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    IGCSE Literature in English Resource Plus overview

    • Assessment Objective 1 (AO1)


      • Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts in the three main forms (drama, poetry and prose), supported by reference to the text.
      • Teacher notes AO1
        Drama AO1 - Teacher notes

    • show/hide Drama AO1 video transcript
      Knowing the text in detail is key to unlocking its meanings. Using quotations correctly demonstrates that we know the text and makes our points clear. In this video we will look at some useful tips for demonstrating knowledge of the text in a concise way, and then look at textual elements in greater detail.

      To do this we are going to look at two of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. Assessment objective 1 requires candidates to show detailed knowledge of their text and support it with appropriate references.

      Knowledge of the content of the text is relatively easy to demonstrate; what often trips candidates up is the way they demonstrate that knowledge. Quotations must be relevant and concise, and it is crucial not to re-tell plot points as it wastes valuable time and energy in exams.

      The details and quotations used to demonstrate knowledge of the text in work parallel with the context, language, form and structure of the play found in assessment objective 2 and assessment objective 3 to create the sensitive and informed response required by assessment objective 4.

      Let us begin with Romeo and Juliet as our text. We will start by thinking about good use of quotations and links between separate areas of the play. One way to easily refer to different sections of the play is to use Freytag’s Pyramid of dramatic structure. The structure falls in to five sections.

      The exposition sets the scene. The rising action is where things begin to create complications. The climax is the turning point of the story. The falling action is a series of events which lead to the denouement. And the denouement is the result of everything which has happened since the exposition.

      This is the dramatic structure of Romeo and Juliet. As you can see everything centres around the killing of Tybalt and Mercutio in Act 3 Scene 1.

      Throughout the exposition and rising action there is a lot of comedy provided by Mercutio. The comedy dies at the climax when he dies and puts “a plague” on both houses. Our AO3 knowledge of context tells us that one of the most famous plagues is from the bible. According to the bible God sent a plague which killed every first born son in Egypt. In Romeo and Juliet we see the death of both first born children – Romeo, and Juliet, and the Capulet heir apparent Tybalt. This means that we could consider Mercutio as foreshadowing the deaths of these three characters.

      Romeo’s response to the death of Mercutio also foreshadows the events which lead up to the denouement and his death. The idea that “others must” end the woe demonstrates the idea that Romeo is not in control of his own destiny. This is accurate in two ways.

      Firstly it is “others” who control his “black fate” during the falling action; he is “exile[d]” by the Prince, made part of Juliet and Friar Laurence’s plans without being told about them, the victim of Balthazar’s enthusiasm to keep him informed, and the victim of a quarantined house in Mantua. Secondly, the modal auxiliary “must” refers to the level of need. Without intervention Romeo will die. 

      Now we shall look at the dramatic structure of Macbeth the play and the character development of Macbeth the character.

      Similar to Romeo and Juliet the Climax of Macbeth is a death. In this case Banquo’s in Act 3 Scene 3. The final moments before the climax are a conversation between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth which ends with Macbeth. Here we will apply a little of our AO3 knowledge of language, form and structure. Macbeth’s speech is written mainly in blank verse and ends with two couplets and a line of prose. It contains multiple references to vision, “eye”, “invisible”, “light”, and a lexical set, or semantic field, of violence and death, “bloody”, “tear to pieces”, “night’s black agents”, “crow”, “prey”.

      The concept of vision is a recurring motif in Macbeth and reflects the themes of prophecy, and secrets. The semantic field of violence links to the recurring symbol of blood throughout the play, and to the themes of violence and betrayal

      Earlier in the rising action we also see him make reference to vision and violence through his “black and deep desires” which he must not let “light see”. Again the speech is structured. This time it is rhymed iambic pentameter. We can therefore say that these types of reference and a metered speech rhythm are typical of Macbeth during the rising action and demonstrate his focused ambition.

