the moral and explaining what the reader should learn from that example. Rather, they simply tell the stories, highlighting choices and consequences of those choices, and they respect the reader enough to allow her to make the connections and see the relations—both good and bad.
Conversations around character and guidance in forming character—that’s the point of Shakespeare and Plutarch. And they’re simple to include in your homeschool schedule, beginning in fourth grade. Check the links to see how to teach these wonderful old authors and to give your students the gifts that they share in their writings.
Resources for Character Study
Add character study through Shakespeare and Plutarch to your homeschool schedule with these open-and-go resources.
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