Literature Paper 1: What’s in this exam?
Exam Date: Monday 22nd May (it’s the first English exam...)
1 hour 45 minutes
40% of Literature GCSE
Section A: Shakespeare
1 hour
Macbeth
One question to answer on your Shakespeare text. There is an extract in the
exam paper; you have to write in detail about the extract and also write about
the play as a whole.
30 marks
plus 4 SPAG marks
Section B: 19th Century Novel
A Christmas Carol
45 minutes
One question to answer on the Dickens novel. There is an extract in the exam
paper, you have to write in detail about the extract and also write about the
novel as a whole.
30 marks
Macbeth: Revision Tasks
Shaded tasks can be completed within 15 minutes
Find 5 key quotes (spread
throughout the play) about
Macbeth’s character.
Choose 2 of them to use to
write a full quote analysis
Look at Macbeth’s dagger
soliloquy (Act 2 Scene 1)
Using this as the extract,
plan an exam answer to a
question about Macbeth’s
state of mind. Which other
parts of the plot could you
bring in?
Make a mindmap exploring Look on youtube to find
the relationship between
revision videos of all sorts of
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. themes and characters. Use
Include contextual links –
an index card to make brief
are they a typical couple of and focused notes as you
the time?
watch.
Make yourself a podcast
Write an essay exploring
about the historical and
your view on the following
social context:
statement:
James I
“Lady Macbeth is the most
Witchcraft
important character in the
The Gunpowder Plot
play.”
Scotland
The Divine Right of Kings
Banquo as a historical link
Make a set of revision or
Write a revision index card
flashcards about each key
about the theme of trust.
character.
Plan an answer to the
following exam question:
“How does Shakespeare
show that ambition is the
most important theme in
the play?”
Make a character profile for
Banquo’s character – which
parts of the story is he
involved in, how is he an
important character…..
Choose a scene which is
focused on Lady Macbeth’s
character. Identify and
analyse 2 key quotations
which show that she is a
powerful character
If the exam question was
about Macbeth as a tyrant,
which parts of the play
would you use to support
your ideas?
Use the BBC Bitesize
website to explore the plot,
context, characters and
themes.
Make a powerpoint
explaining who you think is
most responsible for
Duncan’s death, Macbeth or
Lady Macbeth. Use textual
references to support your
ideas.
Write an article for a
broadsheet newspaper
giving your view on the
following statement:
“This play is about the
supernatural and the power
of witchcraft.”
A Christmas Carol: Revision Tasks
Shaded tasks can be completed within 15 minutes
Use a version of the audio
book online to ‘read’ the
book again – easily available
with a quick search
Plan an answer to an exam
question about Fred’s
character. How is he
important in the story?
Which sections of the book
would you want to write
about?
Use the revision videos
available on youtube to
revise a character or theme
you don’t feel you know
securely.
Make a revision index card
on each of these themes:
Christmas
Social inequality
Redemption
Change
Family
Draw an image of each of
the 4 ghosts as Dickens
describes them.
Condense the key events of
each scene into notes on a
post-it note
Look at the description of
the Cratchit Family
Christmas. Write a page
answering the question
‘Why does Dickens choose
to describe the meal in such
detail?’
Write an analysis of this
quotation from Bob
Cratchit:
Make an index card
detailing key quotations
about Scrooge’s feelings
throughout the novel
Write a negative review of A
Christmas Carol where you
argue that Dickens simplifies
the problems in Victorian
society.
Research why Dickens felt
such sympathy for
characters like Bob Cratchit
"I'll give you Mr. Scrooge, the
Founder of the Feast!"
Create an image for the
front cover of A Christmas
Carol which shows the key
themes and characters
without giving away the
storyline.
Find 10 quotations where
Dickens uses a language
feature (such as a simile).
Make a revision resource
where you design an image
or icon to match each
feature.
Plan an answer to an exam
question where the extract
is from Stave 5, showing
Scrooge’s transformed
character. Which other
sections of the story would
you write about?
Use the resources on BBC
Bitesize to complete some
revision
What do I get marks for?
In both sections of this exam, you are being tested on 3 key skill areas:
1. Develop a response to the question and use appropriate textual
references.
Worth 12 marks (out of 30)
A note on textual references:
When writing about the extract, use direct quotations.
When writing about the rest of the text, use your memory – if you remember a
quote, great, if not, write about the event, or what you do remember!
2. Analyse the language, form and structure of the text – how does the
writer create meanings and effects?
Worth 12 marks (out of 30)
3. Be able to relate (link) the text to the context in which it was written.
Worth 6 marks (out of 30)
Remember!
For the Shakespeare section, you are also awarded up to 4
marks for
your vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling. Don’t lose
these marks through sloppy writing habits.
Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question from this section on your chosen text.
Macbeth
Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 2 of Macbeth and then answer the question that follows.
Following the killing of King Duncan, Macbeth is worried about Banquo’s knowledge and suspicions of how King Duncan
died.
MACBETH
O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
LADY MACBETH But in them nature's copy's not eterne.
MACBETH
There's comfort yet; they are assailable;
Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown
His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.
LADY MACBETH What's to be done?
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.
Starting with this conversation, explain how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth.
Write about:

