ENGLISH LITERATURE PAPER 1

Important Information:

Exam: Tuesday 22nd May 2018. 9am. 1 hour and 45 minutes long. 2 questions. 64 marks -> 40% of the final grade. Mock exam for the whole paper on Thursday 8th

February 2018. English only parents update on Thursday 22nd

February 2018. Graded using the new 1-9 system. Mock papers and other resources are available on

the English curriculum website for additional study at home.

Colour Coding

AO1 = Focus on the question and use of quotes from the text.

A02 = Language analysis, devices/methods and the effect on the reader.

AO3 = Context (things which might have influences the writer).

You can see these in some of the answers below. The idea is that there should mostly be red to show students answering the task in detail and blue to show them analysing. Then we should have the other colours woven throughout their answer.

Every paragraph required red, purple and blue (apart from the introduction).

Macbeth

Answer A

To begin with, Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as an incredibly powerful woman, something quite surprising in the 1600s as women were stereotypically expected to be meek and submissive, whereas she manipulates her husband and persuades him into murder. However, by the end of the play, Shakespeare makes Lady Macbeth the antithesis of this, presenting her as weak and vulnerable, overcome by guilt. Perhaps Shakespeare is giving a clear warning here about women trying to break the clearly defined roles of society.

In the play, therefore, Shakespeare’s opening chiastic chant of ‘fair is foul and foul is fair’ can be applied not only to Macbeth’s own rise and fall, but to Lady

Macbeth’s portrayal as both the ‘foul’ powerful driving force behind the couple’s ambition and the ‘fair’ stereotypical weaker woman.

In Act I, Scene 5, when the audience first meet Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare immediately establishes her as a powerful woman. Her imperative to the ‘spirits’ to ‘unsex me here’ shows how she wishes to shed her femininity for a more masculine persona in order to carry out the plan of murder. Her instant connection to these ‘spirits’ emphasises her betrayal of God, whose role in society was at its peak in the 1600s, as she turns against the moral religious viewpoint and instead turns to supernatural creatures – things that were feared the most in this period. Her desire to be powerful is highlighted by Shakespeare’s continual deconstruction of the most feminine imagery – her breastmilk is turned to ‘gall’ and he highlights her ‘thick… blood’, a metaphor for the removal of her woman’s cycle. This dark desire to be less of a woman is shocking to any audience, but especially to those of the 1600s, where the Great Chain of Being dictated a woman’s place in the home as mother and caregiver, not as one to break free of her role as dictated by God.

Furthermore, when speaking of her husband, Lady Macbeth disregards all propriety and claims that she will ‘pour my spirits in thine ear.’ Here, Shakespeare cleverly weaves intertextuality into his play, referencing Hamlet which was published four years earlier. In this tragedy, Kind Claudius dies through poison in the ear, instantly linking Lady Macbeth’s manipulative words to a toxic poison. As such, she intends to contaminate ‘noble Macbeth’ with her venomous words and persuade him into killing the King. She wishes to kill Macbeth’s honour and loyalty until she has corrupted his goodness with her dark wishes.

Two scenes later, this is exactly what we see. Shakespeare develops the power of Lady Macbeth by showing her manipulation of her husband, shockingly disrespecting him. Lady Macbeth taunts her husband’s lack of ‘act and valour’ and accuses him of being less of a ‘man’. Shakespeare’s use of a hyper-masculine semantic field in this scene is the clearest indicator of the power she holds over her husband at this point, but Shakespeare also manipulates the rhythm of this scene, ending each of Lady Macbeth’s lines on the masculine foot of an iamb, while Macbeth’s regularly fall on the feminine ending. This shows us that Lady Macbeth’s power at this point in the play is not just an ethereal, evil force that she has called on, but also the very real power of her words and persuasion (possibly the only feminine feature she retains). Just as

Lady Macbeth planned, Macbeth falls foul of her taunting him and, eager to prove that he is strong and worthy, he agrees to her plan.

