Shakespeare remains a central part of English classrooms across Australia, and for good reason. His plays explore timeless ideas such as love, power, ambition, loyalty, conflict, and identity. While students often find Shakespeare’s language challenging at first, I have found that once they understand the story and characters, they begin to see how relevant these texts still are today.

As an English tutor working with students from Years 7–12, I always start by helping students understand the plot before analysing language techniques. Shakespeare’s plays were written to be performed, not simply read, so watching key scenes is often far more effective than reading them in isolation. For example, when studying Romeo and Juliet, I encourage students to focus first on the family conflict and the relationship between Romeo and Juliet before examining techniques such as dramatic irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism.

Similarly, when teaching Macbeth, I find students engage more deeply when they explore Macbeth’s ambition and moral decline. Once they understand his motivations, analysing Shakespeare’s use of imagery, symbolism, and soliloquies becomes much more meaningful.

One of the most valuable skills students can develop is essay writing. I teach students to structure their essays clearly by beginning with a thesis statement that directly answers the question. Each body paragraph should focus on one key idea, supported by evidence from the text. A simple structure I recommend is:

Point → Evidence → Technique → Analysis → Link

For example, a paragraph on Macbeth might explore how unchecked ambition leads to destruction. Students can use a quotation, identify a technique such as metaphor or imagery, analyse its effect, and then link it back to the essay question. I think its important to always teach this, even as a reminder, to students-structure is key to writing a response and not even for just Shakespeare;


also encourage students to create character summaries, theme maps, and quote banks while studying Shakespeare. These strategies help students build confidence and make revision more manageable.

. With guidance, practice, and a clear structure, every student can succeed in studying Shakespeare.

Eleni Nicholas