how Shakespeare presents their relationship in this speech

how Shakespeare presents their relationship in the play as a whole
Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question from this section on your chosen text.
EITHER
Macbeth
Read the following extract from Act 1 Scene 5 of Macbeth and then answer the question that
follows.
At this point, Lady Macbeth has received a letter from her husband telling her about the predictions
the witches made.
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' th' milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'ld'st have, great
Glamis,
That which cries, "Thus thou must do," if thou have it,
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And chastise with the valor of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.
Starting with this speech, explain how far you think Shakespeare presents ambition as the key
theme of the play
Write about:


how Shakespeare presents ambition in this speech
how Shakespeare presents ambition in the play as a whole
AQA-style question
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol
Read this extract from Stave Three of the novella then answer the question that follows.
In this extract, Scrooge is observing the Cratchit family during Christmas dinner,
accompanied by the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as
the greatest success achieved by Mrs Cratchit since their marriage. Mrs Cratchit said
that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had her doubts about
the quantity of flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or
thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy
to do so. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing.
At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire
made up. The compound in the jug being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and
oranges were put upon the table, and a shovel full of chestnuts on the fire. Then all
the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle,
meaning half a one; and at Bob Cratchit’s elbow stood the family display of glass.
Two tumblers, and a custard cup without a handle.
These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have
done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire
sputtered and cracked noisily. Then Bob proposed:
‘A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!’
Which all the family re-echoed.
‘God bless us every one!’ said Tiny Tim, the last of all.
Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the importance of family?
Write about:

how Dickens presents family in this extract

how Dickens presents family in the novel as a whole.
[30 marks]
Read this extract from Chapter 4 of A Christmas Carol and then answer the question that
follows.
In this extract, a group of businessmen are discussing the death of Scrooge’s character.
"No," said a great fat man with a monstrous chin," I don't know much about it, either way. I only
know he's dead."
"When did he die?" inquired another.
"Last night, I believe."
"Why, what was the matter with him?" asked a third, taking a vast quantity of snuff out of a very
large snuff-box. "I thought he'd never die."
"God knows," said the first, with a yawn.
"What has he done with his money?" asked a red-faced gentleman with a pendulous excrescence
on the end of his nose, that shook like the gills of a turkey-cock.
"I haven't heard," said the man with the large chin, yawning again. "Left it to his company,
perhaps. He hasn't left it to me. That's all I know."
This pleasantry was received with a general laugh.
"It's likely to be a very cheap funeral," said the same speaker; "for upon my life I don't know of
anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?"
"I don't mind going if a lunch is provided," observed the gentleman with the excrescence on his
nose. "But I must be fed, if I make one."
Another laugh.
"Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all," said the first speaker," for I never wear
black gloves, and I never eat lunch. But I'll offer to go, if anybody else will. When I come to think of
it, I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to stop and speak
whenever we met. Bye, bye."
Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the views of other characters towards
Scrooge?
Write about:
 How Dickens presents the views of the characters in the extract
 How Dickens presents the views of other characters in the novel as a whole
[30 marks]