Writing a Comparison Essay

Take Good Notes!!!  Your notes are your foundation!  While you are reading a novel or watching a movie or doing research on a topic you MUST take clear notes  you will use these points in your arguments for your essay!!!  If you don’t have clarity at the beginning of the assignment you will struggle to know what to do when it comes time to write your essay  Clear notes = clear head = clear path to success!

Organize your notes into categories  Our categories were already decided for our essay in a way  Setting  Characters  Conflicts  Plot  If you took notes just on the first page of your handout because you forgot to flip pages or if you took notes on lined paper and didn’t have it organized you can organize it NOW!

Evaluate your information!  Not all your notes will be good or useable  Highlight your strongest points in each category  Romeo and Tony are very similar and we can come up with three main ways  Romeo and Tony both aren’t hanging out with their friends like they used to  Romeo and Tony both fall in love with a girl that is supposed to be their enemy  Romeo and Tony both confide in a father figure/friend (Friar and Doc)  Romeo and Tony both try to keep the peace because of their love but end up taking revenge out of loyalty to a best friend

Characters continued  Juliet and Maria are similar  Juliet and Maria are both obedient and loyal to their families at the beginning  Juliet and Maria both fall in love with an enemy  Juliet and Maria both confide in a female mother figure/friend (Nurse, Anita)  Juliet and Maria both get mad at their lover for killing but forgive them  Juliet and Maria are DIFFERENT at the end because Maria doesn’t kill herself to “be with” Tony

Characters  Tybalt and Bernardo are very similar  Tybalt and Bernardo want to fight at the beginning and don’t want to keep the peace  Tybalt and Bernardo want to fight their enemy because they feel their honour has been challenged (Tybalt because of Romeo crashing the party and Bernardo because his sister was kissed in public by the enemy)  Tybalt and Bernardo get so hotheaded they kill someone they didn’t intend to kill and then are killed

Setting  The settings of the two narratives are very different!  West Side Story is set in the 1960s and Romeo and Juliet is set in s  WSS is two poor gangs of teenagers who are fighting for territory, RJ is two very rich and celebrity families with an unknown grudge

Plot/Conflict  Both stories begin with a fight  Both stories have falling in love with the enemy as an inciting incident  Both stories have marriage scene  Both stories have a second fight which leads to the separation of the lovers  Both stories end with one or both main characters dying

Start to fill out outline!  Begin with thesis, are you going to say that the two narratives are mostly similar or different based on your notes?  Now state your view in a sentence without saying “I think” and this is the main idea you will have to prove in your three paragraphs.  What does Judith’s example thesis say?  What could your thesis be?

Introduction  First sentence needs to be interesting and catch the reader’s attention.  It also needs to be related in some way to your topic  We are talking about comparing a play to a movie. What could we say in general about plays being turned into movies? What did Judith say in her sample essay?

Introduction  Next we list the titles of the two narratives and the authors/directors.  The play Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare  The movie West Side Story was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins  How can we write a sentence that includes both? How did Judith write this in her sample essay?

Introduction  Now we give a 2-3 sentence summary of what the two narratives are about. Since they are similar we can summarize them together.  What could we say for the summary of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story? How does Judith summarize her stories in her sample essay?

Introduction  We finish the introduction with our thesis statement sentence which we wrote at the beginning. What was it again?

Complete Intro  So our introductory paragraph looks like this: Many times over the years good works of literature have been the inspiration for blockbuster movies that touch the hearts of their audiences. The play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare and the movie West Side Story directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins are no exception. Both narratives tell the story of two enemy groups that are in constant conflict. A young woman and young who are supposed to be enemies fall in love and try to keep their love a secret. When the fighting continues they get caught in the middle resulting in multiple deaths. The main characters, and the plot have many similarities even though their settings are quite different.

Paragraph 1  The order of our paragraphs has to follow the order we described them in our thesis. Our thesis says we are going to talk about characters first so our first paragraph has to be about character.  Let’s write our topic sentence that clearly states what this paragraph will be about. It’s about characters and we are arguing that they are similar.  “The main characters in both narratives are very similar in their personality, their loyalty and their actions.”

Paragraph 1  Now we have to give our Reason, Examples, and Explanations for each of the three characters we are focusing on.  Reason 1 (Romeo/Tony) – Romeo Montague from Shakespeare’s play is very similar to Tony from West Side Story.  Examples: Romeo and Tony are both described as being distant from their friends lately. Romeo because he is depressed from Rosaline not loving him back and Tony because he has gotten a job. They both also fall in love with an enemy, they both confide in a friend and they both act without thinking which results in them killing for revenge.  Explanation: All of these characteristics make these two characters almost identical.

Paragraph 1  Reason 2: Juliet Capulet from the play is very similar to Maria from the film.  Examples: Juliet and Maria both start out as quiet and obedient girls who listen to their father and brother. They both fall in love with an enemy. They both confide in a mother/friend figure when Juliet confides in the Nurse and Maria confides in Anita. They also both react similarly when they find out their lover has killed someone from their family by being angry at first and then forgiving them.  Explanation: Through their personalities, confidantes and reactions it is clear that these two characters are very similar.

Paragraph 1  Reason 3: Tybalt Capulet from the play is very similar to Bernardo from the film.  Examples:  Explanation:  Concluding sentence for the whole paragraph: These three main characters are full of similarities in their personalities, their actions, their reactions and their loyalties.

Paragraph 2  Topic sentence: (according to our thesis which topic comes next?)  Reason 1:  Examples:  Explanation: