Rough, rough, rough, rough draft

Brief overview of how my paper might go: (quite frankly I'm doing bullet pints mainly because I'm not too keen on actually reading someone's rough draft paper - that's a lot to post on a blog. I'd rather read bullet points myself).

1. As a start I'd like to bring up the idea that Measure for Measure has been one of Shakespeare's least focused plays and yet it teaches more moral values than most. I'll follow this up with my thesis, basically stating that this play can become a great teaching tool to show today's society the importance of understanding the detrimental values of mercy and justice.
2. A few specific quotes I'd like to use from the play:
• "Condemn the fault and not the actor of it? / Why, every fault's condemned ere it be done" (2.2)
• "How would you be, / If He, which is the top of judgement should / But judge you as you are? O, think on that; / And mercy then will breathe within your lips, / Like mad new made."
• "He arrests him on it; / And follows close the rigour of the statute, / To make him an example." (1.4)
• "We must not make a scarecrow of the law, / Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, / And let it keep one shape, till custom make it / Their perch and not their terror." (2.1)
• "No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, / Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, / The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, / Become them with one half so good a grace / As mercy does." (2.2)
3. I could go on, but I won't. As I follow my thesis, I'd like to use the quote to supplement. Why is mercy so important, and justice too? Where is the line to which we must follow? How do we know when it is best to be merciful? When is it best to be just?
4. Following this I'd like to point out ways that justice is used wrongly - especially by Angelo to get personal gain when he was entrusted with that power by the Duke to now destroy, but "shepherd" in a way the community into a better place. The Duke himself sets Angelo up as his scapegoat - rather than do his duty and whip everyone into shape he "goes away" for a while and allows Angelo to fix the mess he's made. He does this because he doesn't want to lose favor with his people. Way noble Duke. Way to be a man.
5. I've thought of bringing a bit of virtue and grace into my topic too, especially using Isabella as a great example of both of these. She has some powerful arguments, and even Angelo is near swayed by her. If we are merciful does that mean we are virtuous? Can we still be virtuos and just at the same time? Why do we hear justice and immediately think bad? Is justice often seen with a negative connotation? Does being merciful mean we are weak?

Anyway, there are some ideas I'ven been playing with. I'm actually pretty stoked on following these ideas and have even started to look into scriptures and scripture stories that might show the combination of mercy and justice in a good way.

Overall, I must admit this is not easy for me. My writing process is pretty different and I tend to just get an idea and run with it. I'm grateful for this opportunity though, I've had some really interesting conversations with my mom about Shakespeare, and she always has funny stories to tell me about her high school students' reactions to his plays. She's been really helpful in asking me specific questions and her best advice is always just to write about something I'm interested in. It's easy to get caught up in a teacher's expectations and then feel no passion behind your paper or topic. I'm grateful I've been able to switch my ideas around so often. Who knows where this will end up...