      However, once we pass the climax and enter the falling action Macbeth’s speech patterns begin to change. Macbeth is quite literally haunted by his actions. Not only does he see Banquo’s ghost but he is also being driven mad by his guilt. Here we again apply our knowledge of AO3 language, form and structure and find Macbeth is now speaking in prose rather than blank verse. One of the reasons Shakespeare used prose was to demonstrate insanity. Straight prose is quite jagged and has no rhythm which reflects the disordered state of mind associated with insanity. 

      The witches further prophecies from Act 4 Scene 1 make Macbeth paranoid, obsessive, and, in many ways, foolhardy. He fears Macduff but feels invincible as the only conditions by which he can be “vanquish’d” involve unlikely events such as “Great Birnham wood” moving location, and fighting a man not “of woman born”. This fear and invincibility leads him to react with greater violence throughout the falling action.

      By the time we reach the denouement of the play and Macbeth’s final battle with Macduff the “brave Macbeth” from the first act who murdered the “rebel” Macdonwald has been replaced by the “tyrant” Macbeth who has committed regicide and multiple murders.

      As we enter this final showdown Macbeth is still using more of a prose structure. Not only does this reflect his disordered mental state, it also allows Shakespeare to structure the dialogue to mirror the fight. Each final line has a different length giving it impact.

      “To one of woman born” POW!
      “Untimely ripp’d” THWACK! and so forth.

      Macbeth’s final couplet returns him, in death to his original character. As he is using a poetic structure we can say his mind is clearer and his challenge to “Lay on, Macduff”, combined with his willingness to face his probable death as prophesied by the witches is reminiscent of the first description of “brave Macbeth”, “valour’s minion”, a man who deserved that name.

      As you can see from these two examples good quotes are easy to embed. A good quote does not need to be long. Personally I would say that if a quote is longer than six words then it better be the greatest quote ever. In most cases, as you saw, one or two words is enough.
      Short quotes are easier to remember with accuracy.

      Unless you have an eidetic memory you will never memorise every line of the play and nothing is worse than having long, inaccurate or paraphrased quotes. Mercutio’s earlier “plague” quote is often misquoted as “a plague ON both your houses”. 

      By embedding the quote as we did earlier we both avoid inaccuracy and create a nicer, more precise and concise writing style.
      Quotes also give us opportunity to demonstrate our knowledge of language, form and structure. By keeping our quotes short we can perform single word level analysis as demonstrated with “others” and “must”.

    • Assessment Objective 2 (AO2)


      • Understand the meanings of literary texts and their contexts, and explore texts beyond surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes.
      • Teacher notes AO2
        Drama AO2 - Teacher notes

    • show/hide  Drama AO2 video transcript
      Unlocking the deeper meanings in Shakespeare requires both knowledge of different contexts and an ability to connect the text with the world around it. To fully explore how to find these deeper meanings we will look at two of Shakespeare’s tragedies: Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. To demonstrate how the assessment objectives work together, we will use these two plays for all of the assessment objectives: AO1, AO2, AO3 and AO4.

      Assessment Objective 2 requires you to understand, and then explore not one, but the many contexts and meanings found in Shakespeare’s works. You are also required to look beyond the surface meaning of the text to show a deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes. Understanding these contexts helps us understand both the surface meaning (AO1) and develop our deeper awareness of attitudes and ideas, needed for AO2.

      The understanding of characters, relationships, situations and themes needed to succeed in looking beyond surface meaning and demonstrating deeper awareness goes further than the knowledge of the text found in AO1. Assessment Objective 2 is essentially all about the question ‘Why?’ To find the answers, we need to look at two main areas of context: the context of production and the context of reception. We shall begin by looking at the context of production and what we expect from a Shakespearean tragedy.

      Macbeth is a typical Shakespearean tragedy. Our knowledge of the text tells us that Macbeth and, in many ways, Lady Macbeth are tragic heroes. They both have the fatal flaw of ambition. They reach dizzying heights of power which is ripped from them by the manipulation of the witches and a series of strange, supernatural events.

      However, our knowledge of Romeo and Juliet shows it does not conform with these common features. Neither Romeo nor Juliet are noblepersons – they are the children. They gain no power or wealth. If anything they lose power during the play. There are external pressures which lead to their downfall but they are not really created by fate, or evil spirits, or even a manipulative character.

