Persuasive Introductions
EXAMPLES of Strategies
Persuasive Introductions
•
•
•
•
Taking a Stand
Scenarios & Anecdotes
Inquiry/Questioning
Preparatory Information/Overview
Ineffective Introductions
•
•
•
•
I hope you enjoy…
You are going to learn about…
This essay/letter is about…
I am going to tell you about…
Taking a Stand
• Avoid “Because I Said So…” type reasoning in
your essays
• Your goal should be 3 Reasons Why for your
Position or issue
• Practice—In your essay, correct your thesis to
say “Macbeth is clearly insane because
__________, ___________ and __________”
or “Banquo’s ghost is undoubtedly real
because” or “The significance of these
changes/similarities/differences should not be
underestimated because…”
Intro – What does this need? – in class we said use
specific words instead of “things”and completely
answer the scenario.
• In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Macbeth is becoming insane because he is
seeing things and doing things he wouldn’t
have done before the death of Duncan.
Imagine if someone killed someone they cared
for just for the sake of taking what’s theirs.
Wouldn’t they feel guilty and start acting our
of order? After murdering Duncan, Macgeth
started to see things, hear things and do
things out of fear.
What does this one need?
• Macbeth is far past the point of being sane
and is definitely insane. Anytime there is a
large amount of power involved, for example
being the king of a country, then that person
has a higher chance of going insane. Also
killing the king in cold blood doesn’t help you
keep your sanity. There are many events that
support why Macbeth went insane, but seeing
ghosts and floating daggers really puts a
conclusion on Macbeth’s insanity.
And? –In class we said specific words and events that
connect with Macbeth. Also a thesis with three
reasons.
• Macbeth is insane because of the action taken
place. What if things came before you?
Things that weren’t really there? Things that
become frightening? But it is just in your
mind. Macbeth begins to do things and see
things. That makes it apparent that he is
insane.
Check your body paragraphs!
•TS CD CM CM
Elaboration CD CM
CM CS
Check your integration of quotes…
• Macbeth howled at his wife “We have
scotched the snake, not killed it” (III.2.15).
• The quote MAY NOT BE a sentence all on its
own but must be part of a larger sentence.
• Check your Citations? (Act.Scene.Lines). No
words!
Persuasive Strategy – Emotional Words
• For your body paragraphs – add at least 5
more emotional words – sway my opinion!
Make me feel something!
• Touchy, stagnant, unhinged, deranged,
tormented, aghast, anguished, stressed,
flabbergasted, terror stricken, passionate,
compassionate, unworthy, ashamed, betrays,
Persuasive Strategy –
Compromise/Problem Solving
• Either before or after one of your CS in a body
paragraph, you are going to add this strategy.
• Offer a solution to the problems of the
Macbeths!
• Macbeth needs to confess his crime and take his
punishment. Beginning as a warrior, he must
consciously re-embrace the good, the justice he
used to uphold and come to terms with his own
demise, a barefaced necessity in the face of his
heinous crimes.
Persuasive Strategy – House that Jack
Built
• In your next body paragraph, either before or
after your CS, you are going to add this strategy.
• A leads to B leads to C leads to D etc.
• Lady Macbeth should stop Macbeth’s murderous
reign. If she stops it, then Scotland will be saved
and Malcolm can become king. Next, this new
and generous king will pardon her and she will be
like a national hero. Then she will get what she
wanted all along, power and prestige, something
its very clear she will never get with her husband.
So, why three reasons in the thesis if
only two body paragraphs?
• You are going to add another body paragraph
right now.
• This third one should go for DEEP ANALYSIS.
That is, the other two were reasons, but with
your third reason add in your CMs what this
means for Macbeth and, ultimately, for all of
humanity.
• Yes, Macbeth is headed for the loony bin because he is seeing ghosts and
floating daggers, but he is also insanely sacrificing his most critical
relationship, his marriage. Macbeth patronizes Lady Macbeth when he
murmurs “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, until thou
applaud the deed”(III.2.51-52). He’s not letting her in on his murderous
rampage, divorcing his partner in crime, because his mental state insists
that he control and construct his own reality. It’s like he’s constructing his
own padded cell where he can bang himself against the walls in
uninterrupted silence. Poor souls in mental anguish often do this, finding
communing with those on this side of sanity too painful. The afflicted
would have to adjust their skewed world view to account for the fact that
what they are doing makes no sense to anyone but them, yet the disease
tells them they are righteous in their deeds. Macbeth inhabits his
constructed insanity. Showing that he has no intention of examining his
motives, he muses “Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, which
must be acted ere they may be scanned”(III.5.55). He admits its all in his
head and it is all strange! Yet, the allure of his delusions are too strong.
Insanity is a sweet, sweet candy that cannot be shared. Because he
abandons his marriage and chooses to live in his madness, he reflects the
isolating, classic symptom, which will be his downfall.
Concluding Paragraph
• CALL TO ACTION!
• Your call to action must have two components
1. Specifically state what the reader (Ms.
Bennett) must do.
2. Specifically state WHEN the reader should do
it.
What does this one need?
• Macbeth let himself get fooled into a thirst for
power with simply trickery. Don’t be as
oblivious as some, it is obvious the witches
have as much power as anyone else does.
Don’t be fooled by the “psychics”. Don’t be
fooled by the witches and don’t fool yourself.
And this one?
• After reading this, realize that Macbeth is
insane. Macbeth can solve this predicament
by confessing, but ultimately will end up dead.
People tend to go insane and most of them
end up like Macbeth.
A perfect one.. (okay, a little dramatic)
• Macbeth’s murderous rampage, fueled by the fire
of his self imposed insanity, will not cease until he
has collapsed in on himself, creating a void like a
black star. Learn from this, dear reader.
Recognize the fatal soul stirrings within, the
unquenchable thirst, and turn it to good. The
next time an ugly impulse presents itself, perhaps
through an instance of feeling jealousy or vaulting
pride, volunteer to help a fellow human who may
be down on his luck. Listen to a friend’s troubles.
Righteously turn from that which Macbeth has
embraced with its dire consequences.
Also in your conclusion…
• A prediction or solution
• Either what will happen in the rest of the
book, or (more interestingly) what would
happen to HUMANITY if this behavior was
universal.
What does this one need?
• Macbeth is crazy. No person in their right
mind would go out and kill a bunch of people
for no reason. I think Lady Macbeth should
tell someone what he has done so he won’t be
able to kill anyone else. I think Lady Macbeth
will tell someone what he did and not be able
to keep a secret any longer. And he will either
commit suicide or be shot by someone.
And this one?
• Macbeth has changed into a man that once
was good, to now a man who has so much
power over everybody now that he’s king. He
even has power over his wife who was the
lady with power over Macbeth. Macbeth has
grown mad and my prediction is he is going to
crash and go downhill from here because he’s
losing friends, his wife and respect. Macbeth’s
mental state is not good; he is in fact going
insane.