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Extract analysis approach

GCSE · English Literature · AQA · P1.A — Section A — Shakespeare (one set play, closed text, 30 marks + 4 marks AO4)

Question

How should a student annotate a Shakespeare extract in the 5 minutes before writing? What should they look for? (8 marks equivalent)

Answer guidance:

  • Circle: unusual or charged words; repeated words; imagery.
  • Note: tone (aggressive, anxious, tender, ironic?); shifts in tone.
  • Mark: rhetorical devices (apostrophe, rhetorical question, list); word order (syntactic inversion).
  • Observe form: is it verse or prose? (In what context does prose appear?); rhyme (couplets signal a scene ending or witches); broken lines (verse interrupted = emotional instability).
  • Mark the passage's place in the play — what has just happened? What comes next? This helps you discuss the dramatic context.

8 marks · take your time before peeking.

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Generated by TopMyGrade AI · cross-check official sources before relying on the mark-scheme phrasing.