Think of your drama essay as an argument about a play. Come up with an interpretation or
analysis of the drama and support your opinion with excerpts from the play itself. Make a claim
about the play and present evidence from the text to support your idea.
If you have difficulty coming up with an idea to explore, the final chapters in the Norton
textbook discuss the process of thinking about and evaluating a drama. Also, look at the
Thematic Index handout out in class for ideas on which plays to use to explore, for example,
loneliness or woman’s identity.
Here are some additional questions to ask yourself to generate ideas for this essay:
What is unclear about the play that I think I can explain?
What is left out by the playwright that I think I can explain?
What works intrigue you or puzzle you?
Are there any journal entries in which I explore some interesting aspect of a play?
Have we discussed an idea in class that you feel needs more explanation or that you
disagreed with?
What is an issue raised by a particular play that you think needs clarification?
Are there different perspectives that can be taken about some idea in the play?
You may want to bring outside references into your writing, especially if you are tying the play
to the author’s life or to something external to the text. If you do use outside works, make sure
you use appropriate documentation.
As you write your drama essay, you may want to consider the following suggestions:
The title of the essay should do more than merely give the title of the work discussed. It
should give the reader an idea of the main idea of the essay.
The introductory paragraph should provide some context for the play. You might provide
some summary, but you don’t want the focus of the essay to be just a recounting of the
plot. You should provide the name of the playwright and the title of the play in the first
paragraph, and you should avoid openings such as “In this play …” or “In this
paper/essay, I will discuss…” These are inappropriate for academic discourse.
You should include a thesis sentence that summarizes your main idea in the first or
second paragraph.
Each paragraph should contain an idea that supports the main argument of the essay.