      Romeo and Juliet’s downfalls come about through love, circumstance, and youthful, passionate inexperience. So Romeo and Juliet does conform in all but one way with the common features of Shakespearean comedy. We have young lovers separated by their parents’ ‘ancient grudge’. They are separated and reunited. They are masked when they meet and their identities are ‘known too late’. The nurse and Friar Lawrence are both examples of clever servants. The plot is fairly complex and there are a lot of comic scenes in the rising action.

      Therefore, Romeo and Juliet is a comedy even though it hasn’t got a happy ending.

      This is the context of production. We understand Shakespeare deliberately produced the play using what most people who go to plays would understand to be features of comedy.

      But why would Shakespeare use comic features for his tragedy? Here we need to think about the context of reception.

      Shakespeare wrote more comedies than histories or tragedies, and he wrote three comedies in the same year as Romeo and Juliet. The fact that his comic structures are usually used to create a happy ending filled with love and reconciliation makes the audience feel like Juliet will wake up and stop Romeo drinking the poison. The fact that she wakes up after this moment would have been emotional and shocking to a Shakespearean audience. By understanding this context of reception, we understand the context of production.

      When thinking about the audience, and this is crucial to Assessment Objective 4 (creating a sensitive and informed response), it is important to remember who the audience is.

      You are one audience: you are modern, you study the subject and therefore look at it critically, you are looking at the play with ‘work’ eyes and not with ‘relaxing trip to the theatre’ eyes.

      However, as you are not the only audience, understanding different audiences will help your response to Assessment Objective 2.

      The original audience would have been at the theatre for pleasure, understood every joke and political reference, and been cheering and booing.

      A very patriarchal audience would probably not publicly appreciate Juliet’s rebellion as much as a less patriarchal one.

      Similarly, a very feminist audience might not appreciate Romeo and Juliet at all, as it mainly conforms to traditional male and female stereotypes.

      Another context to consider is masculinity and femininity. Shakespeare loved to play with gender and identity.

      Lady Macbeth is an excellent example of how Shakespeare manipulates gender and identity. Here we will need to apply our Assessment Objective 3 (language, form and structure) knowledge.

      The part of Lady Macbeth is given equal status in the structure up until Act 2 Scene 3. She has an equal share of the dialogue and is presented on equal terms with the male characters.

      The audience’s first encounter with Lady Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 5 instantly presents her with traditionally male characteristics, with levels of ambition and violence equal to or even greater than Macbeth. Her concern that Macbeth is ‘too full o’ the milk of human kindness’ implies that she considers Macbeth is too feminine, and he lacks the brutality to do what he ‘must do’. Shakespeare’s choice to have ‘milk’ as the substance of the ‘human kindness’ Lady Macbeth spurns has connotations of motherhood, a sacredly female role.

      Act 1 Scene 5

      Lady Macbeth

      …….Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be

      What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;

      It is too full o' the milk of human kindness

      To catch the nearest way:

      Lady Macbeth refers to milk and motherhood again later in the scene, but this time in relation to herself. She demands the spirits ‘unsex’ her, and fill her full of ‘direst cruelty’, the opposite of the ‘milk of human kindness’ which her husband possesses. She asks that they ‘Stop up’ her reproductive system and prevent the menstrual ‘visitings of nature’ and the milk from her ‘woman’s breasts’ is to become ‘gall’ or poison.

      It’s worth considering how masculine Lady Macbeth really is, as she never demands to be male, just free from the restrictions of being female.

      As soon as Macbeth assumes the ‘man’s role’ and commits the murder, all her masculinity vanishes, and to some extent so does she. Her fainting can be seen as a very ladylike response and completely alien to the earlier bloodthirsty Lady Macbeth. Ironically, Macbeth becomes so fuelled by the masculinity and ambition she desired in him, that he has no time to even mourn her death.

