Lessons Learned from Charlotte's Web

by Jessa Cunningham, dramaturg "You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing."

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This is one of the most famous lines from the show, and for good reason. This is how Charlotte expresses her gratitude for Wilbur letting her into his life, and now I would like to use it to thank all of you for letting us involved with the show into your life. Working on this show has helped me to see the important things in life: the friendships we make and how they change us for the better. At the beginning, Wilbur is so concerned about living a long and happy life. He only thinks of himself and the things he may miss out on. However, once he makes friends with Charlotte and the other animals, he sees that the life he has already lived was great. There is more to life than just living a nice, comfortable life. His friends teach him that, and soon he begins to look outside of himself. Wilbur becomes a better animal because of Charlotte and the barn animals. They teach him selflessness, cooperation, kindness, and inclusion. He heart is marked with their lessons and it helps him to see the importance in life. That is what makes Charlotte's Web so special: we get to see Wilbur go on this incredible journey, and by the end he is a completely different pig from who we see at the beginning of the play. At first, Wilbur laments about wanting someone to love him, and by the time the show ends he is ready to extend love to others, which he learned from his friends. The relationships that have been formed because of this show alone would make E.B. White smile. Friendships have been forged within the cast, the design team, the crew, and with you. That truly is an amazing thing, and hopefully that helped you to understand the themes of the play a little better. Thank you for coming to see us, for interacting with us. We hope that you know that all of the Lunch and Learns, the post show discussions, and the interactions with the cast after each performance were all for you. These opportunities brought us closer to you, the audience. We have become friends because of this, and hopefully you all have felt that too. I speak for all of us with the show when I say that we have loved getting to know all of you. My hope is that by watching and interacting with this story, we can all become a friend that encourages, protects, loves, and shows kindness and mercy. Let's all strive to be the Charlotte in our friendships in order to uplift and help others on a daily basis.

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="376"] Margaret Roper[/caption] Margaret More Roper: Scholar and Daughter by Adam White, dramaturg Thomas More was a family man; he was married twice and had four children with his first wife, Jane Colt. After being married for six years, Jane Colt More died, leaving More with four children: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily and John. However, More quickly remarried to the widow Dame Alice Middleton, marrying her within a month of his wife’s death. While many of his friends resisted the rapid nature of the arrangement, More went through with it. Thomas and Alice More would raise the four children Thomas More had with Jane, as well as Alice’s daughter from her previous marriage and a foster daughter. Certainly, More valued his family and the welfare of his children. More also valued the power of education. He insisted that his daughters be educated through rigorous schooling, and this was unusual in 16th-century England, as society at large believed women unfit for scholarly pursuits. Despite cultural and institutional norms, Margaret More, the eldest of the More children (and More’s favorite, some would argue), would grow to become one of the most educated people in all of England, a woman of great scholarly knowledge. Margaret More Roper was tutored at home and became well-known for her studies, particularly for her adeptness in Greek and Latin. Her skill in writing and speaking Latin would impress the clergy of England. This specialty is reflected in a scene in Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons where Margaret and King Henry VIII engage in a bit of Latin language sparring. She would also become the first woman who was not of royal birth to publish a translated book. In October 1524, Roper published an English translation of a book called ‘Precatio dominica’ written by Thomas More’s good friend Erasmus. This book was based on the Lord’s Prayer. Instead of translating the book directly from Latin to English, Roper would use her extensive knowledge of both languages to construct the themes and the meanings Erasmus had written in to the treatise with her own words. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="291"] Erasmus, Dutch humanist and good friend to Thomas More[/caption] It was Margaret who would visit the imprisoned Thomas More the most often. They were very close, writing letters to one another regularly the duration of their relationship. It was in a letter to Margaret that Thomas More confided, “I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I thinke none harm, but wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live.” We have good reason to believe that Margaret More Roper very well understood what would be her father’s fate. After Thomas More’s execution, Margaret More Roper and her husband William Roper would continue to carry on his legacy in their own ways. William Roper would write the first biography of Thomas More, a glowing and gracious document that would influence our understanding of More’s personality for hundreds of years to come. Margaret More Roper actually kept her father’s head after his beheading, pickling it to preserve it from decay. While many of us may find that historical tidbit a tad macabre, I would like to believe that Margaret More Roper had deep admiration for her father; perhaps it was out of this feeling she kept his head. Please stay tuned to the 4th Wall Dramaturgy Blog to catch clips of my interview with Mallory Gee, the actress who will portray Margaret More Roper in BYU’s A Man for All Seasons. Bibliography: Abernathy, Susan. "Margaret Roper, Daughter of Sir Thomas More." Early Modern England. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. Duerden, Richard. "A Man for All Seasons." Telephone interview. 31 Jan. 2014. "Margaret Roper." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. "Sir Thomas More Quotes and Quotations." Sir Thomas More Quotes and Quotations. Luminarium. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

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Lessons Learned from Charlotte's Web

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