BRAINSTORM
60 SECONDS…
What do you
already know
about writing
a text response?
Structure of a Text Response
There are three parts to a text response:
WHAT ARE THEY?
1.
Introduction
2. Body
3. Conclusion
Structure
1. Introduction
•
•
•
•
A general opening statement about the topic/Background info
The text type, text and author
CONTENTION: a clear, concise response to the topic
An indication of the main points to be taken up in the body
paragraphs
2. Body
•
•
•
•
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 3
(Paragraph 4)
3. Conclusion
• A clear response to the topic
• A brief summary that draws together the essay’s main points
Time to check…how many
of those things did you
already know?
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Oberon
Oberon who?
Oberon on the other side
there’s a better spot.
Today’s Practice Topic:
How is love presented in
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream?
BRAINSTORM
60 SECONDS…
What do you do
when you get the
topic?
In order to plan an essay in response to this topic, we
need to do the following:
•
Unpack the topic – list the KEY TERMS
•
Rewrite the topic in your own words
•
Develop a list of synonyms of these key term
•
Explore key ideas within topic (write yourself some
guiding questions)
•
Gather evidence (examples and QUOTES from the
text)
•
Organise ideas (EXPLANATION) and examples
(EVIDENCE) into a plan in order to structure our
essay.
How is love presented in Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream?
1. Highlight key terms
2. Rewrite the topic in your own words
3. Develop a list of synonyms
What key ideas do you have about the
topic? Does the topic raise any questions?
How is love presented in Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream?
Exploring the key questions…
Let’s explore some key ideas
_____________________________
How is love presented in Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream?
Introduction: explore notion of love in the play and
Shakespeare’s intention to offer AMSND as a cautionary tale
of the power of love.
Para 1: Love as irrational
Para 2: Love as inconstant and easily manipulated
Para 3: Love as a powerful force and an agent for change
Your turn…
How could you start
this essay? Write a 5-7
sentence sample
introduction.
How is love presented in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?
The whimsical, nonsensical and intoxicating nature of love is a central concern
in William Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Through both
the mortal and immortal realms, Shakespeare examines the magical quality of
love and the many different forms it can take between friends, family and
lovers. In both worlds, love is presented as a powerful yet problematic force
with the ability to unhinge characters and transform them. Through the fiery
relations of the fairy royalty, love can be regarded as irrational and clouded by
both conflict and jealousy. The relationships of the four lovers can be regarded
as inconstant and easily susceptible to the manipulation of others. While
Shakespeare plays with the characters’ affections and creates amusing results
for his audience, love also appears to a magical power that can produce wider
effects in the universe. Despite Shakespeare’s light-hearted and playful
examination of love, A Midsummer Night’s Dream can also be regarded as a
cautionary tale that highlights the dangers of a love without reason.
What is successful about this sample
introduction?
Circle the elements your
introduction had in
common with the sample?
List three ways you could
immediately improve your
introduction
The whimsical, nonsensical and intoxicating nature of love is a central concern in
William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Through both the mortal
and immortal realms, Shakespeare examines the magical quality of love and the
many different forms it can take between friends, family and lovers. In both
worlds, love is presented as a powerful yet problematic force with the ability to
unhinge characters and transform them. Through the fiery relations of the fairy
royalty, love can be regarded as irrational and clouded by both conflict and
jealousy. The relationships of the four lovers can be regarded as inconstant and
easily susceptible to the manipulation of others. While Shakespeare plays with
the characters’ affections and creates amusing results for his audience, love also
appears to a magical power that can produce wider effects in the universe.
Despite Shakespeare’s light-hearted and playful examination of love, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream can also be regarded as a cautionary tale that
highlights the dangers of a love without reason.
Text type, text and author
Background information on topic
Contention
Main arguments to be discussed
Now, apply the changes
you listed before (and
what you now know) to
your own introduction.
What do you know about body paragraphs?
Can you list four points?
T – Topic Sentence: State the main idea/argument of the paragraph. It
should ‘set up’ the main point to be discussed.
E – Explanation: Expand and elaborate on this key idea in greater detail.
E – Evidence: Provide quotes and examples from the text to support your
idea. You must DISCUSS and ANALYSE this evidence, explaining how it
supports your topic sentence.
L – Link: A final statement that ties your ideas together and links them to
the next paragraph. You may even wish to use key terms from the next
paragraph.
Evidence
 Your paragraph should contain at least two pieces of evidence (quotes)
that you will need to explain and analyse. For this reason, your paragraph
will look like this:
 Topic Sentence
 Explanation
 Evidence
 Explanation
 Evidence
 Explanation
 Link
 You can also provide more evidence of your expert knowledge of the play
in the form of ‘incidental’ quotes. An example of this are short quotes
that describe a character. For example: ‘Jealous Oberon’ enlists the help
of that ‘merry wanderer of the night’ Puck…
Through the reckless actions of many key characters, the play presents love as an
exceedingly troublesome and irrational emotion. Indeed, both the immortal and mortal
characters act impulsively through love and fail to consider the consequences of their
actions. Oberon reveals his own lack of judgement in love through his ploy to make Titania
“wake when some vile thing is near.” In his rage and desire for revenge over the
changeling boy, the Fairy King demonstrates the selfishness and cruelty that can arise in a
love that is fuelled by conflict and jealousy. This trickery in love is at times reflected in the
fairies’ mystical use of language. Combining pleasant images with vicious intentions, a
wicked spell is cast on Titania while she is “lulled in these flowers with dances and
delight.” Shakespeare also uses the image of a “winged Cupid painted blind” to highlight
how love can transfix and prevent one from seeing clearly. This thoughtlessness is also
evident in Helena’s desperate attempt to win Demetrius’ affection, and as she blindly
follows him into the woods she willingly forfeits any sense of self-respect. Allowing him to
mistreat her and giving him permission to “use [her] but as [his] spaniel.” This otherwise
fierce and passionate woman reduces herself to nothing more than an object in the vein
hope that “love can transpose to form and dignity.” Similarly, Helena and Lysander are
quick to risk their lives for the chance to be together, proving that mutual love can also be
plagued by rash decisions. In contrast to these foolish lovers, Theseus is a symbol of order
in the play who highlights the lunacy in love when he compares lovers to madmen who
have “fantasises that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.” Yet, as the
audience soon learns, it is not only a lack of reason but also control that prevents love
from remaining pure and constant.