      Act 1 Scene 5

      Lady Macbeth

      The raven himself is hoarse

      That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

      Under my battlements. Come, you spirits

      That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

      And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

      Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;

      Stop up the access and passage to remorse,

      That no compunctious visitings of nature

      Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between

      The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,

      And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,

      Wherever in your sightless substances

      You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,

      And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,

      That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,

      Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,

      To cry 'Hold, hold!'

      We have looked at how understanding different contexts helps us to open up and understand the text (AO1) more deeply (AO2). It also helps us to explore Shakespeare’s use of language and structure (AO3), helping us to inform a sensitive and personal response (AO4).

    • Assessment Objective 3 (AO3)


      • Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects.
      • Teacher notes AO3
        Drama AO3 - Teacher notes

    • show/hide  Drama AO3 video transcript
      Drama AO3 

      The aim of this video is to give you and your learners a breakdown of how Assessment Objective 3 is assessed. However, remember that for each candidate’s answer, all four assessment objectives are considered by the examiner. The best candidate responses will consider all four when answering the question.

      AO3: Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects.

      In order not to just recognise, but appreciate the ways in which Shakespeare used language, form and structure we are going to look at two of Shakespeare’s tragedies: Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth.

      Assessment Objective 3 requires you to recognise, and then appreciate, not one, but the many ways Shakespeare used language, form and structure to create and shape the multiple meanings and effects in his work.

      In order for you to achieve this, we need first to consider what is meant by recognise and appreciate.

      Candidates will have to demonstrate an understanding of the writer’s intentions and methods, and how to respond to the writer’s use of language.

      To recognise and appreciate, we must be able to understand Shakespeare’s methods, such as:

      • What techniques has he used? • What effects are they creating? • Does this fit with our expectation?

      We must also be able to understand Shakespeare’s intentions:

      • Why did he do what he did? • How was he trying to shape the audience’s thoughts and feelings? • What impact was he trying to have on the audience?

      To create a response to Shakespeare’s use of language we must look at his use of language in close detail and examine the nuances of words to decide why that word was chosen.

      Let’s start by looking at the Prologue from Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet. We shall look at Shakespeare’s methods, starting with form and structure.

      ACT I

      PROLOGUE

      Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

      The opening of the play takes the form of a sonnet – a love poem.

      It is 14 lines long.

      It has the ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet.

      It is written in iambic pentameter.

      We know that sonnets are associated with love and death which are two of the major themes of the play, so Shakespeare is giving the audience a clue to the story.

      Now we move on to language, which also reflects these themes. Through the sonnet, Shakespeare promises the audience ‘lovers’ that are ‘cross’d’ and ‘mark’d’ by forces as powerful as ‘death’ and the ‘star(s)’. He hints at a deadlocked battle between equals suddenly becoming unlocked by juxtaposing an ‘ancient grudge’ with ‘new mutiny’. He uses very obvious caesura in the first four lines to reinforce this sense of division. He promises political intrigue and murder through the play on words ‘civil blood makes civil hands unclean’. He even gives away the ending and still claims there is more to say.

      Shakespeare’s intention was to tantalise the audience by offering them a truly juicy story: love and death are considered the two most common themes in literature. So by writing this prologue as a sonnet, making clever use of language, Shakespeare was putting his audience into the correct frame of mind for his play.

      But why else does he feel the need to open his play in this way?

      To answer we need to add in some of our knowledge from Assessment Objective 1 and Assessment Objective 2.

      Our Assessment Objective 1 knowledge of the play, and Assessment Objective 2 knowledge of context of production, suggests that one reason could be because the opening scene (Act 1 Scene 1) of Romeo and Juliet is a comic scene.

      Shakespeare is setting a serious and formal tone in the prologue by using a sonnet which has a strict and rigid form and structure. Act 1 Scene 1 is a comic scene. By starting his tragedy with a comic scene, Shakespeare would have given the wrong message to his audience.

