Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr.

Clayton.

I'm here to guide you through your learning journey today.

Now today's lesson's called Writing Analytically About Shakespeare's Presentation of Romeo and Love.

We're gonna specifically focus on how Shakespeare presents Romeo and the idea of love at the beginning of the play through his feelings for Rosaline and Juliet.

We're going to focus on how you might form an argument in response to a question, how you can write effective thesis statements and topic sentences, and then how you might organise an analytical paragraph.

So if you're ready, grab your pen, laptop, whatever you need for this lesson and let's get started.

So by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to create a thesis statement and topic sentences to explain how Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings about love in "Romeo and Juliet." So we have five words today we're going to be using as our keywords.

They'll be identified in bold throughout the learning material, and I'll try to point them out to you as well.

So you can see them being used in context.

So our first keyword is transformative, which means causing a major change to something or someone, especially in a way that makes it or them better.

Our second keyword is melancholy, which means sadness that lasts for a long period of time.

Our third keyword is liberating, which means making you feel free and able to behave as you like.

Our fourth keyword is life-giving, which means giving or having the power to create or support life; essential to life.

And our final keyword is all-consuming, which means completely filling one's mind and attention.

It's obsessive.

Now, transformative, liberating, life-giving, and all-consuming are all words we're going to be using in this lesson.

Describe how Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings about love and melancholy is a word we're going to be using to show how Shakespeare presents how Romeo feels when he's in love.

So I'll just give you a moment to write down those keywords and their definitions.

So pause the video, write them down now.

Fantastic.

Let's get started with the lesson.

So we have three learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to think about how we can form an argument to the question: How does Shakespeare present Romeo's feelings about love at the beginning of the play? So we're gonna think about which scenes we might focus on and what quotations from those scenes might reveal about how Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings about love.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to define what a thesis statement and topic sentence is and look at some examples before you have a go at writing a thesis statement, and a couple of topic sentences to answer the question: How does Shakespeare present Romeo's feelings about love at the beginning of the play? For our third learning cycle, we're going to think about how you can organise your ideas into a cohesive analytical paragraph.

So as I said, today we're going to be considering the question: how do Shakespeare present Romeo's feelings about love at the beginning of the play? Now, in this learning cycle, we're going to think about how we can form an argument to answer the question.

Now, when we say form an argument, we mean how can we form a reason or set of reasons given in support of an action, idea or theory? So let's start gathering some ideas.

What I'd like you to start off by thinking about is which scenes from the beginning of the play do you think would be useful in answering this question? Why? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone, some great ideas there.

Now let's talk through what you might have said.

Now, one of the most important scenes when thinking about Romeo and love is Act One, Scene One.

This is where Romeo is talking about his love for Rosaline and that makes him feel heavy and sad.

You also might have said Act Two, Scene Two, which is where Romeo and Juliet are talking about their love for each other.

Now we're gonna take a look at some quotations from each of those scenes and how we might analyse Shakespeare's presentation of Romeo and love through them.

So as I've said, we're going to look at a few quotations from each of those scenes.

So let's start with Act One, Scene One.

So what I'd like you to do is look at these three quotations.

We have "O brawling love, O loving hate." So here Romeo is using oxymorons to describe love.

Now, an oxymoron is two words or phrases used together that have or seem to have opposite meanings.

So for example, a brawlers fight, which is the opposite of love.

We have "This is not Romeo, he's some other where." So here, Romeo is suggesting he's not himself anymore.

And we have "Sad hours seem long." So here, Romeo saying his perception of the world is affected by his sadness.

So what I'd like you to do is think about what adjectives you'd use to describe how Shakespeare presents Romeo and his feelings of love in these quotations.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone, some great ideas there.

Let's talk through what you might have said.

Now, Romeo's use of oxymorons might make us think that Romeo feels conflicted by love.

So his feelings are confused and inconsistent 'cause he's using words that have opposite meanings.

You also might have said that love is all-consuming to him.

Now that's one of our keywords.

It means completely filling one's mind and attention; obsessive.

So when Romeo says he is lost himself because of love, it's just the idea of love's completely filled his mind.

You also might have said that Romeo views love as melancholic.

Now, this is another one of our keywords, which means sadness that lasts for a long period of time.

So Romeo suggest that love creates sadness for him.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false that Romeo's feelings towards love are presented as conflicted in Act One, Scene One? Pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Now the correct answer is true.

