Mrs. Cavolt’s Guide to Writing a Literary Analysis Essay
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Literary Analysis
Thesis Statements
Topic Sentences
Evidence
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The goal of a Literary Analysis Essay is to
discuss your interpretation of a piece of
literature using a specific literary focus (like
motifs, themes, humor, characterization, or,
in our case, moral ambiguity…)
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Never use “I”, “you”, “we”, “our” (even
though this is your interpretation, you may
not provide opinions)
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Always talk about literature in present tense
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Do not retell the story in your essay (this is
not a book report)
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Paper set-up
Intro with thesis
1st Body Paragraph- Elaborates on one morally ambiguous quality
2nd Body Paragraph- Elaborates on another morally ambiguous
quality
3rd Body Paragraph- Elaborates on yet another morally ambiguous
quality
Conclusion
All of your Paragraphs must directly connect to your thesis!!!
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What is a literary analysis essay? What does it
do?
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What tense does your essay need to be in?
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What are some words you may not use in
your essay (unless in your quotes)?
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How is this literary analysis essay set up?
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Thesis statements make an argument that
you work to prove throughout your essay.
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It is NOT your TITLE (although your TITLE
should certainly relate to your THESIS)
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It is NOT a statement of fact or opinion (i.e.,
“Frankenstein is a novel with morally
ambiguous characters in it.”)
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Thesis
Throughout Frankenstein, [insert character] is shown to exhibit both
good and evil qualities. Mary Shelley’s portrayal of [insert
character] as a morally ambiguous character uncovers the
significance to the meaning of the work as a whole.
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Example:
Throughout Frankenstein, the monster is shown to exhibit both good
and evil qualities. Mary Shelley’s portrayal of the monster as a morally
ambiguous character uncovers the significance to the meaning of the
work as a whole.
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I am arguing that the monster is a morally ambiguous character and
that Shelley’s portrayal of the monster in this way is significant to the
novel.
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What are thesis statements supposed to
do/not do in a literary analysis essay?
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Topic sentences must directly connect to
your thesis statement and work as the
reasons that prove your thesis.
 What that means is that you must use the same
wording in each of your topic sentences as you
use in your thesis.
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Thesis:
 Throughout Frankenstein, the monster is shown to exhibit both good and evil
qualities. Mary Shelley’s portrayal of the monster as a morally ambiguous
character uncovers the significance to the meaning of the work as a whole.
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Topic Sentences:
 BP #1- The monster is morally ambiguous because he commits violent, evil
murders throughout the novel, yet only murders because of the knowledge he
has gained through watching society’s behaviors.
 BP #2- The monster is also neither good nor evil because he has a good heart
and only wishes to be accepted by society, yet he realizes that he will never be
accepted and yearns for revenge.
 BP#3- Furthermore, the monster is morally ambiguous to the reader because
he ends up inadvertently killing Victor by taking him on a “hunt” for him, yet
does this simply because he is lonely.
Notice, your topic sentence must show one reason
why the character is morally ambiguous.
 Therefore, you have to show one trait (good or evil)
and another that opposes that trait. This is what
makes the character morally ambiguous!
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What are some morally ambiguous traits you can
think of?
 He steals food, yet he only does this because he is hungry.
 She likes to gossip, yet she only does this because she is
insecure about her self.
▪ Can you think of any others? Pair share.
Notice, your topic sentence must show one reason why the character
is morally ambiguous.
 Therefore, you have to show one trait (good or evil) and another that
opposes that trait. This is what makes the character morally
ambiguous!
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 BP #1- The monster is morally ambiguous because he commits violent,
evil murders throughout the novel, yet only murders because of the
knowledge he has gained through watching society’s behaviors.
 BP #2- The monster is also neither good nor evil because he has a good
heart and only wishes to be accepted by society, yet he realizes that he
will never be accepted and yearns for revenge.
 BP#3- Furthermore, the monster is morally ambiguous to the reader
because he ends up inadvertently killing Victor by taking him on a “hunt”
for him, yet does this simply because he is lonely.
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Come up with one topic sentence for your
essay.
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Raise your hand when you are done so I can
come over and check it.