      SCENE 1. Verona. A public place. Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulet, armed with swords and bucklers SAMPSON Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. GREGORY No, for then we should be colliers. SAMPSON I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. GREGORY Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar. SAMPSON I strike quickly, being moved. GREGORY But thou art not quickly moved to strike. SAMPSON A dog of the house of Montague moves me. GREGORY To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand: therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away.

      Act 1 Scene 1 contains a series of puns, based on homonyms of ‘collier’, immature bravado from Sampson in the lines ‘we’ll draw’ and ‘I strike quickly’, and joking insults from Gregory, ‘if thou art moved, thou runn’st away.’

      This scene is unlike most of the rest of Romeo and Juliet which is written in blank verse, as it is written in prose. This is because the lack of rhythmic structure allows for the freedom needed to make Sampson and Gregory’s exchange sharp and witty. This is also because the characters are from a lower class and Shakespeare often wrote the dialogue for his lower-class characters in prose. This was partly to show a lack of education and partly as another layer of character presentation, a literary type of costume to work with clothing, accent, walk, laugh, etc.

      Let’s now look at the opening of Macbeth. Again we will look at Shakespeare’s method to try and work out his intentions.

      ACT I SCENE I. A desert place. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches First Witch When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain? Second Witch When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. Third Witch That will be ere the set of sun. First Witch Where the place? Second Witch Upon the heath. Third Witch There to meet with Macbeth. First Witch I come, Graymalkin! Second Witch Paddock calls. Third Witch Anon! ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.

      Starting with the methods.

      The majority of Macbeth is written in blank verse. As Shakespeare wrote Macbeth near the end of his career, the blank verse is less rigid than in Romeo and Juliet but experts agree that it is still blank verse.

      However, Shakespeare begins not with blank verse, but with something else entirely.

      The witches speak in a rhyming style – AABBBCDDEFGHH – which opens and closes with a rhyming couplet.

      The rhythm is also very different as it is a combination of trochaic (DUM de) and iambic (de DUM) rhythm. As normal speech is usually mainly iambic and does not rhyme, this separates the witches from normal people.

      Why does Shakespeare begin the play with such a different rhyme and rhythm? Because the language of the witches separates them from normal people. This is reinforced when the first thing that we notice when we read the text is the pathetic fallacy in the stage direction ‘Thunder and lightning’. Although this is not a spoken element of the text it is still a part of the text and therefore important in creating and shaping meaning and effect. The witches are abnormal – or ‘unnatural’ – and this difference is reflected in both the language and the setting. Shakespeare continues to use pathetic fallacy to foreshadow the stormy future of Scotland’s monarchy and the evil nature of the witches. The witches are currently meeting in thunder and lightning, travel through ‘fog and filthy air’ and plan to meet in ‘thunder, lightning, or in rain’ showing they are associated with dangerous, powerful forces and deeds now and in the future. Shakespeare also gives the witches the power to know the future and that the battle will be over ‘ere the set of sun’. This foresight is also shown in the witches’ line ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ which foreshadows and pre-echoes Macbeth’s very first line in Act 1 Scene 3, ‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’.

      Shakespeare’s intentions here are clear. He is setting up the character of the witches by showing the audience the extent of their power and leading the audience to believe them and fear them. Awareness of how he uses language, form and structure helps us to see more deeply into his intentions.

      Why else does he feel the need to open his play in this way? To answer we need to add in some of our knowledge from AO1 and AO2.

      Our knowledge of the context of production of the play tells us that Macbeth was written as a tribute to King James I/VI. He is even mentioned in the play.

      Macbeth is loosely based on the historical events of James’s family; Banquo is credited with being the founder of the Stuart line.

      As Macbeth the play is quite different from Macbeth the reality, opening the play with the witches helps create a sense of separation from reality and a connection to it through their accurate prophecies. Also, King James was a great believer in witchcraft and very much against the practice of it on religious grounds. This led to the banning of Macbeth for five years as he feared the spells were real.

      Our knowledge of the text also helps us to recognise that many of the main themes and elements of the play are referred to in the opening scene – witchcraft and the supernatural, Macbeth, prophecy, war and violence, deception and the idea that ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’.