Now I'd like you to tell me why it's true.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now you might have said that Romeo's use of oxymorons, such as "O brawling love, O loving hate." suggests that Romeo sees love with Rosaline as conflicted.

So, very well done if you got those right.

So now we're going to look at Act Two, Scene Two, when Romeo is talking to Juliet about their love.

So I'd like you to look at the following three quotations: "Juliet is the sun," possibly one of the most famous quotations from "Romeo and Juliet." He's comparing Juliet to the sun; something that gives life and gives brightness.

"With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls." So here Romeo is suggesting that love makes him feel as if he can fly.

"Call me but love and I'll be new baptised." So here, Romeo is saying that his love for Juliet will cleanse him, allowing him to access something greater.

So what I'd like you to do is tell me what adjectives you'd use to describe how Shakespeare presents Romeo and his feelings for love here.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some amazing ideas there.

Let's talk through some of the things you might have said.

Now, Romeo compares Juliet, his love, to the sun.

The sun is something that sustains life.

So you might think that Romeo sees love as life-giving.

So one of our keywords, it means giving or having power to create or support life; it's essential to life.

Romeo also suggests that love gives him the ability to fly.

So he might suggest he feels as if love is liberating.

Another of our keywords means making you feel free and able to behave as you like.

Finally, Romeo says that love has the power to cleanse him, making him feel something greater than he is.

So you might say he feels as if love is transformative, another of our keywords, that means causing a major change to something or someone, especially in a way that makes it or them better.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false that Romeo's feelings towards love, are presented as melancholic in Act Two, Scene Two? Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Now the correct answer is false.

Now I'd like to tell me why it's false.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

You might have said that by calling Juliet "the sun," Romeo implies his love for her leaves him feeling invigorated and alive.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now on to the first task of the lesson.

So what I'd like you to do is think about what we've said during this learning cycle and answer the following questions: So number one: what's the differences between how Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings about love in Act One, Scene One and Act Two, Scene Two? Question two: What similarities are there in how Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings about love in Act One, Scene One and Act One, Scene Two? Question three: now Romeo's companions don't understand the way he talks about love.

They make fun of him for how he's feeling.

Now, what conclusions might we draw about the bigger picture of society and men's love and emotions through that? So pause the video, answer the questions now.

Welcome back, everyone, some great work there.

So what I'd like you to know is think about Jacob's answers and think about how well they align with your ideas.

So question one: What's the differences between how Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings about love in Act One, Scene One and Act Two, Scene Two? And Jacob said, "When talking about Rosaline, Romeo presents love as something that feels conflicted.

It isolates him and makes him feel melancholic, so it makes him feel sad; however, when he is talking about Juliet, Romeo represents love as something that invigorates him and allows him to achieve things he couldn't before.

I think it shows that Romeo's love for Juliet is different to his love for Rosaline." So question two: What similarities are there in how Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings about love in Act One, Scene One and Act Two, Scene Two? And Jacob said, "While he feels different emotions, Romeo feels very passionate and emotional in both scenes.

When he's in love, it affects his whole outlook on life, whether that's in a negative or positive way.

Love is all-consuming to him, it's integral to his identity." So question three: Romeo's companions don't understand the way he talks about love and they make fun of how he's feeling.

So what conclusions might we draw about the bigger picture of society and men's love and emotions? And Jacob said, "I think we might conclude that Shakespeare is suggesting that Romeo's idea of love being all-consuming isn't stereotypical.

Perhaps suggesting that men weren't supposed to express their emotions and feelings in the emotional manner that Romeo does." So pause the video.

Think about how well Jacob's ideas align with your ideas.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now we're going to take our ideas from this learning cycle and use them to start constructing an argument.

Amazing work, everyone.

Now we'll do a second learning cycle.

We're going to talk about how to construct effective thesis statements and topic sentences.

Now to open your argument, you want to include a thesis statement.

So a thesis statement is the overarching argument of your essay.

So it's the main, most important argument of your essay.

It's a sentence or two that summarises the main focus of your response.

It also tells the reader why argument is important.

So it thinks about the bigger picture.

This is where you think about what the text might reveal to us about society or human nature.

It also includes the name of the writer and the title of the play.

This is to help make sure the reader knows exactly which text you're talking about.

So let's look an example.

By presenting Romeo's feelings about love as developing from melancholic to life-giving in "Romeo and Juliet," Shakespeare conveys how Romeo sees love as all-consuming.

