Essay Writing

Introduction
Essay structure
There are 3 parts to a literary essay –
1. Introduction
2. Main Body
3. Conclusion
 Marking Criteria
 Presents a perceptive evaluation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrating a sophisticated
understanding of the layers of meaning represented in the text.
 Analyses skilfully construction, content and language supported by textual knowledge. 17-20
 Composes a sustained composition using language appropriate to audience, purpose and
form.

 Presents a thoughtful evaluation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrating a well-

developed understanding of the layers of meaning represented in the text.
 Analyses effectively construction, content and language supported by textual knowledge. 13-16
 Composes a well-developed composition using language appropriate to audience, purpose
and form.

 Presents a sound evaluation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrating an adequate

understanding of the layers of meaning represented in the text.
 Analyses construction, content and language supported by textual knowledge. 9-12
 Composes a sound composition using language appropriate to audience, purpose and
form.

 Presents a limited critical evaluation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with some understanding

of the layers of meaning represented in the text.
 Describes construction, content and language with limited textual knowledge. 5-8
 Composes a limited composition.

 Attempts to present a discussion of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

 Attempts to describe some elements of construction, content and language making
reference to the text. 1-4
 Composes an elementary composition.
 Year 10 Practice question
“Macbeth begins the play as a hero, but ends as a villain.”
Discuss what forces bring about Macbeth’s tragic downfall.
In your essay make specific detailed reference to the play in support of your
argument.
Step 1 – Break down the essay question
What makes the play Macbeth a tragedy?
What are the forces that bring about Macbeth’s downfall?
How have the central ideas of the play demonstrated Macbeth’s downfall?
Step 2 – Write an essay plan
How are your selected ideas explored in the play?
What examples best represent your chosen ideas?
Find relevant examples and quotes that show how your thesis represents
Macbeth’s downfall.
Introduction
Identify and address the key words in the question.
1. Commence the introduction with a thesis statement/topic sentence that
addresses the question. DO NOT forget to include the composer’s name,
title of text, date of publication and identify the text type. You must
underline the title of the play
2. Present an overview of your central thesis/argument in a series of topic
sentences. Save the specific detailed information for the main body. It
often helps to include the text’s context.
3. Link back to the Question.

4. Create your topic sentence using evaluative verbs – e.g., explores,

represents, highlights, reveals, demonstrates, illustrates etc.
 Example Introduction - Macbeth

Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth (1606) explores how the

titular character begins the play as a noble hero and ends
as a villain. Macbeth’s downfall is primarily due to the
motivating forces of ambition and the supernatural,
brought by the conflict of both internal and external
forces. His ambition for personal gain compels him, to
commit regicide conflicting with his nobleness and
loyalty to his king and country. The outside forces that
bring about Macbeth’s downfall are the supernatural and
Lady Macbeth. These forces conflict with Macbeth’s own
moral conscience.
Introduction 2

William Shakespeare’s Jacobean tragedy Macbeth

(1606) portrays the impact of the corrupting power
of unchecked ambition and the eponym’s tragic
attempt to control his fate. Macbeth, a
Machiavellian construct, represents an honourable
hero whose ambition overwhelms him and
instigates his desire for autocratic rule. Macbeth’s
act of regicide disrupts the ‘Great Chain of Being’,
thereby causing an imbalance to the natural order.
Ultimately, the play explores how Macbeth’s
overreaching ambition leads to his tragic demise.
 Introduction 3
Shakespeare's Jacobean tragedy Macbeth (1606), reveals
how the titular character's downfall is due to the
corruptive power of his morality and desire for power.
Macbeth’s acceptance of the prophecies of the
supernatural result in his humanistic rejection of divine,
objective morality, thus leading him
to commit regicide and disturb the natural
order. Furthermore, Macbeth's inability to accept
responsibility highlights his vulnerability to equivocal
temptation and control, thus instigating his tragic demise.
Introduction 4

• Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, (1606) illustrates the

eponym’s ambitious nature which is motivated by a sense
of male idealism. Macbeth’s downfall is due to the
influence of Lady Macbeth whose questioning of his
manhood forces him to question his morality. Macbeth’s
ambition is driven by personal gain which forces him to
commit regicide thus disturbing the great chain of being
and causing his tragic demise.
Main Body
Always refer to the question when analysing the text.
Use a separate paragraph for each new argument.
Each paragraph should follow this format:
1. A topic sentence that presents your argument. Aim to use the terms of
the question in your topic sentence.
2. An explanation which expands on the main idea expressed in the topic
sentence. Remember to analyse the events in the text using examples to
support the main idea. Do not simply describe what happens. DO NOT
use ‘then’ and ‘when’.
3. Use relevant quotation from the text to support your argument.
4. Refer back to the question.
Paragraphing – use of quotes
Use a combination of quoting styles in the essay:
brief ‘stand alone’ quotes


‘embedded’ quotes.

Use connectives to link argument between paragraphs:

‘Similarly’


‘By contrast’
‘Furthermore’
‘Consequently’ etc.
Main body paragraph with an embedded quote

Shakespeare represents love as an inspirational force in Romeo and

Juliet. This is established from the outset of the play in Romeo’s lovesick
reaction to his rejection from Rosaline as he can no longer feel “… love
in this.” By employing oxymoronic phrases, through the use of
contradictory nouns such as “bright smoke”, Romeo highlights the
confusion and turmoil love causes. His speech reveals how his lack of
love causes him to feel melancholic.
 Main body paragraph e.g., 1

Macbeth begins the play as a noble hero; however, his ambition brings about his
tragic demise. At the beginning of the play, the witches’ prophecies lead Macbeth to
think of murder as an option to gain the crown. Furthermore, his ambition and
desire for personal gain is so consuming that he considers regicide, despite the fact
that the weird sisters have said nothing of murder. The witches’ prophecies awaken
his ambition to become King. At the start of the play, Macbeth is depicted as a noble
hero, and this is reflected in his moral conflict. Despite the thoughts of murder,
Macbeth’s moral conscience and nobility is presented to the audience through his
soliloquies. While Macbeth has the ambition to become King, his own internal
conflict demonstrates to the audience that Macbeth has nobility “My thought, whose
murder is but fantastical, /Shakes so my single state of man that function /Is smother’d
in surmise…” The etc…
Main body par e.g. 2

• Lady Macbeth’s antagonistic relationship with Macbeth reveals the nature of

misguided masculine ambition. From the outset of the play, Macbeth is the
central absent figure of the plot and is represented as the ideal male of the
Jacobean Milieu. He is portrayed through the Captain’s use of
anthropomorphism, as “The lion”, who possesses courage and nobility. This is
significant in establishing Macbeth’s heroic status at the commencement of the
play. Lady Macbeth’s questioning of Macbeth’s masculinity in his reluctance to
kill Duncan reveals her perception of his nature as being ‘ to full o’th’ milk of
human kindness.”
Main body par e.g. 3

The compelling nature of Macbeth’s ambition transforms him from a virtuous hero
into a tyrant. From the outset of the play, Shakespeare contrasts the traitorous and
“merciless McDonald”, former Thane of Cawdor and leader of the rebellious forces
seeking to overthrow the King of Scotland, with the heroic actions of “noble
Macbeth”. Shakespeare represents Macbeth’s exploits on the battlefield though
the similes used in the Captain’s second report, in which Macbeth is likened to a
“lion” unafraid of the timorous Norwegians, who in comparison are likened to “a
hare”. Yet upon hearing of the Witches’ prophecies that he will become King,
Macbeth is immediately filled with ambitious thoughts to act upon the Prophecy,
“My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, /shakes, so my single state of
man that function/…and nothing is,/But what is not.”
Main body par e.g. 4

