Research Paper Final Outline

I. Introduction:
Gender inequality has been a prevalent issue throughout history. There have been nationwide movements in which women have fought and suffered for the equal rights they deserve, and women came out on top. Though men have been women’s biggest suppressors, men have also been women’s strongest allies. They used their voice to fight for equality when women when they could not use theirs.
Poet and playwright William Shakespeare has been a huge advocate in giving women recognition through characterizing his female roles as strong and independent characters. The controversy of Shakespeare’s homosexuality or bisexuality could be a clue as to why he gave women more credit than the rest of the world, specifically England. Whether it’s in his romantic comedies, such as The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing, or his plays that highlight strong father-daughter bonds, such as King Lear and The Tempest, Shakespeare has used his writing to reflect the gender inequalities in Shakespearean England.
II. Body Paragraph 1 Shakespearean background.
Relate background information w/ quotes to convey the idea of Shakespeare identifying and defending women.
III. Body Paragraph 2 King Lear.
a. Topic Sentence (State your Main Point): The characterization of both King Lear and his daughter Cordelia create a relationship of equal respect of one another, regardless of both the gender and patriarchal values that were upheld in London.
b. Commentary (to set up your Concrete Detail): At the beginning of the play, Lear treats love as a material object. He asks for his daughters love as if he deserved it solely because of his patriarchal status. Critics go so far as to define kinship in King Lear as
c. Concrete Detail (to defend your Topic Sentence): “in-formed by the ideology of property relations.”
d. Commentary (to analyze your previous Concrete Detail and introduce your next one): However, after all of the trials of the play, Lear returns to Earth and asks his daughter to
e. Concrete Detail (to further defend your Topic Sentence and Commentary): “forget and forgive” (4.7.85).
f. Commentary (to make sense of your entire paragraph and come back to your Main Point and Thesis): This apology is evidence of Lear identifying his daughter as his equal, if not his superior.
IV. Body Paragraph 3 Much Ado.
a. Topic Sentence (State your Main Point): In this comedy, Shakespeare uses witty banter to characterize both Beatrice and Benedick. This writing style exemplifies these characters as equals, thus allowing them to fall in love.
b. Commentary (to set up your Concrete Detail): Critics note that in Shakespearean romantic comedies, characters can always achieve ideal happiness.
c. Concrete Detail (to defend your Topic Sentence): “the reach of human happiness in this world of men and women is richer, deeper, more sustained, and more satisfying” in Much Ado About Nothing.
d. Commentary (to analyze your previous Concrete Detail and introduce your next one): This, I believe, is because Beatrice and Benedick see each other as equals. This concept of equality is especially prevalent in the moment when Benedick confesses
e. Concrete Detail (to further defend your Topic Sentence and Commentary): “By my troth, it is no addition to her wit—nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her.” (2.3.207-208)
f. Commentary (to make sense of your entire paragraph and come back to your Main Point and Thesis): Benedick loves Beatrice because she is witty—he sees her as an equal. Equality is what makes love real, and critics have analyzed that true happiness is attained in these Shakespearean comedies in which strong male and female leads fall in actual love.
V. Body Paragraph 4 The Tempest.
a. Topic Sentence (State your Main Point): Though The Tempest has a much light tone than King Lear, the daughter-father bond is just as significant and the evidence of Shakespeare’s defensive of the female population is still visible.
b. Commentary (to set up your Concrete Detail): The idea that love is the bond that humanity must always seek is prominent in the Tempest, after all
c. Concrete Detail (to defend your Topic Sentence): “love in the comedies always turns out well”
d. Commentary (to analyze your previous Concrete Detail and introduce your next one): Miranda, daughter of the main character Prospero, marries Ferdinand, a man who respects her and loves her. Miranda breaks the conventions of a man proposing to a woman when she tells Ferdinand
e. Concrete Detail (to further defend your Topic Sentence and Commentary): “I am your wife, if you will marry me” (3.1.83)
f. Commentary (to make sense of your entire paragraph and come back to your Main Point and Thesis): This not only conveys the love she possesses, but it also breaks accepted societal beliefs in regards to what a man should do and what a woman should do. If Miranda can propose to Ferdinand, why can’t women always take charge? Well, women eventually realized that they can absolutely take charge if they have the courage to do so.
VI. Body Paragraph 5
a. Topic Sentence (State your Main Point): Similar to Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare creates two strong main characters who eventually fall in love in The Taming of the Shrew. Although Kate does succumb to Petruchio through rather unorthodox methods, Petruchio levels with Kate, presenting himself as her equal, and Kate keeps her strong, wise voice.
b. Commentary (to set up your Concrete Detail):
c. Concrete Detail (to defend your Topic Sentence): “comic endings […] are a fantasy of wish-fulfillment”
d. Commentary (to analyze your previous Concrete Detail and introduce your next one): In the end of this play, Katherine delivers a long monologue in which she is married to a man who views her as an equal, and her behavior now matches her wit. This is evident when she berates her peers for disobeying their husbands, for husbands are
e. Concrete Detail (to further defend your Topic Sentence and Commentary): “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee” (5.2.140-141)
f. Commentary (to make sense of your entire paragraph and come back to your Main Point and Thesis): Though it may seem that Katherine has transformed from independent to submissive, she is actually stronger than ever. Her wit now shines through her voice in a way that makes people listen, and she is in a marriage in which both parties are viewed as equals.
VII. Conclusion—you may briefly summarize for your reader, but be sure to extend your analysis and leave your reader with an intriguing concept that will leave him or her thinking about your topic.
Love and equality play a major role in various Shakespearean plays. It is evident from this paper that happiness is derived by true love, and true love is derived through gender equality.