Max M. answered • 04/25/19
Harvard Literature major with 20 years of coaching writers
B), with A) as a decent second choice, but both can be developed.
Thesis statements are always cause-and-effect statements, and your job is to prove that cause-and-effect relationship. Not just what happens, but why does it happen?
C) is just plot summary, unless you are trying to emphasize the essential-ness of the secondary characters, in which case, I'd phrase it something like, "In R & J, Shakespeare undermines traditional notions of power and status by showing how much lower status characters truly control the action." Cause: emphasizing low-status characters; Effect: undermining notions of power. I'm not sure that's true, by the way, though it'd be interesting to look at; I'm just illustrating that a thesis statement needs to interpret the material, not just describe it.
And D) isn't fully shown.
B) says something about what the author is doing and its effect on the reader / audience. Foreshadowing is a good cause to examine; I think you could develop the statement a bit more by thinking more deeply about what the effect of the foreshadowing is. Ok, it lets us know about the tragic ending, but why would he do that? To put it another way, how would the play be different if the action were the same, but if there were no foreshadowing? Maybe the audience would be more surprised by how things turn out, so what experience do you have reading or seeing the play when there's less surprise?
A) has a cause-and-effect structure: hatred leads to death, but it's worded very literally. Yes, a feud leads to death in this story, but why is Shakespeare telling this story in this way? What is he saying about the world, or about life, or about love, or death, or hate? Is Shakespeare warning the audience, or encouraging them to hold their loved ones close, or instructing them to not dump their sad baggage on their kids, or something else? Why would he even think I'd care about some long-dead people from another country who hate each other and then their kids die? If that's a hard question, think about how you felt last Summer when Thanos dumped Gamora off the cliff and why you felt that about people from another galaxy who aren't even human (if you felt nothing, you're a monster (joke)). Do Lord and Lady Capulet know that they're sacrificing their daughter (and son!) to their personal interests the same way that Thanos does? If so, what does it mean that they let it happen? If not, do you think they would make a different choice if they could?
