Writing a commentary conclusion

[Shelby]

Hi, my teacher tells me my conclusions are awful and that they just repeat the main points of commentary-I always thought that WAS a conclusion. Apparently not, could you please give me some advice on writing a conclusion? My topic is Lady Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 5.

Thanks

[sweetnsimple786]

The main component in a conclusion is the "So What?" Our teacher said that this is where the readers learn why they should care/why the essay was important. Often, you leave the readers stewing over something in real life--in their lives.

I'm not sure where your essay's going, but if you were to talk about how Lady M's doubts/initial reaction show(s) her character, you could have a "so what" about how this is the first major impression of Lady M we get [i'm not even sure if that's true.. even though we did just read it last month. I'm not a Shakespeare fan], and how lasting first impressions are.

[Disclaimer: My ideas tend to sour out when I'm not really thinking correctly. Like when I'm sleep-typing. You may want to regard my spiel on conclusions as a more general concept, and listen to someone who's actually done KPCs, not just practice KPAs (key passage analyses) hahaha.]

Edit: Oh I forgot to mention--I spend 2-3 sentences summarizing and the rest doing the so what. It's kinda like getting to do a tangent in a paper

Edited June 24, 2009 by sweetnsimple786

[Sandwich]

I did a massive essay on exactly this, once

Summarise the key points you made, yep, but the thing in a conclusion is to bring all of the points together and make them into a coherent thing. So you have your whole essay culminating in the end which re-lists but also ties things together. So it's a good idea to make overall points-- like how everything in the soliloquy contributed to the overall effect of the soliloquy and what it was about, and then how it fits into or leads onto what comes after it, or how it sets Lady Macbeth's character up for the rest of the play, or shows you her goals etc. You sort-of want a summary of all the points but also some sort of overarching view of what's gone on and how all the points you've made fit into it.

Hope that helps.

[Tilia]

My conclusions aren't as good either, but you should never repeat what you've said (EE's are exceptions) since WLs and the like are so short. I think you can mention you main points and make sure to connect it to the introduction and title.

[Arista]

If the body of your commentary discusses what the author is doing and how (what: explaining an effect in the evidence described, how: analyzing the text for devices used to convey that effect), then the conclusion discusses why the author uses these devices in such a way; the significance/ meaning the author is attempting to impart. In the conclusion, you take a step back and comment on the text more broadly, in terms of its connection to the theme and other stuff.

As said before, you should summarize the main points very briefly and piece them together.

I don't think my English class structures commentaries in the same way that is implied by the other posters in this thread, but our English class is kind of whack. Hope this helps you anyway.

Edit: I'm sorry, I didn't see how old this topic was.

Edited July 6, 2009 by Arista

[Shelby]

If the body of your commentary discusses what the author is doing and how (what: explaining an effect in the evidence described, how: analyzing the text for devices used to convey that effect), then the conclusion discusses why the author uses these devices in such a way; the significance/ meaning the author is attempting to impart. In the conclusion, you take a step back and comment on the text more broadly, in terms of its connection to the theme and other stuff.

As said before, you should summarize the main points very briefly and piece them together.

I don't think my English class structures commentaries in the same way that is implied by the other posters in this thread, but our English class is kind of whack. Hope this helps you anyway.

Edit: I'm sorry, I didn't see how old this topic was.

Thanks Arista,

It's good to get another opinion, hopefully I can string them altogether to actually write a decent conclusion!