Shakespeare Subtly Helps Frazzled Parents
Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tempest have lessons kids absorb.
My husband, Vikesh, and I went to a bookshop in our city to get our daughter Sivakami’s new books for Class XI.
We couldn’t find all the books we wanted but managed to get a syllabus for her 2026 exam and the English drama.
To our relief, she has Macbeth, which Vikesh has also studied in his time. Our older daughter, Gayatri, had The Tempest, and she hated the Prospero-Miranda-Caliban-Sycorax-Ariel mess.
Gayatri was annoyed by homeschooling single parent Prospero having a library of textbooks for his daughter Miranda, but not a single toy for his three-year-old daughter to play with.
I was dreading the prospect of Sivakami reading The Tempest and holding up the hapless fellow against 2024 standards of childcare.
Vikesh and I are relieved to have a fresh text in the form of Macbeth. Horror-story-loving Sivakami will probably love all the blood and gore in Macbeth, with the upcoming murder of Banquo and Duncan. Also, no knotty father-daughter relationships to worry about!
The Merchant of Venice was the Class X text for both Sivakami and Gayatri, who are five years apart. They warmed to the character’s troubles and felt for them. They decided that Antonio was a closeted gay who was fond of Bassanio, who is straight and falls for Portia.
Both our kids felt that Shylock, the Jew, was badly treated by his daughter Jessica. She robs her father of money and jewelry and exchanges his beloved ring, given to him by his wife Leah, for a monkey. Jessica runs away with a Christian, Lorenzo, who hasn’t a penny to his name. The couple only have hope for a happy marriage because Antonio demands after the court case that Shylock hand over his wealth to them as a wedding gift.
Let’s see how that turns out, eh? Can anybody imagine living off a wedding gift for their entire lives in any century?
The cool thing is that if I’d sat my daughters down and told them — “Don’t marry impecunious suitors! Don’t expect Papa and Mummy to keep paying your bills if you and your husband aren’t able to earn a living.” — my daughters might have balked.
Fortunately, Shakespeare has infused that message into them without their realizing.
Now, we will read Macbeth. It feels nice to be able to get my teeth into a new text. I like watching my daughters’ conclusions about the characters as they analyze their actions.
If you have read Macbeth, do let me know about any parenting pitfalls! I’d love to know. I have read a Charles and Mary Lamb adaptation of Macbeth and I know the bare bones of the story, but have no in-depth knowledge of the text.
By the time Sivakami’s Board exam draws to a close in March 2026, we will be past masters of Macbeth and will be quoting from it. Today’s story is a dare to my future self and a marker. The depth of study is hard, the children have subjects besides English to study and the level of detail demanded by the examiners is HDMI. Wish us luck!