2019 Examiners report Paper 1 – Shakespeare and post-1914 British Literature (Macbeth and An Inspector Calls/Journey’s End/Blood Brothers/Animal Farm)
The 2019 Examiners’ report has a few interesting comments which may be useful for your revision. These have been summarised for you below. Macbeth Analysis “Many candidates analysed language to word level (nouns/verbs/adjectives) and wrote about the connotations of the language used. Most candidates also analysed the types of sentences, their functions and punctuation used to achieve specific effects. The more successful candidates linked this to the effect on the reader.” For example, if you were to look at Macbeth Act 5, Scene 1 (Lady Macbeth’s sleep walking scene) you could write about the broken sentence structure Shakespeare uses. Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky! Clearly, this broken structure reflects the broken state of Lady Macbeth’s mind, and highlights for the audience her loss of control and clarity. It would be useful to compare this with the more complete sentence structure employed by the other characters in the scene. Then, going a little deeper, consider the words Shakespeare gives to Lady Macbeth; ‘damned’, ‘hell’. These two words carry negative connotations, and would further remind the audience of the great sin Lady Macbeth has committed. They underline the punishment she will face in the afterlife. Simply put, ‘damned’ tells the audience that Lady Macbeth will be going to Hell, and ‘hell’ makes that final destination even clearer in the audience’s minds. Context In your part B answer (the question where you are asked to look at a theme ‘elsewhere in the play’) the examiners’ report notes that the highest scoring students “embed contextual comment” in their responses. If you can, do this. It’s not too difficult to write a comment on one aspect of the play, say, Lady Macbeth’s guilt, and point out to your examiner that in Elizabethan England, higher levels of religious feeling and loyalty to the monarch, would have added an additional layer of shock to her actions. Basically, you want your understanding of context to make your analysis deeper and more useful. If you just can’t do this though, don’t worry. It is acceptable to bolt on context at the end of your answer – but make sure that it’s relevant. Post 1914 Literature Again, context is important. But, be careful.
“Less successful responses tended to include large swathes of context at the expense of textual analysis and not all contextual points were useful or appropriate to the points being made, but just described everything that the candidate knew about the time period/social situation.” It’s really important that your context is useful. Don’t just dump all the things you know at the paper. There is no point in explaining the ins and outs of World War One warfare when the question is asking you to discuss a character in Journey’s End.
Focus and quotes This is always a big issue. I’m sure your teachers will have told you many, many times, but even the examiners’ report asks students to make sure that the quotes they use are relevant. You need to have a “clear and controlled focus on the character or theme”. With a closed book exam, it’s easy to learn a list of quotes off by heart and be tempted to just fire them in to every answer you write. Do not do this! Only use the quotes that are relevant and useful. (A bit like with your context)