Introducing your essay

1. Concluding your essay Common features: introductions and conclusions Introducing your essay 2 sentences for a conclusion: • Sentence 1 = Summarise what you think of the question: link to what you say in the intro and throughout. • Sentence 2 –State what the overall message of the text is. • Short – 2 sentences each • Use the author’s surname • Include the text name • Link to the question (key word(s) from it) • Terminology linked to the structure of the whole play • Reference to the whole text • Context or writer’s intentions are included. 2 sentences for a introduction: • Sentence 1 = refer to the question and include your knowledge of the text. • Sentence 2 – Create a sentence with 3 adjectives or ideas that will shape your essay

2. Romeo and Juliet: character based • How does Shakespeare present Juliet in the play? INTRODUCTION: Shakespeare presents Juliet in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet as one of the main protagonists who suffers as a result of forbidden love. As a complex character, Juliet is naïve at times, strong-willed and determined. CONCLUSION: Clearly, Shakespeare wanted to show Juliet as a whole person with thoughts, feelings and opinions of her own, which goes against expectations of patriarchy. The final line “For never was there a tale of more woe, than Juliet and her Romeo” demonstrates the waste of life that happened in the play, but also which was happening in society due to misunderstanding and old arguments.

3. Romeo and Juliet: theme based • How does Shakespeare explore the theme of love in the play? INTRODUCTION: Love is explored in Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare in a way that allows us to recognise the complexity and depth of feelings that love can evoke. As a main theme, love is shown through the unrequited love Romeo has for Rosaline, the excessive and compulsive love at first sight between Romeo and Juliet as well as the familial love that is shown in the Capulet household. CONCLUSION: Shakespeare may have wanted to show love as more than one dimensional and the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet works perfectly to emphasise the multitude of emotions caused by love in the play. Romeo’s false start with Rosaline allows us to see the depth of emotion that he is capable off and sets up the plausibility of him falling hard and fast for Juliet. Finally, showing the audience the patriarchal constraints through the love the Capulet family have for Juliet, also allows us to see the ultimate complexity of falling for the wrong person, without first considering the consequence and Shakespeare reinforced this with the deaths of the main protagonists.

4. Animal Farm: theme based How does Orwell explore power in the novella Animal Farm? INTRODUCTION: Orwell in his totalitarian, allegorical novella Animal Farm presents a society corrupted by power. Power is seen by the pigs as a way to manipulate the other animals (P1), whereas power for the animals representing the proletariat is about equality (P2), however Orwell ultimately shows power as a force for evil (P3). CONCLUSION: Throughout Animal Farm, Orwell emphasises with the circular plot, the corrupting influence of power. Orwell, symbolically links the pigs horrific behaviour to Russian politics, but the wider implication is that anyone, regardless of their original moral superiority, can and will be manipulated and allow power to go to their heads.

5. Animal Farm: character based How does Orwell explore the pigs in the novella Animal Farm? INTRODUCTION: The pigs are pivotal symbolic forces in Orwell’s allegorical tale, where the animals are subjected to horrific events at the hands (trotters) of the pigs. Orwell presents the main protagonists Squealer, Snowball and Napoleon as caricatures that highlight how a desire for power can corrupt, how lies and propaganda were rife in the society and shows how equality can be manipulated until it is unrecognisable from the original moral intent. CONCLUSION: Symbolically, Napoleon’s evil deeds are representative of Stalin’s totalitarian rule, Snowball represents Trotsky with the lies and propaganda spread about him and Squealer is Napoleon’s second in command and acts as a press secretary. These pigs show the fatal flaws endemic in a communist regime and act as a warning that a utopian, society where everyone is equal is highly unlikely as the animals at the end couldn’t tell “which was which” reinforcing Orwell’s pessimistic message.

6. Anthology: comparison Compare the presentation of internal conflict in London and one other poem from the Anthology? INTRODUCTION: Blake’s London paints a bleak picture of internal conflict with the persona reflecting on how horrific humanity is in many ways throughout the poem, which is similar to the internal conflict suffered by the soldiers in Exposure. Exposure, presents the suffering, due to the weather and the longevity of the war for many soldiers, while Blake reflects the suffering due to government choices and a lack of personal choice in the society that people live in. CONCLUSION: Evidently, Blake and Owen are discussing ideas related to the pain and suffering that is caused not only by internal conflict, but also by the external forces that are everywhere in society. Both poets successfully represent suffering in humanity as an internal struggle as one individual can not be responsible for the whole of society, however Owen and Blake seem to be able to see the collective responsibility, as well as the inner conflict that being helpless in the face of suffering causes.

7. A Christmas Carol: character based Dickens presents the ghosts in many ways. How far would you agree with this? INTRODUCTION: Dickens deliberately chooses to present Marley in a way that highlights the most extreme gothic aspects of his appearance and this presentation of the ghosts is true for the Ghost of the past and the future. The ghost of the present is less gothic and more benevolent and Dickens appears to do this in order to show how all the lessons learnt by Scrooge, from all the ghosts are significant. CONCLUSION: It is apparent that Dickens presentations of the ghosts is a deliberate characterisation, in order to show how they all have different messages to convey to Scrooge. Each ghost, in turn, reveals to Scrooge an element of truth about his behaviour and the allegorical message of supporting humanity and being charitable to those less fortunate is eventually understood through the different presentations of the ghosts.

8. A Christmas Carol: theme based Explore how Dickens presents the importance of wealth in the novella A Christmas Carol. INTRODUCTION: A Christmas Carol by Dickens reinforces the corrupting influence of wealth. Dickens shows that wealth makes people (Scrooge in particular as a symbol of wealth) greedy, uncharitable and selfish and this allegorical message is carried throughout the novella through the juxtaposition of wealthy characters and their behaviour and poorer characters and their contrasting behaviour. CONCLUSION: The corrupting influence of money and wealth is repetitively shown though Scrooge’s behaviour, his rejection of love and happiness and his inability to live in the moment. However, Dickens shows that redemption is possible as Scrooge rejects the sins of avarice and becomes a kind, benevolent and charitable man in the end of the novella, showing that people can and do change and that wealth is not the most important factor in life.