It's easy to look at books that were written long ago and think they are so outdated,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? Now, I must admit that for some authors I would agree with

you, but there are other old and even ancient authors from whom we can learn a lot. I'm thinking

specifically of Shakespeare and Plutarch. Let me tell you why. Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm

Sonia Schaefer. When you first think about Shakespeare and Plutarch, it's difficult to see

any similarity. I mean, Shakespeare lived in the late 1500s.

Plutarch, more than a thousand 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.

And 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 the

difference. See, whenever I think of the difference

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