WOW…
List three ‘wows’ about this
paragraph. [
].
A ‘wow’ is something that impresses you
I WONDER…
List one ‘wonder’ about this
paragraph. [
].
A ‘wonder’ is a question you have
Through the reckless actions of many key characters, the play presents love as an exceedingly
troublesome and irrational emotion. Indeed, both the immortal and mortal characters act impulsively
through love and fail to consider the consequences of their actions. Oberon reveals his own lack of
judgement in love through his ploy to make Titania “wake when some vile thing is near.” In his rage
and desire for revenge over the changeling boy, the Fairy King demonstrates the selfishness and
cruelty that can arise in a love that is fuelled by conflict and jealousy. This trickery in love is at times
reflected in the fairies’ mystical use of language. Combining pleasant images with vicious intentions,
a wicked spell is cast on Titania while she is “lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.”
Shakespeare also uses the image of a “winged Cupid painted blind” to highlight how love can
transfix and prevent one from seeing clearly. This thoughtlessness is also evident in Helena’s
desperate attempt to win Demetrius’ affection, and as she blindly follows him into the woods she
willingly forfeits any sense of self-respect. Allowing him to mistreat her and giving him permission to
“use [her] but as [his] spaniel,” this otherwise fierce and passionate woman reduces herself to
nothing more than an object in the vein hope that “love can transpose to form and dignity.” Similarly,
Helena and Lysander are quick to risk their lives for the chance to be together, proving that mutual
love can also be plagued by rash decisions. In contrast to these foolish lovers, Theseus is a symbol of
order in the play who highlights the lunacy in love when he compares lovers to madmen who have
“fantasises that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends.” Yet, as the audience soon
learns, it is not only a lack of reason but also control that prevents love from remaining pure and
constant.
Topic Sentence
Explanation
Evidence
Link
Your link should link all of your ideas back to the essay topic (alternatively…you can link to the next paragraph.)
Thinking about the language, tense
and writing style you use when
writing a text response…
List three tips.
•
Use FORMAL language - avoid any slang or informal expressions. Choose
interesting, sophisticated vocabulary.
• Write in the THIRD person ONLY!
Instead of ‘I think..’
Use – ‘It could be argued that…’ or ‘This is evident when…’
•
Write in the PRESENT tense (check all of your verbs).
• Do NOT ask questions – provide statements instead!
• Do NOT use contractions - (a contraction is where you abbreviate a word by adding
an apostrophe).
Examples: don’t, can’t, should’ve, etc. Instead: do not, cannot, should have
• The TITLE of the play should always appear in single quotation marks (when
handwritten).
• Refer to the playwright initially as ‘William Shakespeare.’ Afterwards, simply use
‘Shakespeare.”
• Try to use four quotes per paragraph (at least two evidential quotes and two
incidental quotes)
• Avoid using a long quote and ‘dumping’ it into your paragraph.
• Instead, select a short quote/part of a quote and try placing it into one of your
sentences. This is what we call EMBEDDING QUOTATIONS.
• Note: If you need to change a quote slightly by adding a word or a letter, you can
use square brackets [ ]. However, use this technique sparingly.
Example:
Allowing him to mistreat her and giving him permission to “use [her] but as [his]
spaniel,” this otherwise fierce and passionate woman reduces herself to nothing
more than an object in the vein hope that “love can transpose to form and dignity.”
The original words begin, “use me but as your spaniel.” However, “me” and “you”
does not fit the grammar of our sentence so we need to change the pronoun to “her”
and “his”, using the square brackets to show that the quote is not quite as written in
the novel.
 It should put forward an idea that stems
from the essay topic
 It is designed to be thought provoking
 It should provide a solid basis for discussion
DON’T write topic sentences that
describe events or parts of the
plot
Effective topic sentences
 Are about ideas
 Set you up to make a point
Rubbish topic sentence:
Titania falls in love with an ass and it is very funny.
 How could you make this better?
* Remember, you want to set yourself up to
make a
point. You are putting forward an idea.
Think of your topic sentences as
the coat hangers
The rest of your paragraph has to
hang from them
Conclusion
 These don’t have to be long (three great sentences
can be enough).
 Mention Shakespeare again.
 Bring your discussion to a close (restate your
contention…but make sure it sounds and looks
different to your introduction.
 Sum up your key points (again, use different
you do not want any sort
of repetition in your essay)
wording-
Conclusion
 Here’s the contention from the introduction. Work a
little magic and ‘reshape’ it for the conclusion:
 In both worlds, love is presented as a powerful yet
problematic force with the ability to unhinge
characters and transform them.
Finish with style
 The perfect quote can really sum up your argument
and leave a powerful impact.
 After all, who could say it better than Shakespeare?
 Example:
Shakespeare shows that whether mortal or fairy, none
are immune from the powerful effects of love and that in
all “…truth, reason and love keep little company
together nowadays.”
Now, the only question is, will your essay be
plain and ordinary or…
…will you stand out proudly for all the right reasons?
Fun fact: a group of
peacocks is called a pride!!!
Your turn…