After being presented in such a powerful way, the audience might expect this to continue throughout the play, however, towards the end she is clearly consumed by guilt and all her power has fled. In Act 5, during an episode of sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth screams ‘Out damned spot, out I say!’ and claims that ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ Her continual references to imaginary blood on her hands, suggests that she has been stained and tainted by her actions, never to be as innocent as she was once. Her desperate actions of washing are a futile attempt to cleanse herself of the sin that she has committed but, after rejecting her God, she will never be pure again. In fact, as a hand is a typical symbol of one’s identity, it shows how far her identity has changed – she is not powerful or dominating at all, she is just a guilt-ridden woman. Furthermore, her reference to ‘perfume’ could arguably represent her regret at trying to break the boundaries of a woman as she wishes to return to being feminine once again. However, this is not possible – she cannot undo what she has done shown by the reference to ‘Arabia’, which highlights how she can’t escape her fate as there is nowhere in the world, even somewhere as exotic as Arabia, that she can run to. She is now a shadow of the powerful woman she once was with her ‘little’ hand emphasising her vulnerability, although perhaps not leading the audience to sympathy but rather to feel vindicated as she has ultimately gotten what she deserved.

Lady Macbeth provides audiences with an interesting character study of those who come into power through illicit means, rather than earning it legitimately. Although her swift rise to power and influence can at first seem frightening, her character arc concludes with a somewhat satisfying denouement, as Shakespeare shows us the true danger of breaking the natural order of things and attempting to claim more power than is manageable for any one person.

Notes on Answer A

Answer B

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman, something quite surprising in the 1600s as women were expected to be submissive to their husbands, whereas she manipulates her husband and persuades him into murder. However, by the end of the play, Shakespeare makes Lady Macbeth the opposite of this, showing how her guilt has made her weak not powerful.

In Act I, Scene 5, when the audience first meet Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare immediately presents her as a powerful woman. She uses imperative language telling the ‘spirits’ to ‘unsex me here.’ This shows how she wishes to get rid of her feminine side for a more masculine side so that she can go ahead and murder the King. By linking to the ‘spirits’ she is betraying God as she is believing in the supernatural instead. Things like witches were really feared in the 1600s and they were still being hunted so this would make the audience afraid of Lady Macbeth and what she could do. She also asks the spirits to ‘take

Notes on Answer A

my milk for gall.’ This suggests that she wants her milk gone as it is too kind and nurturing. Instead, she wants poison in her body to make her evil. This would be shocking to any audience, but especially to those of the 1600s, where the Great Chain of Being stated that woman’s place was in the home.

Furthermore, when speaking of her husband, Lady Macbeth is disrespectful and says the that she will ‘pour my spirits in thine ear.’ By being able to put her ‘spirits’ in his ear, it suggests that Lady Macbeth’s words that she whispers to him are evil just like the spirits. They will turn the ‘noble Macbeth’, who has honour and loyalty, into someone much darker.

In Act 1, Scene 7, Shakespeare develops the power of Lady Macbeth because she manipulates her husband. Lady Macbeth calls her husband a ‘coward’ and says that when he ‘durst do it then you were a man.’ This shows that she is taunting her husband and says that he isn’t masculine enough. This would offend Macbeth as he has just returned from war as a heroic warrior. This shows her manipulation as, just as Lady Macbeth planned, Macbeth falls foul of her taunting him and, eager to prove that he is strong and worthy, he agrees to her plan.

However, towards the end she is clearly feeling guilty and she is not very powerful at all. In Act 5 Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and says ‘Out damned spot, out I say!’ By imagining blood on her hand, this shows that she has been stained by her evil deeds and cannot be an innocent woman again. She also claims that ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ By continually trying to wash her hands it shows how she is attempting to cleanse herself but she will never be pure again as she has turned her back on her King and her God. Furthermore, her reference to ‘perfume’ could represent how she regrets her actions and wishes that she could return to being feminine once again. However, this is not possible – she cannot undo what she has done. This is shown by saying ‘Arabia’, as she can’t escape her guilt, even to somewhere as far away as Arabia. She is shown to be weak now, not powerful, and calls her hand ‘little’, which emphasises her vulnerability. That audience however would not feel much sympathy for her but instead think that she got what she deserves.

