How To Write An Essay On Shakespeare

We all know how students struggle with essays and dissertations. Balancing their dissertation with time is indeed one of their core challenges. 

Though one writes essays back from school days, the levels keep increasing in colleges and universities. One of the subjects that really shake and shiver an individual from within is an essay on Shakespeare.

This is an extremely challenging affair because it is hard to satisfy the examiners with Shakespeare. 

You have to write extraordinarily to please them. So sadness might greet you even if you give your all like King Lear.

But we do not want you to embrace Lear’s fate. Instead, we have developed strategies to tackle the essays on Shakespeare. So let us get started with the discussion.

How To Write An Essay On Shakespeare?

We have seen how the lord of literature struggled to win the love of the Lady. Maybe he left the student community with the same pain, agony, and struggle. Writing an essay on Shakespeare is indeed not easy, and you have to be up and doing and well-prepared to write a quality essay. 

Let us discuss some of the ways through which you can manage the uphill task. So let us get started with the discussion.

1. Read Read And Read 

Essays on Shakespeare are common for Literature students, but even students of other fields are given essays on Shakespeare. 

He was so expansive, futuristic, and relevant that he cuts through decades, centuries, and generations. Whatever he said throughout the poems, plays, and other genres is still relevant. 

Therefore to write a good Shakespearean essay, you have to read it. There are no shortcuts to success. Start with the Shakespearean Sonnets, and then you can carry forward with Hamlet, Macbeth, Midsummer night’s dream, and others. So read Shakespeare to write Shakespeare. That’s the mantra of success for You. 

2. Selection Of Topic

The selection of essay topics is one of the factors in writing a quality essay. It’s better to select something you have gone through in your curriculum. 

They can make you confident as you can consciously pour your deep understanding and insights and make the essay lively. The ultimate objective of an essay is to create an attachment with the readers. 

Try to find out which poems and plays you have come across. They can help you write about a common topic. 

3. Use Of Imagery In Shakespeare

Imagery plays a great role in portraying things. They give great suggestions. So to write well on Shakespeare, you have to use them. Let us give an example.

When Lady Macbeth returned from the chamber with blood stained hands, she emotionally referred to her bloody hands and white heart. By this, she meant that she has the blood on her hand, and she is not all bothered by it. 

Such a manly attitude was the reason behind Macbeth’s vaulting ambition. But the same Lady in her last stages tries to ‘rub her hands’ for a quarter of an hour to get rid of them but in vain. She understood that all the ‘perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten the little hands.’ This is how you use it.

4. Analyze The Characters Of Shakespeare 

One of the most effective ways to write down the characters of Shakespeare is by analyzing the character that you have come across. You have Macbeth, Hamlet, Brutus, Lear, and a host of characters that have left an indelible mark on millions of people across the globe. 

While discussing the characters, you can put things into perspective more effectively. Put them all in your own words, and you can write a brilliant essay, that’s for sure. So try to use the characters in your essays to bring in the depth of understanding. You can take help of essay writing service Fresh Essays to understand the quality.

5. Follow The Critics 

An essay is all about creating an argument. One of the best ways to make essays on Shakespeare standard is by gathering resources and ideas on the Critics. They dissected the ideas and characters of Shakespeare to effect. 

You might have come across G Wilson Knight. Read the criticisms on Shakespeare, and you can get quite a lot on them very easily.  Remember that there is high competition among students. According to a study, around 14.65 million students enrolled in the USA colleges in 2023. 

The deeper insights into characters and situations take you to a completely different destination. Ultimately you can successfully write down an essay on Shakespeare worth good grades and impressions. 

6. Thesis Statement 

One of the most effective ways of writing an essay is developing a Thesis statement. A thesis statement opens the argument at the end of the discussion. It opens the argument in an essay. Let us provide you with an example. 

Sonnet number 29 is a great antidote to fight and overcome depression. 

This is indeed a great way through which you can put down your argument and use excerpts and other resources to develop an essay. So you have to understand the importance of the thesis statement to write down an effective essay. This is how you manage things in your essay. 

7. Read The Elizabethan Period History Please 

One of the great ways to develop your essay is by aligning yourself with history. This can help you develop an argument strongly in your Shakespearean essay. 

You might know that Shakespeare lived from 1567 to 1616. Scholars and historians have segregated this period as the Elizabethan Period. If you shift to the parallel history during the Shakespearean times, you might know that it was the time of Queen Elizabeth 1. 

The characteristics and traits of the time would unquestionably reflect through the writings. Hence you must read through the history of the Elizabethan period to write a good essay that is worthy of fetching high standards. 

So You Too Can Write Well 

Essays on Shakespeare are difficult to manage, and you must be well-prepared to write effectively. You may have to devote your time to them so that you can understand things deeply. 

Critics of Shakespeare effectively provide you with a deeper understanding of the topic. It is said that Shakespeare is akin to an ocean, and lightness in engagement can end in a fiasco. 

This is reminiscent of the tragic Lear “Nothing will come of nothing.’’ (King Lear), Act 1 Scene 1, 99). Therefore follow the aforementioned advice to combat the Tempestuous challenge.