Twelfth Night Essay Structure

Objective: Discuss the theme of disguise and duplicity in Twelfth Night.

I am to write an essay about the play Twelfth Night by Shakespeare. What I'm worried about mainly is how i structure the essay. I want it to be very well organised. Last time it was worth it,but i did take a lot of time changing paragraphs restructuring things etc. I realised i should have thought about it before starting the essay.

So my question to the experienced,is what is the best way to structure an essay about a play?..especially about the likes of Shakespeare, historical context is also meant to be added into the essay. I thought of starting it with the history but its dull and its harder to link it to other aspects when i put the history in one big chunk.

It will also be very helpful if anyone knows about the play and can give me additional tips on how to make my analysis about the play even more insightful.

This is the disorganised-no good-bit ive got so far, i think ill start again from scratch,after people answer

Twelfth night is a satirical comedy of the 16th century. Although some may argue that it is somewhat a tragedy, as it covers some of the critical elements for one. One of the elements being that misfortunes are not overlooked but are in fact charitably placed in the play for structural purposes. The shipwreck that two of the characters, Viola and Sebastian engage in, or the death of the Lady Olivia's brother, demonstrates this.

The shipwreck determines the course of the play. If it had not occurred...
The death of Lady Olivia's brother and the fight are of similar importance too...
It also may be portrayed as dark in nature because of the many deceptions that occur in the play. In the play Twelfth Night numerous disguises are used to deceive and conceal the truth. Deliberate physical disguises are used by the means of either a distorted or false appearance. Although not necessarily intentional, metaphorical disguises are also used in the play. Frequently one characters' judgements towards another character are mislead.

Twelfth night is an epitome of Elizabethan comedy. In a production of the play most if not all of the audience would find the play entertaining. The play is named Twelfth Night after the festival "Feast of fools" as it is fairly selective in its irony. It mainly mocks the prosperous and praises the inopportune. The theme and duality of the play is master become servants and the servants become masters.

Therefore a mixed audience would be able to find the play entertaining ...
Nonetheless, Twelfth Night is ultimately considered to be a comedy. The misfortunes and disguises that determine the course of the play, also mounts up the humour. This is because they provide commotion and bewilderment amongst the characters which will be deduced as sardonic by the audience.

The character Feste reflects the...
The actual moral of the play is debatable.

Hi Alexa, many answers exist for this question, but I'll give you a good one.

First sentence is something unexpected to grab the reader's attention. Second sentence names the play and author, and it also tells a little about it. Third sentence tells something even more specific about the play, something interesting. Leave the last (fourth) sentence of the first para out for now. You'll write it in a little while.

First sentence of the second para is something interesting that has something to do with the idea you wrote about in the first paragraph. Give an example. Write something about the example. Write something thoughtful about what the example means to conclude the paragraph. (repeat this process for 2 more body paragraphs.)

Look at the first sentence of each of the 3 body paragraphs to see what the main ideas of the essay are. Write a thesis sentence that involves all these ideas, and put it at the end of paragraph one.

Whatever that main idea it, write a whole paragraph about it as the conclusion paragraph.

In this sentence, you used although when you should have used however:
Although However, some may argue that it is somewhat a tragedy, as it covers some of the critical elements for one.

Remember, your essay is only a few sentences: the topic sentences. Each paragraph is one idea, and the idea is stated in the topic sentence.

Your material above is great. Add some examples and quotes withint body paragraphs.

This suggested essay outline may help~ budurl.com/EssayOutline

With regards to what you have so far~
Intro:
Twelfth night is a satirical comedy of the 16th century. [What is satire? Was this style the norm in 16th cent or a new form of play...? Bit of background of culture and society at this time. How important was theatre?]

Twelfth night is an epitome of Elizabethan comedy. [Why?] In a production of the play most if not all of the audience would find the play entertaining. [Why?] The play is named Twelfth Night after the festival "Feast of fools" as it is fairly selective in its irony. It mainly mocks the prosperous and praises the inopportune. The theme and duality of the play is master become servants and the servants become masters.

Although some may argue that it is somewhat [of] a tragedy as it [this is not specific enough: covers some of the critical elements for one]...give the reader examples of the "critical elements" of a tragedy.

Why is it useful to analyse this play in the 21st century?

Body:
1. One of the elements being that misfortunes are not overlooked but are in fact charitably placed in the play for structural purposes. [Give examples, be specific so that the reader see how you concluded that things are charitably placed for structural purposes. What is a structural purpose?

2. The shipwreck determines the course of the play. [Tell the reader how]
3. It also may be portrayed as dark in nature because of the many deceptions that occur in the play.

Conclusion:
Nonetheless, Twelfth Night is ultimately considered to be a comedy. The misfortunes and disguises that determine the course of the play, also mounts up the humour. This is because they provide commotion and bewilderment amongst the characters which will be deduced as sardonic by the audience.

The actual moral of the play is debatable.

Understood.Thank you for the feedback,its very helpful. I think once I get my first sentence it will flow quite nicely. =]].

you mentioned disguise but along with disguise you should have mentioned mistaken identity for it is the main element that led to furthering the action and the unraveling of the whole truth when sebastian is mistaken for cesario / viola and vice versa .

Gender roles is a prominent theme also , especially during the 16th century .
another thing famous about Shakespeare also is the introduction of serious characters and their sacrifice in the context of the play ( their being mocked by other characters) for the sake of the comic mood of the play .(orsino)