If there’s one thing that strikes me when I read what the Parents Union School (PUS – Charlotte Mason’s schools for children) teachers thought about teaching Shakespeare, it would be the joy with which the plays were approached and appreciated by both teachers and students. This article will focus on the “how” of teaching Shakespeare in a living education and the attitude that should naturally prevail in the school room while experiencing him.
The reading of Shakespeare began in Form II (4th grade/9 years old). The students were assigned one play per term, so three plays per year. Over their school careers, that could mean 27 plays! However, some plays were repeated, some stretched over two terms, and occasionally a different piece of literature was assigned in the upper years. (For a fuller treatment of which plays were assigned and when, see my article “A Programme for Shakespeare” .)
Three Steps
We can sum up Charlotte Mason’s approach to Shakespeare in three steps:
- READ (unabridged, unannotated, and aloud)
- NARRATE (sometimes)
- PERFORM (sometimes and simply)
Instead of me elaborating on these points, let’s have the PUS teachers tell us. Here are seven curated quotes from the Parents’ Review which demonstrate the approach to Shakespeare in Mason’s schools:
“The children in Form II read aloud a play of Shakespeare’s in order simply to know and enjoy it.”
“Shakespeare is of all subjects the favourite, and is almost universally enjoyed. I hear no word of difficulties.”
“The taking of parts is essential to enjoyment. We do not do too much narration: the children want to get on. We do discuss it with profit.”
“Difficult passages are explained if important, otherwise no explanations are offered.”
“Shakespeare as a rule a favourite. Children quick to see humour and pathos. The various parts of the plays are taken by the children in turn.”
“This is perhaps one of the most loved lessons of the week. We usually choose characters.”
“From the age of nine or ten they read every term a play of Shakespeare in a plain unannotated text with keen delight.”
The Joy of Shakespeare
Can you hear the joy of reading Shakespeare come through in those comments? Here we have students reading from “plain unannotated” texts and narrating the basic plot lines so that they can “get on” with it. Occasionally we find references to simple performances by the students.
One of my favorite stories is from I Buy a School by Marion Berry. She tells of trepidatiously beginning Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, with a squirrely group of nine and ten year olds. Some of the parents objected – “ridiculous starting them so young – spoil it for later on.” But she followed Mason’s wisdom and moved forward, winning over all the children and even the parents. She states:
“For the end of term entertainment for the parents, in a church hall, we put on a scene with Ferdinand and Miranda, and I had the gratification of fathers following every word, almost ready to be prompters, and a mother exclaiming ‘These children are doing Shakespeare as it if was Alice in Wonderland!’”
Last year our Truth, Beauty, Goodness community read A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This was a repeat for our group, but it had been 10 years and only a handful remembered the first time. They acted out the play within the play, Pyramus and Thisbe, presented by the rude mechanicals. Four of the teachers read the lines for the observing royals playing the audience. From the original costume ideas to the unique set props like the wall with the crack, the students delighted us with their creativity and enthusiasm during the hilarious performance. Joy, indeed.
Taking Away Just What They Need
I hope you can hear the simplicity of the Shakespeare lessons and the ebullient attitude of the teachers as they share Shakespeare with their classes. It can be the same for you! Step alongside your students and enjoy this banquet which is Shakespeare. You might be hesitant at first, especially if you have never explored the Bard. But it will get more familiar as you become more accustomed to his writing. And as for the students, they always astonish us, don’t they? Let this quote by H.W. Household, Secretary of Education and ardent supporter of Charlotte Mason, be a comfort to you as you begin this lifelong relationship with Shakespeare:
“One play of Shakespeare’s is read each term, not analytically, but for the joy of the thing. We are reading Shakespeare without notes, and largely without explanation, and the children love the plays…the fifty percent that they understand and love in Shakespeare is worth infinitely more than the hundred per cent that it is the inclination of the adult to force upon them.”
Teaching from Peace,
Nancy
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I Buy a School by Marion Barry Avon Books, London 1996, p. 63
Block of quotes:
- PR 44, A Liberal Education by A.C. Drury, p. 406, 1933
- H.W. Household, PR, Vol. 36, No. 11, 1925
- H.W. Household, PR, Vol. 36, No. 11, 1925
- H.W. Household, PR, Vol. 36, No. 11, 1925
- H.W. Household, PR, Vol. 36, No. 11, 1925
- H.W. Household, PR, Vol. 36, No. 11, 1925
- PR 40, p. 83, 1929
H.W. Household, PR, Vol. 36, No. 11, 1925
This is so good and encouraging. I have been keeping it simple with Shakespeare yet wondering if I should be doing more…after all, in my school days Shakespeare meant Essays…I can remember my teachers writing out all the themes, motifs and whatnot we had to remember on the blackboard so we could produce a proper essay. I am pleased to learn that in Charlotte Mason’s schools the students simply read the plays and enjoyed them.