Why is AO3 particularly important in Section B?

Question 3 (8 marks)

Why is AO3 context especially important in Section B (19th-century prose) and what types of context are most relevant?

Mark scheme (8 marks):

• The social and historical world of 19th-century texts is very different from today — context explains choices that would otherwise seem strange or exaggerated; examiners expect rich contextual understanding (1–2 marks)
• Victorian class: rigid hierarchy; class determined education, marriage, legal rights; many texts explore class mobility or transgression (e.g., Christmas Carol — Scrooge's capitalism; Jekyll and Hyde — professional respectability) (1–2 marks)
• Victorian gender: women as property; "the angel in the house"; limited rights; many texts explore female transgression or constraint (e.g., Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice) (1–2 marks)
• Science and religion: Darwin's evolution (1859) — degeneration theory; the fear that humans might regress to animal states; relevant to Jekyll and Hyde; also Gothic conventions (1–2 marks)
• Poverty and social policy: the 1834 Poor Law; industrialisation; working-class conditions; relevant to Christmas Carol — Dickens's social campaigning directly shapes the text (1 mark)