Shakespeare depicts romeo's emotional reactions as unstereotypical, and therefore implies that men in Elizabeth's society weren't supposed to express their emotions as Romeo does." So here we can see it includes Shakespeare's name and which play the argument's focusing on.

Now when it says "the play shows Romeo's feelings about love as developing from melancholic to life-giving in 'Romeo Juliet,' Shakespeare conveys how Romeo sees love as all-consuming," it's offering us the main argument about the ideas in the play.

Finally, when it says, "Shakespeare depicts Romeo's emotional reaction as unstereotypical and therefore implies that men in Elizabethan society weren't supposed to express their emotions as Romeo does," it's offering an idea about the bigger picture and why the argument's important.

It's just what it says about society.

Now to make your thesis statement as effective as possible, try to include the following: specific adjectives to give focus to your argument; words such as "reveals," "depicts," and "explores" to elevate statements about bigger ideas; phrases such as "through the presentation or characterization of" to directly relate to the question.

So our example used melancholic and life-giving.

It's using specific adjectives to give focus to the argument.

It used the word "depicts" to elevate what it's saying about society and the bigger picture.

And it begins with a phrase by presenting, in order to directly relate the thesis statement to the question.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false? You might use a thesis statement to suggest why your argument is important.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Now the correct answer is true.

Now I'd like you to tell me why it's true.

So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now you might have said that by commenting on why it's important, you might convey to the reader what your arguments suggest about wider society and the bigger picture.

So very well done if you got those right.

Now, as well as an overall thesis statement, effective analytical writing also includes topic sentences.

Now a topic sentence is the first sentence of each paragraph.

It supports a thesis statement while it explains the specific focus of that paragraph.

So let's look at an example of a topic sentence.

While his feelings remain deeply emotional, Romeo's feelings towards love change in Act Two, Scene Two, and instead of conflicting, he rather sees love as life-giving and liberating.

So when it begins with, "while his feelings remain deeply emotional," the topic sentence supporting the thesis statement, by showing a focus on Romeo's emotional state.

When it says that Romeo's feelings towards love change in Act Two, Scene Two, instead of conflicting, he sees love as life-giving and liberating.

It's explaining what specific paragraph it's going to focus on.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

So which the following should a topic sentence do? Is it A: introduce the main quotations of the paragraph? B: explain the main focus of the paragraph? Or C, analyse how the language contributes to the argument? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Now, quotations and analysis should be within the main body of your paragraph.

The topic sentence is the opening sentence that explains the main focus.

So very well done if you've got that right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now onto the second task of the lesson.

So what I'd like you to do is think about our earlier ideas.

So we said in Act One, Scene One, Romeo sees love as all-consuming, melancholic and conflicted.

In Act Two, Scene Two, Romeo's sees love as life-giving, liberating and transformative.

We also said that Romeo is deeply emotional.

That's an unstereotypical reaction.

And what I'd like you to do is write the thesis statement for your argument and at least two topic sentences in response to the question: How does Shakespeare present Romeo's feelings about love at the beginning of the play? Remember, a thesis statement introduces the overarching argument of your answer, and a topic sentence is the main focus of that paragraph.

So pause the video, write your thesis statement and your topic sentence now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some great work there.

Now what I'd like you to do is read back over your thesis statement and your topic sentences, reflect on the following questions: So does your thesis statement show your overarching argument? Does your thesis statement consider why your argument's important? Does your thesis statement include specific adjectives to focus your argument? Does your thesis statement include words such as "reveals," "depicts," "explores" to elevate statements about bigger ideas? Does your thesis statement use phrases such as "through the presentation or characterization of" to directly relate to the question? Do your topic sentences link to your thesis statement? And do your topic sentences explain the main focus of the paragraph? So pause the video, read back through your work now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now I think it's incredibly important to read back over your thesis statement and your topic sentences after you've written an answer to a question.

They will explain and signpost your argument to the reader.

You want them to be as clear and effective as possible, in order to make your argument as convincing as possible to the reader.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're now onto our third learning cycle.

We're going to think about how you can organise your analytical paragraphs.

Now, in order to make your argument effective, you want to construct cohesive paragraphs.

This means you want all the information in your paragraphs to work together to create a convincing idea.

Now, one way to help you do this is to plan your paragraphs using single paragraph outlines.

So let's talk through how these are structured.

Now they begin with a topic sentence, which, as we looked at earlier, explains the main focus of your paragraph.