In conclusion, Lady Macbeth might be a key part of Shakespeare’s message for the play. This could be that if you try to take power when it doesn’t belong to you, you will pay the price.

Answer C

Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman at the start but at the end she is not powerful anymore because she feels too guilty. In the 1600s, women were expected to do as they were told by their husbands but Lady Macbeth doesn’t do these which is what makes her guilty and crazy at the end.

At the start, Lady Macbeth wants to be less female because she thinks that it makes her week. She says ‘unsex me here’ telling evil spirits to make her more like a man so that she can be strong and powerful. The audience would be shocked at this because anything to do with witches made people really afraid at this time. By not wanting to be a woman and talking to evil spirits, the audience would think that Lady Macbeth was very powerful to be able to do this.

Notes on Answer B

She also says ‘take my milk for gall.’ This suggests that she wants her milk gone as it is too kind and is used to look after babies. She thinks that this makes women weak because they love the baby too much. She wants to be evil not weak so she wants poison in her body instead. There was the Great Chain of Being in the 1600s and that said you have to stay where you are and not try to change.

Later on, Lady Macbeth says that Macbeth is a ‘coward’. This would offend him because he was given lots of praise in the war at the start. People thought that he was strong and brave. She also says ‘when you durst do it then you were a man.’ She is teasing and bullying her husband here by saying that he isn’t man enough to kill the King. This is clever because Macbeth will want to prove that he is man enough so he will do what she says and kill the King.

At the end of the play, Lady Macbeth loses all her power. She says the line ‘Out damned spot, out I say!’ She is imagining blood on her hands because she can’t escape what she has done. She sees it every day. The ‘spot’ means that she has a stain on her, not a real one, but on her goodness because she has done something evil. She also claims that ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ By talking about ‘perfume’ it shows how she wishes she could go back to being a quiet, weak woman. She wishes that she never tried to be powerful. She knows that she can’t go back on what she has done. Instead, she wishes that she could go to Arabia and escape her actions but she can’t because she will always feel guilty.

In conclusion, Lady Macbeth has power but then she loses it because she feels bad about what she has done. The reader would be angry with Lady Macbeth for trying to get more power when she should have stayed as a quiet woman.

Notes on Answer C

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

Answer A

Throughout the novel, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevenson characterises Mr Hyde as a dangerous and violent brute who does not comply with society’s expectations, thus causing him to be a frightening outsider. Stevenson focuses on his physical appearance, his vicious actions and his dishonest and immoral ways.

Right from the beginning of the novel, in chapter one, Stevenson establishes Mr Hyde as a cruel and dangerous character who ‘trampled calmly’ over a small girl and left her ‘screaming’. Here, an immediate portrayal of Mr Hyde is crafted as the oxymoron ‘trampled calmly’ implies not only Hyde’s ability to

Notes on Answer C

crush the girl ruthlessly and without mercy but also the sense that he did so without any care or consideration, feeling no remorse for his actions. The most appalling thing presented by Stevenson, however, is the fact that Hyde did such a despicable thing to a defenceless child, generally considered to be innocent and fragile. Whilst most Victorian men were concerned with a reputation of generosity and morality, Hyde seems to be the complete opposite right from the outset, establishing him quickly as the villain of this Gothic text.

