How do you write an essay on Shakespeare?

With Shakespeare, the key is multiple interpretations and exploiting ambiguity in the text. Often, Shakespeare blurs boundaries between love and service, different passions, and right and wrong. Try to have a bank of productions and directors who have interpreted the play differently, structuring their shows around different viewpoints of these ambiguities. Then, select quotes that have that ambiguity on display, which show the different sides to characters, that can change a common stereotype or perception of a character. Try to then describe and analyse the effect of this change on the audience, and why it occurred when it did.Also, focusing on technicalities and looking at where and when things take place can really strengthen an argument. Who else is on stage, who is watching and who the characters are addressing are all of huge importance and massively impacts how characters interact and speak. As boring as it is, grammar and structure also help, as the old rule of higher class characters speak in verse, lower in prose, is a complete fantasy. Characters change their language structure depending on what effect they may want to have on others, and in an extract question, noticing that change or shift can really help you develop an argument.