Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Reading Shakespeare in Morning Time: Why?

Day 20~ 


When I first read Susan Schaeffer MacCaulay's For the Children's Sake when my oldest was 3 I was most excited by the idea of reading Shakespeare to my children.  Her descriptions of her little girls returning home from school joyously playing Shakespeare melted my heart. That is what I wanted for my children.



I had already developed my own love of Shakespeare. In highschool we had studied via Dino de Laurentiis Romeo and Juliet and one summer I bought one of those huge volumes of The Complete Works of Shakespeare and read with delight The Taming of the Shrew. After I went to college I forgot about Shakespeare until I picked up MacCaulay's book and recalled the joy I found in the meter of The Taming of the Shrew. No one had told me that Shakespeare was often written in meter. I stumbled onto the meter on my own and that discovery filled me with joy. I wanted my children to have that from an early age.

And yet year after year after year went by and I was never able to incorporate the reading of Shakespeare into our Morning Time.  This was one of life's disappointments.

Then when my oldest was around 12 or 13 a group of ladies began what was called PUO or Parents' Union Online. You know it today as Ambleside Online. This awoke in me a fresh vision to introduce my children to Shakespeare and so that summer we set up our lawn chairs in the back yard each afternoon and began reading A Midsummer's Nights' Dream one scene at time.  It was the perfect play to start with. The children laughed.

Since that time I have continued to read Shakespeare one scene at at time to my children and the scenes turned into acts and the acts turned into plays until we have now read together almost the entire canon. 

And that is it really. One scene. Another scene. An Act. A play.

No lesson plans. No fancy resources. It can be THAT simple.  In the next few posts I will be giving you lots of hints and helps but never forget that all you really need to do is pick up a play and start reading.

That is my story but you might be wondering why you should read Shakespeare.  Here is what Charlotte Mason says,

”To become intimate with Shakespeare in this way is a great enrichment of mind and instruction of conscience. Then, by degrees, as we go on reading this world – teacher, lines of insight and beauty take possession of us, and unconsciously mould our judgments of men and things and of the great issues of life.”  (Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, Book 2, page 72)
There’s the rub: the instruction of conscience and the molding of our judgments- truth, beauty and yes, goodness, all within the canon of the plays of William Shakespeare.   

Then, of course, there are the added utilitarian benefits to vocabulary and cultural literacy.

Tomorrow I will describe more fully how we approach a play but I did want to address one more aspect of reading Shakespeare-inappropriate material.  It is true that sometimes Shakespeare is coarse. He does not shy away from presenting coarse people as coarse. He never feels the need to sanitize his characters. He shows them to us as they are.

You can handle this in many different ways:

*You can read the plays out loud skipping awkward sections. I am quite good at reading ahead and skipping parts.

*You can avoid plays that are too mature such as Pericles or The Merry Wives of Windsor.

*You can read the parts without comment since they will most likely not be understood by the immature anyway.

*You can read them and use them as a chance to talk about mature themes.

While most plays will have at least a little bit of uncomfortable material overall these inappropriate parts are rare.  Most families will be able to work around them without problem.

Although this repeats much of what I say here and the formatting is weird you may want to read another article I wrote on Shakespeare for Circe.

Suggestion of the Day for Morning Time Memory:

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf
The Quality of Mercy is not Strain’d
William Shakespeare (Portia in The Merchant Of Venice)

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf

The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I [The quality of mercy is not strained]

  by William Shakespeare
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21707#sthash.0wKF8VnO.dpuf

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