In addition, the metatheatrical reference to life as a " a poor player / Who struts and frets
his hour upon the stage...’ symbolises the rejection of the afterlife, reinforcing humanistic
elements within the play ultimately representing a rejection of divine objective
morality. Similarly, Macbeth's Machiavellian desire for power is juxtaposed to his
Renaissance worldspace where the corruption of human action facilitates "bloody
instructions". Shakespeare manipulates the motif of ‘blood’ throughout his play in order
to reinforce Macbeth’s morally unreasonable mindset where he relies on his "vaulting
ambition" to justify his hubris. The development of Macbeth as symbolized in his "even-
handed justice" explores the immorality of regicide and the role of murder as a means to
expiate his subjective sense of justice in order to violate the premises of divine morality for
personal gain. Comparably, an inability to justify the morally wrong is echoed through
the murderers who are "reckless (in) what (they) do to spite the world" thereby
symbolizing Macbeth's unnecessary external justification for reason without true cause to
endure power over the murderers as well as a rejection of fate to disrupt the Scottish
society .
Main body par e.g. 5

• The progression of the supernatural, functions to propel Macbeth’s disrupted mindset

where the hypotaxis, “I conjure you by that which you profess, however you come to
know it, answer me” , reveals the instability of his thoughts. Furthermore, his self-
obsession and egotism reflect his lack of fear and hesitation when committing violent
deeds. The destructive diction reveals the substantial effects of corruptive power
where the reference to "castles topple" depicts the destruction of figures of authority
and the conclusion of justice and rightfulness . Macbeth’s transformation from "noble"
and "valiant" to "deceitful" and "avaricious" is paralleled in nature's transformation as
highlighted where Duncan's "sweet" and "delicate air" transforms into Macbeth's "foul
and filthy air" the harsh imagery revealing the consequences of regicide to the natural
order . Similarly, as a reaction to Macbeth's lack of judgement the "wind fights against
the church" where natural and religious imagery portray the natural world at war as a
result of Macbeth succumbing to his ambition and the temptation of corruptive power.
Conclusion

• Do not commence the conclusion with a cliché such as – ‘In

conclusion’ or ‘Thus I have shown’ etc.
Always start your conclusion with a new general statement that
readdresses the question.
• Sum up the main points of your central thesis in a series of topic
sentences. Do not raise new points of argument in the conclusion.
Example of conclusion
Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, represents how the titular character begins
the play as a noble hero, but ends as a tyrant. Macbeth’s tragic demise is
brought about by both internal and external factors. Macbeth’s ‘vaulting
ambition’ gives him the motivation to kill Duncan, betraying his country
and giving up his public reputation as a noble hero. The weird sisters give
Macbeth misleading promises and deceptive prophecies, which influence
him into committing to the murder of the King. In addition, Lady
Macbeth serves as a driving force, as she convinces Macbeth into
murdering Duncan. The demise of Macbeth from noble hero to villain is
presented in Shakespeare’s play, through the conflict between the
eponym’s noble feelings of righteousness and his own ambition. Macbeth
begins the play as a noble hero, but ends as a villain.
General Points
· Always use a formal tone.
· Do not use emotive language. E.g., ‘great play’ etc.
· Do not use colloquial language or slang unless it is part of a quote
from the text.
· Use conjunctions or link words at the start of paragraphs to connect
points of argument. E.g., Similarly, By contrast, Furthermore,
Consequently etc. This is particularly important when comparing
texts.
· Always refer to the events in the text in the present tense.
· Remember to always analyse the text in detail but be careful not to
describe the events.
· Always refer back to the question throughout the essay.
· Do not use contractions. E.g., use ‘cannot’ instead of ‘can’t’. This
allows for a more formal tone.
General points

· Aim to complete at least TWO essay drafts in preparation and have

them corrected by your teacher. Remember the key to success is
completing practice questions under exam conditions.
· Spelling, punctuation, paragraphing is important.
· Do not use rhetorical questions. This is not a speech.
· Do not use second person point of view – ‘you’.
· Always underline the titles of texts. You may italicise titles when using
Word. Titles of poems and song lyrics are placed in inverted commas.
· Do not abbreviate titles of texts. Write out the full title in the
introduction and in the main body you may reduce the length of the title
using ellipsis (…).