As the reader moves into chapter 2, Stevenson focuses on the physical appearance of Hyde and reaction of the narrator, Mr Utterson, who reacts to Mr Hyde with ‘disgust, loathing and fear.’ These three negative adjectives allow Stevenson to immediately present Hyde as someone who strikes revulsion and hatred in even the most professional and placid people, such as Mr Utterson, ‘the lawyer’, someone who is typically considered to be composed and poised. Stevenson continues to portray Hyde’s appearance using the metaphor, ‘Satan’s signature upon a face.’ The alliterative phrase draws the reader’s attention to the use of ‘Satan’ which strongly connotes a sense of evil within Mr Hyde. As the lead figure of hell and all sinners, ‘Satan’ implies that Mr Hyde is the embodiment of evil himself. By having his ‘signature upon his face’ it suggests that Satan has already signed him over the dark side and sealed his fate as someone who is bound by malice and brutality. Furthermore, due to the strict religious requirements of the Victorian period, the reference to ‘Satan’ would cause intense concern and fear in the reader as they strongly believed in heaven and hell. In fact, most people were conscious of their behaviour, in order to get into heaven, unlike Hyde who disregards all of the rules of society, causing him to be an outsider, and a frightening one with no boundaries at that.

After developing the description of Hyde’s physical features, Stevenson returns once again to his aggressive behaviour and actions. After foreshadowing, through the trampling of the girl, that Hyde might escalate his actions and kill someone, Stevenson reveals just that in chapter four when his violence becomes out of control and he murders Sir Danvers. During the murder, and in other parts of the book, Stevenson uses a semantic field of animal imagery to portray Hyde: he behaves with ‘ape-like fury’ and in his meeting with Utterson, he ‘snarled aloud into a savage laugh.’ Both the simile linking him to an ‘ape’ and the verb ‘snarled’ portray his animalistic and uncontrollable behaviour. By linking him to an animal, rather than a human – something Utterson supports

by recognising him as ‘hardly human’ – Stevenson evokes a sense of him being an outsider. His snarling mirrors his aggressive behaviour and the adjective ‘savage’ again separates him from society as someone who is wild and unrestrained, whereas everyone else is focused on being tame and respectable. Furthermore, the way he ‘clubbed’ Sir Danvers highlights the cruelty of Hyde as he maximizes damage to his victim. It makes him sound primitive and undeveloped, like a caveman, whose primal instincts have taken over, something which was very prevalent at this time after Darwin published

his Theory of Evolution. The contrast between Hyde and other gentlemen of the era not only establishes Hyde as a frightening outsider but also links into Stevenson’s key theme of duality which runs throughout the book. Hyde is the opposite of respectable society, causing him to be ostracised. Influenced by his own rejection of Edinburgh’s strict rules, Stevenson may have been keen to explore the darkness within all of us. This marked a shift in the gothic genre, which previously focused on dark supernatural creatures to exploring the binary opposites within all of us instead. In chapter ten, Dr Jekyll confesses to his ‘profound duplicity’ evidencing how Jekyll, and therefore possibly Stevenson himself, believed that we have two sides – one good and one evil within us. Interestingly, ‘duplicity’ also has connotations of deceit and dishonesty, linking to the darker side of Jekyll’s character – Mr Hyde – whose treachery begins to control Jekyll by the end of the book, leading not only Hyde to be outcast from society but also Jekyll as well.

In 1886, this ending would have provided tension and suspense, particularly when revealed that Stevenson’s hostile and isolated Mr Hyde was actually the respected Dr Jekyll. This may have caused shockwaves in the religious Victorian society as the reader would greatly disapprove of Hyde’s satanic character who is ‘like a madmen’, evoking ideas of a crazed and frenzied creature. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Hyde will continually be viewed as a frightening outsider, feared and ostracised by readers throughout time.

Notes on Answer A

Answer B

In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevenson presents Mr Hyde as a dangerous and violent character who doesn’t fit in with the typical Victorian society of being a gentleman, making him a frightening outsider. Stevenson focuses on his physical appearance, his violent actions and his lack of morals.

In chapter one, Stevenson immediately shows how violent Mr Hyde is as he ‘trampled calmly’ over a small ‘girl’ and injured her. Stevenson uses the oxymoron of ‘trampled calmly’ to show how brutal and dangerous Mr Hyde is as he caused great pain to the girl and showed little sense of regret afterwards. The reader would be completely appalled at his actions, especially as he did this to a defenceless child, someone who is innocent and fragile. In the Victorian era, men were supposed to build a good reputation but Mr Hyde

Notes on Answer A

does the opposite and because he does not fit in he quickly becomes a frightening outsider.

