Example of an outline
on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Title: The Many Faces of Love
Thesis: Shakespeare uses characterization and conflict, both internal and external, to explore the duality of love in his play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
1st body paragraph:
Main idea: Shakespeare begins his play about love by dramatizing its opposite: conflict and hate.
Evidence:
Sampson: I will push Montague's men from the wall and thrust his maids to the Wall…. When I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids—I will cut off their heads.
Gregory: The heads of the maids?
Sampson: Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads. Take it in what sense thou wilt. (I. i. 15–25)
Analysis:
“When this tragedy puts love and fighting side by side, it touches the oldest and deepest part of our minds, and we should call Romeo and Juliet not a tragedy of young love, but a tragedy of young love and old hate, a tragedy of "the fatal loins."” – Norman N. Holland, On Romeo and Juliet
Por ejemplo:
Shakespeare begins his play about love by dramatizing its opposite: conflict and hate. From the first scene, we observe a violent and disturbing encounter between the servants of two Verona households, the Montagues and the Capulets. Sampson threatens to, “push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall” (I.i.15), threatening to fight the men and rape the women, starting an altercation with his master’s enemy’s servants. Holland suggests that rather than referring to the play as a story of young love, it is really about “a tragedy of…old hate.” (Holland) Shakespeare emphasizes the conflict of the two families. By introducing hate in the first scene, Shakespeare heightens the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s love.