      We have looked at how understanding language, structure and form (AO3) helps us to open up and understand the text (AO1) more deeply (AO2), helping us to inform a sensitive and personal response (AO4).

    • Assessment Objective 4 (AO4)



    • show/hide  Drama AO4 video transcript
      Drama AO4 

      The aim of this video is to give you and your learners a breakdown of Assessment Objective 4 and how it is assessed. However, remember that for each candidate answer, all four assessment objectives are considered by the examiner. The best candidate responses will consider all four when answering a question.

      Drama Assessment Objective 4

      AO4: Communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.

      Creating a sensitive and informed response to a Shakespeare play can seem daunting. The language is complex. Shakespeare was a poet and he loved to play with language and to create new words (neologisms) whenever he found the word he wanted did not exist. And the meanings in his texts are multiple and deep, and his characters are crafted with care and attention to detail.

      Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth are two of the most studied and performed of Shakespeare’s plays.

      So how do you manage to create a response that is personal as well as sensitive and informed?

      The informed element can be seen as the easiest element for candidates. An informed response will use the Assessment Objective 1 knowledge of the text in parallel with the Assessment Objective 3 understanding of language, form and structure, to relate the text to itself and its themes as we saw in the Assessment Objective 1 video example from Macbeth.

      A sensitive response requires candidates to then link their informed response with their Assessment Objective 2 knowledge of context. A personal response is more difficult to achieve at a higher level.

      Candidates will have to demonstrate a personal response sometimes directly (answering questions such as ‘What do you think?’, ‘What are your feelings about…?’) and sometimes by implication (answering questions such as ‘Explore the ways in which…’)

      Act 1 Scene 4

      Macbeth

      [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. One mistake candidates often make is losing an academic writing style to demonstrate their personal response: ‘I don’t like Macbeth because he is ambitious as we can see from the quote, “black and deep desires”’. Every time you perform a critical analysis you are giving a personal response. You have selected which quotes you believe are important to make your case. You have chosen which elements of the texts combine to further enhance your answer. ‘Macbeth is presented as an unlikable character because of his ambition. His “black and deep desires” create an image of a dark and ingrained evil that hungers for power.’

      Although this response is a personal response it is not yet informed or sensitive. Now we need to add our understanding of Assessment Objective 3 language, form and structure.

      ‘The adjectives “black” and “deep” connote a malevolence that goes to the core of Macbeth’s being. This combined with the plural abstract noun “desires” reflects his emotional hunger for power.’

      To develop this further, we add our Assessment Objective 1 knowledge of the text...

      Act 3 Scene 2

      Macbeth

      Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; And with thy bloody and invisible hand Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale! Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood: Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; While night's black agents to their preys do rouse. Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still; Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. So, prithee, go with me.

      ‘…The connection between darkness, evil and ambition is also seen in Act 3 Scene 2 when Macbeth refers to “night’s black agents”.’

      Act 1 Scene 5

      Lady Macbeth

      The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold!'

      ‘…This connection is further emphasised by Lady Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 5 as she calls for “thick night” to create a “blanket of the dark”.’

      Now we have a response that is personal and fairly well informed. All we need to do now is make it sensitive by adding some of our Assessment Objective 2 knowledge of context.

      ‘The connections between dark deeds and ambition could be seen to represent the political situation at the time Macbeth was written. King James I, for whom the play was written, had personal experience of the dangers of political ambition as both his parents were killed for political motives and he was the intended victim of the Gunpowder Plot. The fact that lexis such as “black” and “dark” is used by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, could be considered as associating them with witchcraft. Witchcraft, besides being a key theme of the play, was an area studied by James I and it is unsurprising that Shakespeare presented his main evil characters as in league with witches both literally and linguistically.’ ‘Although the modern western audience would not necessarily connect words such as black and dark with witchcraft, and the idea of witchcraft in the traditional sense is no longer accepted as real, the semantic association to bad deeds is still evident and the idea of malevolent beings is still scary’.

      Now we shall run through an example without breaking down the assessment objectives.

      Let’s imagine we have been asked who we think is the most important character in Romeo and Juliet.

