Do you know how to start your essays?
Do you have a clear plan and begin with an introduction? Or…do you just dive straight in and hope for the best?
Don’t worry…we’ve all been there! I understand how stressful exams can be and how tempting it is to just start writing and GET GOING!
However, your introduction is one of the most important parts of your essay because it’s the first thing the examiner is going to see. That means it’s their first impression of you!
How you begin your essay will frame how the rest of it unfolds so it’s important to get it right! If you’re aiming for top grades, your introduction needs to impress and in this post I’m going to tell you exactly how to do that! For more help with writing grade 9 responses, check out my guide to analysing here!
What Should I put in my Introduction?
An introduction is often called a thesis statement. Firstly, you want to think of it as a mini essay in itself. It is essentially going to sum up everything you’re about to write about. It is going to outline your interpretation.
The best essays are those that have a clear interpretation running through them and your introduction is going to introduce this interpretation to the reader.
This is why it’s important to understand the PURPOSE of literature!
What is the purpose of Literature?
Authors don’t just write stories to entertain you…okay, maybe sometime they do! Most of the time, authors write texts for a specific reason. Their intentions might be:
– They want to raise awareness of a problem in their society.
– The writer might want to reflect our lives back to us and examine universal human qualities that we all have.
– The author might want to achieve something personally. Perhaps their text aims to flatter a particular historical figure they were hoping to please.
The Best Introductions
In your introduction you need to outline this. The best answers go past a simple understanding of characters and explain what the writer is trying to achieve through the presentation of those characters.
So…if you were asked about Mr Birling in An Inspector Calls, it’s not enough to just say Mr Birling is a bad guy. You want to consider WHY J.B. Priestly is presenting him in this negative way. Who could Mr Birling represent in society or in history? What could J.B. Priestley be saying about society or history?
Think of the characters as puppets. The writer is controlling and designing these puppets for a greater purpose! For more help with this, check out my guide to writing about context!
Examples
Let me show you some examples!
Hopefully this will give you some more ideas to help you create an overall interpretation you can write about in your introduction!
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Arguably, Charles Dickens didn’t just write A Christmas Carol because he was bored and wanted to cheer everyone up at Christmas! He wrote it for a specific purpose!
To what extent is Scrooge presented as an evil person?
“Scrooge is presented as a very unlikeable character at the start of the play and it would be easy to consider him an evil man. However, as the story progresses, he goes on a journey of redemption and his sins of ignorance and want are revealed. Once his ignorance is removed, his greed dissipates and reveals a compassionate man beneath.
Charles Dickens used the character of Scrooge to draw attention to the struggles of the poor in Victorian society and the ignorance and greed of the wealthy. After having experienced poverty and destitution as a child, he chose to use the medium of literature as a vehicle to positively impact the world and create more equality. He uses the character of Scrooge to mock and satirise the ignorant and greedy middle-class business owners at the time.
Scrooge doesn’t embark on his journey alone, Dickens metaphorically takes the wealthy middle classes on that journey with him to expose the pain and suffering the lower classes are experiencing, eventually achieving redemption. Scrooge is not an evil person, just a lost, ignorant soul who can and will achieve redemption. Dickens’ final message is one of hope that the Victorian society can indeed change too.”
Macbeth – William Shakespeare
Again, Shakespeare didn’t just write Macbeth because he was bored and fancied researching Scottish kings! He was an astute writer who used his plays to achieve specific effects. Here’s another possible interpretation:
How does Shakespeare present Kingship in Macbeth?
“Shakespeare presents kingship as a sacred and precious institution which must be preserved at all costs. When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, James I had just come to the throne – a Scottish king with a slight obsession with witches who had already been challenged through the Gunpowder plot. At the time, Shakespeare had the patronage of the Lord Chamberlain, hence his acting company was named the Lord Chamberlain’s men, however – he had much higher aspirations.
Arguably, Shakespeare used the play to impress James I and win his favour, eventually succeeding and securing the King’s patronage – upgrading his company to the King’s men. Through the play, he does this by exploring a true story of Scottish kings – James’ ancestors. He explores Scottish heritage and ancestry whilst also placing the witches centre stage for excitement and action. He presents Scottish royalty as noble, brave and honourable, they don’t let traitors usurp their power and their line of succession is pure and legitimate. Even though Macbeth takes over, the natural order is restored by the end. Perhaps Shakespeare aimed to upgrade the public’s respect for James and his Scottish heritage whilst also assuring them that he was indeed a legitimate and rightful king.”
Ozymandias – Percy Bysshe Shelley
Finally, the politically minded Percy Bysshe Shelley not only used his poetry to influence his society but boldly declared ‘poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world!’. Pretty bold. Here’s an interpretation for his poem Ozymandias:
How does Percy Bysshe Shelley present power?
“In this poem, Shelley describes the statue of Ramses II (Ozymandias) – a real historical King whose statue was found in the desert. He arguably uses Ozymandias as a metaphor to explore the human drive for power, fame and ultimately immortality. Driven by ego and ambition, Ozymandias desired to create a legacy that would last long after his life.
By doing so, Shelley arguably exposes a human tendency within us all. Whether we’re trying to win an Olympic medal, write the next best-selling book or simply have children and raise a new generation – aren’t we all in some way trying to create a legacy and an impact that will survive longer than our physical human bodies? However, despite our best intentions we will all ultimately be destroyed by nature. Our statues, our palaces and our cities will eventually crumble and future generations in hundreds and thousands of year’s time will find evidence of our strife and have no recollection of who we even were. Power is transient and nothing lasts forever.”
A Word of Caution
Don’t get too carried away with your big interpretations. You still need to make sure it answers the question. Keep it entirely focused on the question and tailor it to suit that particular character or theme. For example, if you got a question about Lady Macbeth, you could explore the presentation of women and whether Shakespeare is being pro-feminist or misogynistic.
And…there we have it! That one was quite a meaty one wasn’t it? Take your time and read over it again if you need to. As always, comment below with your key takeaway and good luck with your essay writing! If you enjoyed this post, make sure you grab my free eBook: Essay Templates!