How to Write an Essay

Essay Breakdown.

    This is The Introduction. This is where you make your claim. For this essay example, we will "write" about a book. Make a claim about the book. A certain part of the book. That goes here. Don't state why. You're not in fifth grade anymore. To start your essay, write something like: "In (book name) by (author's first and last name), (state claim). Then, state how many times in the book that this happens. I recently wrote an essay on Midsummer Night's Dream. This was my introduction paragraph.

   "In Shakespeare's play, Midsummer Night's Dream, the men of the play often had agency, or power, over everyone else. In both The Lovers' Story and The Fairies' Story, the men are using their agency for their advantage or to control others, causing the women of the story to rebel. Their resilience often left them humiliated by the men. There are many times throughout the story when this happens."

The last part there, acts as your transition.

    This is The First Body Paragraph. State your claim again, but in a shorter form. Now, you state your first piece of evidence. Use quotes when quoting anything. Then, at the end, add something like this: (book name, page #). Have three sentences of analysis. Preferably 3-5 sentences of analysis. Use another quote. It must still support your claim in the same way. Cite it, and another 3-5 sentences of analysis. With this, you can make quite a long paragraph. For example: 

    "The male roles in Midsummer Night's Dream often had agency in the play. These characters would be Egeus, Demetrius, and Oberon, in The Lovers' Story, who use their agency for their personal gain. We often see Egeus use his power against his own daughter, Hermia. "Full of vexation come I, with complaint against my child, my daughter Hermia./Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord, this man hath my consent to marry her," (1:1 lines 22-25). This quote shows Egeus forcing his daughter to marry Demetrius, who is also using his agency for personal gain, to marry Hermia. He does this not just because he dislikes Lysander, the man Hermia loves. He does this because he knows that Demetrius has a lot of money. Hermia later speaks to Theseus, the duke of Athens, also the man who had told her that she was to either marry Demetrius, become a nun, or be put to death. Theseus uses his power against Hermia as well, but not for personal gain. He uses his power for Egeus's gain during this time. "What say you, Hermia? Be advis'd, fair maid. / To you, your father should be as a god," (1:1, lines 26-27). Here, he is saying that she has to listen to her father, and that there is nothing he could do to help her, when really, there probably is. He is also telling her that she should be looking up to her father and not disrespecting him. He also says, "For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself to fit your fancies to your father's will," (1:1,lines 166-117). This is also saying a similar thing, and that she must obey both Egeus and Theseus. A similar problem happens in The Fairies' Story."

Always have a transition at the end of your body paragraph. For my Midsummer Night's Dream Essay, I had two of these paragraphs in a row, one for The Lovers' Story and one for The Fairies' Story.

    This is The Second Body Paragraph: Second Topic. This is another body paragraph, like the one above. But, this one is on another topic, but still supporting the claim. The one above is about male agency in Midsummer Night's Dream, this next one will be about the little female agency in Midsummer Night's Dream. You probably don't understand what I'm trying to say, so here is an example from my essay.

    "Later in both stories, it is clear that to women have almost no agency. In The Lovers' Story, the little power Hermia has is her choice between marrying Demetrius, becoming a nun, or being killed. She realizes that both her and Lysander had a fourth option, to run away from Athens. "Helen, to you our minds we will unfold / Tomorrow night, when Phœbe doth behold/ Her silver visage in the watery glass / Decking with liquid pearl and bladed grass- / A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal- / through Athens' gates we have devis'd to steal" (1:1, lines 208-213). Both Hermia and Lysander tell Helena their plan to run away, as they can trust her. This is Hermia using what little agency she has to get more power. Helena also uses this to gain power, but uses it to tell Demetrius about their plan, making the little power she had gained, useless."

It's on another topic, but still supporting my claim. Once again, there is one for both stories. Here, you should also have 3-5 sentences of analysis. In my second paragraph, I have more than one source.

   "In The Fairies' Story, Titania already has power. She doesn't have a lot of power, but power nonetheless. Most of her agency comes from commanding her fairy attendants and defending herself against Oberon accusations. "These are forgeries of jealousy : / And never, since the middle summer's spring, / Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead," (2:1, lines 81-83). She also shows power by taking the awful things Oberon says. "If not, shun me. I will spare your haunts" (2:1, line 142). Titania also gains some power when she refuses to give him the changeling boy. There are other examples of her using her power, and not just in Midsummer Night's Dream. In Faust, by Goethe, Oberon, Titania, and Puck appear in scene 22, "Oberon and Titania's Golden Wedding". In this passage, Titania doesn't say much. "If her whims the wife control, / And a man berate her, / Take him to the Northern Pole, / and her to the Equator!" (Faust, part 1, scene 22. Page 162). Here, she is saying that if a couple is arguing, then pull them apart. Oberon knows this, and knows he said awful things to her, and that is the reason as to why he uses the love-juice on Titania. The little power that she has, and had probably forgotten about, could've destroyed their marriage."

Here, I am not just quoting Midsummer Night's Dream. I am also quoting Faust, where both King Oberon and Queen Titania make an appearance. After this, I make another paragraph just like this, but for the female resistance of agency in the book.

    This is The Secondary Sources. Here, I am no longer talking about Midsummer Night's Dream, but other Shakespeare plays, and I show evidence of female agency in those. 

   "There are many other Shakespeare plays that gives the men in the play the most agency, but it is clear that if the women of the play had more power, there would've been a happier ending. In other Shakespeare plays, such as Hamlet and The Tragedy of Macbeth, women are given power. In Hamlet, it is Queen Gertrude who makes the best decisions, that would've led to a more peaceful ending. But, because she does not have agency, her ideas were overlooked, causing many people to die a horrible death. This happens as well in The Tragedy of Macbeth, but here, it is Lady Macbeth who causes and helps her husband to kill Duncan, the king of Scotland. This causes Macbeth to be filled with guilt. This causes them to commit more and more murders to hide what they had done, driving them to madness. "I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise" (2:2) Though Lady Macbeth has power, it isn't good power. She gets Macbeth to do commit these murders, this shows the power she has over her husband, because he is in fear of what will happen. When Macbeth is speaking about how people reacted when they witnessed the murder, she replies with "Consider it not so deeply" (2:2). This is her telling him to not worry about it so much, and that it will be okay, even though Macbeth had just killed someone. This is an example of Lady Macbeth using her power over Macbeth's mind."

This way, you show that your claim happens in other books or is unique to yours. 

    Now, it is time for The Conclusion. The conclusion is when you restate the claim in a more simplified form. This is how you write an essay. Next, is how you plan an essay.