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Outlining an interpretive essay

Your thesis may strongly suggest a method of organization, in which case you will have little difficulty jotting down your essay’s key points. Consider, for example, the following informal outline, based on a thesis that leads naturally to a three-part organization.

Thesis: George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara depicts the ways in which three “religions” address the problem of poverty. The Established Church ignores poverty, the Salvation Army tries rather ineffectually to alleviate it, and a form of utopianism based on guns and money promises to eliminate it—but at a terrible cost.

The Established Church (represented by Lady Britomart)
The Salvation Army (represented by Major Barbara)
Utopianism based on guns and money (represented by Undershaft)

If your thesis does not by itself suggest a method of organization, turn to your notes and begin putting them into categories that relate to the thesis. For example, one student who was writing about Euripides’s play Medea constructed the following formal outline from her notes.

Thesis: Although Medea professes great love for her children, Euripides gives us reason to suspect her sincerity: Medea does not hesitate to use the children as weapons in her bloody battle with Jason, and from the outset she displays little real concern for their fate.

From the very beginning of the play, Medea is a less than ideal mother.
1. Her first words about the children are hostile.
2. Her first actions suggest indifference.
In three scenes Medea appears to be a loving mother, but in each of these scenes we have reason to doubt her sincerity.
Throughout the play, as Medea plots her revenge, her overriding concern is not her children but her reputation.
1. Fearing ridicule, she is proud of her reputation as one who can “help her friends and hurt her enemies.”
2. Her obsession with reputation may stem from the Greek view of reputation as a means of immortality.
After she kills her children, Medea reveals her real concern.
1. She shows no remorse.
2. She revels in Jason’s agony over their death.

Whether to use a formal or an informal outline is to some extent a matter of personal preference. For most purposes, you will probably find that an informal outline is sufficient, perhaps even preferable.