In chapter two, Stevenson describes how Mr Hyde looks. Mr Utterson, who is a calm and collected ‘lawyer’ says that he felt ‘disgust, loathing and fear’ when he saw Mr Hyde. These adjectives suggest that Mr Hyde makes even the most professional people feel repulsed, showing that he is not a typical gentleman of the time. We are also told that he had ‘Satan’s signature upon a face.’ The use of Satan gives clear connotations of evil within Mr Hyde. He is known to be the leader of hell and all things terrible, making Mr Hyde sound like he is equally evil. The idea of a ‘signature’ makes it seem like Mr Hyde has been signed by Satan to do evil deeds on his behalf. The use of Satan would shock and scare the Victorian reader as they were very religious and would not want contact with anyone related to Satan. Most Victorians believed in the idea of the stiff upper lip and being a good member of society but Mr Hyde goes against all of this.

Later on in the book, Mr Hyde develops his violence even further and murders Sir Danvers. When he kills him, he is described with ‘ape-like fury’ which uses animal imagery to suggest that Mr Hyde is animalistic and uncontrollable. By linking him to an animal, Stevenson makes him seem like an outsider who isn’t capable of being a human being and so he will never fit into society. When he killed Sir Danvers, he ‘clubbed’ him showing just how brutal he is. It makes him sound primitive and undeveloped, like a caveman, showing that Mr Hyde is incapable of developed human emotions like compassion and regret. At the time, the Jack the Ripper murders were just surfacing so the audience would

be even more frightened of Hyde’s behaviour. In the last chapter, Stevenson says how the potion Jekyll used to transform is used to show how when Jekyll becomes Hyde he loses his morals and becomes an outcast in society. This links in with the key theme of duality as it shows how we all have good and evil. The potion has ‘salt of a white colour’ and a ‘blood-red liquor’. The colour ‘white’ shows the good side of Jekyll and how he has the ability to be kind and caring. However, the ‘red’ colour contrasts this and shows the darker, more evil side which is when Hyde comes out. The colour also represents a warning that losing your morals is dangerous and leads to pain and suffering. Perhaps, in 1886, a time of great religion, this was a message taken very seriously by the reader – stick to your goodness and honesty or you will become an outsider in society like Mr Hyde.

Answer C

Mr Hyde is presented as a dangerous and violent character. He causes pain to people and even murders someone. At the time people were very religious and wanted a good reputation but Mr Hyde does not fit in with this and goes against it.

Mr Hyde is presented as a very violent character. We are told this in the quote ‘trampled calmly’. The verb ‘trampled’ shows how dangerous and harsh Mr Hyde is as he really hurt the girl. The adverb ‘calmly’ shows that he didn’t care that he hurt her, he just wanted to cause pain. The fact that she is a girl makes it worse because she didn’t do anything wrong to deserve what Mr Hyde has done. This would shock the reader as you were meant to be a gentleman in the Victorian time but Mr Hyde isn’t.

Notes on Answer B

Mr Hyde is presented as a frightening person because of the way he looks. ‘Disgust, loathing and fear’ shows that when people see Mr Hyde they can’t stand to look at him because he looks so evil. He is also compared to the ‘devil’. The devil is the evillest and worst person that there is so by comparing him to this it shows what a terrible person it is. This is really shocking to the reader when we know that they are the same person because Dr Jekyll always seemed so nice. In the Victorian times, people were really religious so they would not want anything to do with anyone who is like the devil.

Mr Hyde then kills a man called Sir Danvers. When he kills him the quote ‘ape-like fury’ is used. This shows that Mr Hyde is like an animal and is wild and can’t be controlled. It makes him seem more like an animal than a human. The writer also uses the word ‘clubbed’. This is what he does when he murders someone. This makes him sound like a caveman, like he hasn’t developed enough to know that murder is wrong. This links to Jack the Ripper who started killing about this time so the reader would be scared because they might link Mr Hyde to Jack the Ripper.

Notes on Answer C