      Before we start, ask yourself who you think is most important.

      Act 5 Scene 3

      Capulet

      O brother Montague, give me thy hand: This is my daughter's jointure, for no more Can I demand. Montague

      But I can give thee more: For I will raise her statue in pure gold; That while Verona by that name is known, There shall no figure at such rate be set As that of true and faithful Juliet. Capulet

      As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie; Poor sacrifices of our enmity! Prince

      A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head: Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished: For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. Exeunt

      ‘The title of the play, Romeo and Juliet, suggests to the audience that Romeo is more important as his name comes first. However, when we look at the final moments of the final scene we learn that our story of woe was of “Juliet and her Romeo”. This combination of Juliet being named first and the use of the possessive pronoun “her” to refer to Romeo demonstrates her greater importance in the story. This is further highlighted by Montague’s offer to build a statue to “true and faithful Juliet” which emphasises her positive qualities, and Capulet’s offer to build one for Romeo which will “by his lady’s lie” implying possession and giving Juliet the higher-status title. The building of a sonnet structure during the final 15 lines creates a sense of coming together which ends with Juliet as the higher-status character and is a counterpoint to the prologue’s “Two households. Both alike in dignity”.

      Furthermore, this is echoed in their death scenes.

      Act 4 Scene 3

      Juliet

      Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins, That almost freezes up the heat of life: I'll call them back again to comfort me: Nurse! What should she do here? My dismal scene I needs must act alone. Come, vial. What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then to-morrow morning? No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there. Laying down her dagger What if it be a poison, which the friar Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd, Because he married me before to Romeo? I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not, For he hath still been tried a holy man. How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point! Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes? Or, if I live, is it not very like, The horrible conceit of death and night, Together with the terror of the place,-- As in a vault, an ancient receptacle, Where, for these many hundred years, the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed: Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say, At some hours in the night spirits resort;-- Alack, alack, is it not like that I, So early waking, what with loathsome smells, And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, run mad:-- O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, Environed with all these hideous fears? And madly play with my forefathers’ joints? And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud? And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone, As with a club, dash out my desperate brains? O, look! methinks I see my cousin's ghost Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body Upon a rapier's point: stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee. She falls upon her bed, within the curtains

      Act 5 Scene 3

      Romeo

      In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face. Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris! What said my man, when my betossed soul Did not attend him as we rode? I think He told me Paris should have married Juliet: Said he not so? or did I dream it so? Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, To think it was so? O, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune's book! I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave; A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth, For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light. Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd. Laying PARIS in the tomb How oft when men are at the point of death Have they been merry! which their keepers call A lightning before death: O, how may I Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife! Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty: Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death's pale flag is not advanced there. Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet? O, what more favour can I do to thee, Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain To sunder his that was thine enemy? Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet, Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that, I still will stay with thee; And never from this palace of dim night Depart again: here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love! Drinks O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Dies

      Although Juliet’s death scene is less involved than Romeo’s, the fact that she dies by the blade implies that she is brave and determined, unlike Romeo who chooses the more simple and feminine method of poison. The parallel between Romeo’s drinking of the apothecary’s “quick” feminine poison in Act 5 Scene 3 despite having a masculine dagger, and Juliet’s pretend death by a non-fatal poison whilst prepared to use the masculine dagger in Act 4 Scene 3 also demonstrate Juliet as the braver and more grounded character. The contrast found within the series of rhetorical questions each character asks is also a stark one. While Romeo is focused on how Juliet can remain so “fair”, Juliet is considering the realities of her situation as she faces waking surrounded by “mangled Tybalt” and her “great kinsman’s bones”.

      We have looked at how writing an informed, sensitive and personal response (AO4) combines understanding language, structure and form (AO3) to help us open up and understand the text (AO1) more deeply (AO2).



  • Important notice

    We have selected a few of the Set Texts as an example of a type of activity teachers may use to engage their learners when introducing a Set Text. The content of these videos will need to be expanded on to cover what candidates are expected to know and be able to comment on in an examination.