Hi, everyone.

It’s that time of the year again …

Not New Year’s Resolutions, or Dry Januarys (yes, I am this year, reluctantly) gym memberships, or even reading targets. It’s the time when ancestry.com hand out the big subscription discounts for people interested in researching their family tree!

I know this because my in-laws are massively into this. In fact, you should see my father-in-law since he did the DNA test and found out he’s actually 99% Welsh. Their family farmhouse must have been as isolated as Wuthering Heights!

And every year, I think I should have a go myself. I did once, and got a single thread back to the Southampton area in the 1700s; what puts me off is that the vast majority of my records will be overseas ones. Perhaps I’ll have a go again in 2025.

What’s this got to do with your English studies?

When we read a novel or play, how often are we quickly introduced to a large and diverse bunch of people? It’s like starting a new job, with the disadvantage of not having faces to put to names. At least we don’t have to learn how characters like their hot drinks, I suppose.

But here’s a tip for you.

Create a family / relationship tree somewhere in your book (or notes) as soon as you’re beginning to lose track of who’s who! Some examples / use cases for you.

1 - Sense and Sensibility

The first image is in my ‘teaching’ copy of the book, at the end of Chapter 1. The chapter centres round themes of inheritance and family, and reading the novel as prep to teach it, it quickly became a go-to when discussing early parts of the story with others.

If you know the book well, you’ll know that some of the entries are additions, as we move through - for example, Fanny is referred to as ‘Mrs John’ for a while. As you’ll also see from the note, in my copy we don’t learn Marianne’s age until page 20 (in my copy that’s Chapter III).

Me being me, the family tree was always going to get tidied up and computerised - you knew that, didn’t you? So … image 2 is a simple version using a free iPad app (Quick Family Tree). In truth, the app's only good for basic stuff, which is why it's free. It was a little fiddly to separate the families, and I’m still unhappy about Edward Ferrars being disconnected from his sister, but …

… one of the things I DO like about this is how the colour coding by gender has made a lot more obvious the ideas around inheritance, patriarchy, and primogeniture which really colour the opening. I think you get far more of a sense of the transfer of assets from male to male, and how sidelined the women are.

2 - Romeo & Juliet

Image 3 shows the 2024 version of a WHO’s WHO which has been knocking around for a few years now (you might even have seen a previous version from me).

The reason I like this one so much is that it was only once I’d sat down and plotted it out that I realised the incredible symmetry of the cast. Everyone has a ‘foil’, or mirror - we might even pitch Mercutio opposite Paris if we adjusted the proportions a little - except, of course, the Prince, and as the most important character, he should stand on his own.

​Like this one? It’s FREE to subscribers …

3 - Macbeth

Another similar vintage to the Romeo & Juliet one.

No real surprises in this one, perhaps, but I know it has been useful for GCSE students trying to work out who is on who’s team. I like the fact that it shows that Macbeth isn’t part of the royal family tree, and that King Duncan seems surrounded by groups who don’t have his best interests at heart - the loyal thanes are right over on the diagonal …

​Again, if you fancy one of these for FREE, just subscribe.

I’ve got similar versions for the following in the pipeline: give me a shout if you want one of them pushed to the front of the queue!

• King Lear
• Richard III
• The Tempest

Creating your own? It might also be useful to add a box for each character where you can add some adjectives to describe them.

Let me know your tips for navigating novels and parsing plays ... I'd love to hear from you.

Do you know someone his could be useful for? Don't forget - SHARING's caring!