essay

by Kirsty McGill

What on earth are you supposed to talk about in a Shakespeare essay? You know what happens in the story, but short of re-writing it in your own words you’re stuffed—right?

Wrong! There is an easy way of making sure you’ve talked about everything you need to (and possibly sounded intelligent about it too!):

It’s called the CLASI system, which stands for:

• Character
• Language
• Action
• Structure
• Ideas

It works like this:

• Whatever your question, you need to consider the relationships between characters. It might help you to draw a diagram (scribbled or otherwise) linking all the characters so you have this clear in your head before you start. Quite often with Shakespeare plays, it is often important which characters know what, so you might want to add that to your diagram.
• Shakespeare’s language is very different from ours today, so it is important to note the differences. What Shakespeare thought was an insult may seem silly to us.
  Also, the characters had different ways of speaking in different situations. As a guide, look for prose (ordinary speaking) amongst common characters and people who are looking down on others, look for blank verse in “well-to-do” characters speaking to each other (lines with 10 syllables but no rhymes) and sonnets when people are talking to their superiors or loved ones (sections of speech with rhymes)
• The actions section is where you talk about motives—why are the characters doing what they are? What do they do when faced with a situation? Your diagram about characters might help here.
• You need to mention the structure of the play as a whole to explain how a theme is treated or why a particular problem occurs in the plot. Most GCSE essays on Shakespeare ask you to look at a little bit of the play, but it is important to fit that little bit into the bigger picture of the play. Don’t waffle away describing the whole play, but do talk about how the characters ended up at that point and what the consequences of their actions will be.
• Finally, ideas are the core of any story or play. What are the themes of the play and how do you see those in the section you are studying? What is Shakespeare trying to say to you as the audience? In many plays there are themes of violence, love, family feuds and other familiar ideas. Why do these themes still appeal today? You could mention modern film versions of any Shakespeare plays that you might have seen and why people still want to see them.Make sure you order your points so that you actually answer the question you are being asked with a logical argument and put quotes to support each point. If you can jot down notes under each of the CLASI headings, then you should have enough material to fill out your essay.