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Evidence must…
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directly support your topic sentence and
thesis statement (after choosing it, check if it
proves your thesis and topic sentence)
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prove your argument
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be a quote taken directly from the novel (for
each paragraph!!!)
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T.S. #2- The monster is also neither good nor evil because
he has a good heart and only wishes to be accepted by
society, yet he realizes that he will never be accepted and
yearns for revenge.
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Evidence: “I had saved a human being from destruction,
and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable
pain of the wound which shattered the flesh and bone […]
I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind”
(Shelley 143).
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Does this evidence support my topic sentence, thesis, and
prove my argument?
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Always set your evidence up by providing context for your
quote.
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Answer the who, what, where, when, and how
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After the monster suffered yet another violent encounter
from society, he stumbles on a human drowning and after
saving her he is shot by another human. He clearly
understands that although “[He] had saved a human being
from destruction, and as a recompense [he] now writhed
under the miserable pain of the wound which shattered
the flesh and bone […] [he] vowed eternal hatred and
vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143).
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If you have a longer quote and you do not need to include
everything OR you are taking a section of a quote OR you need
to insert a word, use brackets and ellipses.
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“I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a
recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of the wound
which shattered the flesh and bone […] I vowed eternal hatred and
vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143).
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“[…] writhed under the miserable pain of the wound which
shattered flesh and bone” (Shelley 143).
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“I now writhed under the miserable pain [from the gunshot] which
shattered flesh and bone” (Shelley 143).
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What is evidence?
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What does the evidence do?
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What are the three ways to use brackets?
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Literary Analysis
Thesis Statements
Topic Sentences
Evidence
Parenthetical Citations
Analysis
Effective Intros and Conclusions
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Why use parenthetical citations?
 Parenthetical citations tell the reader exactly
where you found your evidence so the reader
could technically find your quote if he/she wishes
to do more research or confirm where you found
your info.
 It is absolutely necessary that you follow the
correct format (it is part of the MLA guidelines)
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Format for novels only:
 “Quote” (Author’s Last Name page number).
no punctuation here! Quotation
marks follow the quote.
no punctuation inside the
parenthesis
 “Quote” (Shelley 36).
period goes after
the citation
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When you set a quote into the middle of a
sentence, you always cite at the end of the
sentence not the end of the quote.
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Example:
Victor exclaimed, “Beautiful- Great God”
when he first looked upon the monster he
had created(Shelley 58).
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Can not be a summary of the play or a recap of your
evidence.
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The goal of analysis is to prove your thesis and topic
sentence and show the significance of your evidence.
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You need to “dig-deeper” to reveal something new to
your audience.
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THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR
ESSAY- IT SHOULD BE AT LEAST 3-5 SENTECNES
AND IT MUST BE WELL THOUGHT OUT!!!!!
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To discuss for this essay:
▪ Explain how this [evidence] is an example of moral
ambiguity (what makes this character neither good nor
evil?)
▪ Explain why this [evidence] is significant to the novel
(why is it important that Shelley made this character
morally ambiguous?). Make sure this directly connects
to your evidence, topic sentence and thesis.
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You want to use/mention as many literary
devices as possible to help with your
interpretation:
 Romantic/Gothic characteristics
 Character types
 Foil
 And/or allusions
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The monster is also neither good nor evil because he has a good heart
and only wishes to be accepted by society, yet he realizes that he will
never be accepted and yearns for revenge. After the monster suffered
yet another violent encounter from society, he stumbles on a human
drowning and after saving her he is shot by another human. He clearly
understands that although “[He] had saved a human being from
destruction, [...] as a recompense [he] now writhed under the miserable
pain of the wound which shattered the flesh and bone […] [he] vowed
eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143). The monster
is a dynamic being with a good heart, yet over and over again he is hurt
and this time he vows revenge. It is clear that the monster resorts to
take out his violent revenge on society only after he has determined once
and for all that he will never fit in with other humans because of his
hideous appearance. The monster’s moral ambiguity is significant to the
novel because the readers sympathize with the monster even after he
commits violent murders because the readers know he tried everything
in his power to interact kindly with them. Even though he is a monster,
Shelley forces the readers to see his good heart in hopes that they will be
left to decide who the “real” monster is in the end.
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Staple handout into your notebook