Now, when you're planning out your paragraph, you should write your topic sentence out in full to make sure you're really clear on what the subject of your paragraph is.

Then you want to add in supporting details, and that might include quotations from the text and your analysis of methods used and how they prove your point.

You should write these out in note form in your plan.

Then you want to include a concluding sentence that summarise the main focus of your paragraph, so the reader leaves the paragraph with a clear idea of what you've just told them.

You also might use a concluding sentence to think about what the writer's intentions might have been.

Why did they present a theme or character in that particular way? So let's have a look at what an example might look like.

So for example, the topic sentence might be: "While his feelings remain deeply emotional, Romeo's feelings towards love change in Act Two, Scene Two.

Instead of conflicting, he'd rather see love as life-giving and liberating." So here we have a clear idea of the main focus of the paragraph, and that will be on how Romeo's feelings change towards love.

And we use the specific adjectives, "life-giving" and "liberating" to add focus.

Then for our supporting detail, we have three quotations we're going to use in support of our idea.

So we have, "Juliet is the sun." We've made a note we're going to zoom in on the word "sun." Now it gives the idea of love as life-giving and invigorating.

We then have a quotation, "With love light wings did I o'erperch these walls." We've made the note we're going to focus in on the image of love, allowing Romeo to fly.

It gives him wings and how this presents love as liberating.

We then have "Call me but love, I'll be new baptised." We've made the note, we're going to zoom in on "baptised" and how this means entering the Christian religion and how that presents love as transformative.

Finally, we have our concluding sentence: "Through Shakespeare's depiction of Romeo's feelings towards love as life-giving in Act Two, Scene Two, Shakespeare implies that Romeo's love for Juliet is real love, rather than the infatuation he felt with Rosaline." So we've summarised the main point of the paragraph, Romeo now sees love as life-giving.

We've also suggested Shakespeare's intentions that we, as the audience, see his love for Juliet as true love.

So now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is fill in the gaps in single paragraph outline definitions.

So a topic sentence explains the main.

of the paragraph.

The supporting details are the.

of methods, and the concluding sentence, the main focus of the paragraph.

So pause the video, fill in the gaps now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Now the correct answers.

The topic sentence explains the main focus of the paragraph, the supporting details offer an analysis of methods.

And the concluding sentence summarises the main focus of the paragraph.

So very well done if you got those right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now onto the final task of the lesson.

So what I'd like you to do is choose one of your topic sentences and create a single paragraph outline around it.

So you already have your topic sentence that explains the main folks of the paragraph.

You then need to add the supporting details and the concluding sentence.

So you need to add analysis and methods to support your argument.

And add a concluding sentence that summarises the main focus of your paragraph and might think about Shakespeare's intentions.

So pause the video, create your single paragraph outline now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Some great work there.

Let's look through an example from one of our Oak pupils.

So their topic sentence was: "Shakespeare presents Romeo's feelings towards love as deeply emotional from the very beginning of the play in Act One, Scene One." So we have a clear focus of the paragraph.

We know we're going to be looking at Romeo's emotional response to love.

We then have three quotations as supporting details.

So we have the quotation, "O brawling love, O loving hate," and they've said they're going to focus on the fact there's an oxymoron, which is that love is conflicting.

They're then going to look at the quotation, "This is not Romeo.

He's some other where." And zoom in on the phrase, "not Romeo," to say that Romeo sees love as all-consuming.

It completely fills his mind 'cause he thinks he's lost himself if he's not in love.

Finally they're going to look at the quotation "sad hours seem long." As just this shows that love makes Romeo feel melancholic.

It makes him feel deep sadness.

They then have a concluding sentence.

"Shakespeare presents Romeo swings towards love as all-consuming and melancholic in Act One Scene One.

Arguably, this implies that Romeo views love as something that deeply affects his sense of self and how he sees his place in the world." Now this summarises the paragraph as just that we can see love as something that affects Romeo's identity.

So hopefully this has been helpful in thinking about how you can effectively write an analytical essay and how you can take the advice about thesis statements, topic sentences, and single paragraph outlines, and apply them to any analytical essay that you write in the future.

You all did amazingly well today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

A thesis statement is an overarching argument and should refer to the writer's intent.

The thesis statement is also an opportunity to show how your argument relates to the bigger picture.

A topic sentence explains the main focus of your paragraph.

An effective analytical essay includes topic sentences, supporting detail, and concluding sentences.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

I hope to see you for another lesson soon.

Goodbye.