How is analysing prose different from analysing drama?

Question 2 (8 marks)

Explain how the approach to analysing a prose extract differs from analysing a drama extract in Section A.

Mark scheme (AO2, 8 marks):

• Prose: analyse narrator perspective and narrative technique (first/third person, omniscient/limited); the narrative voice's attitude creates meaning independently of what characters say (1–2 marks)
• Prose: descriptive choices matter — setting, character appearance, the way action is described; the narrator's language reflects thematic concerns (1–2 marks)
• Drama: stage directions are written text and carry meaning — "Pause." / "She turns away." — physical actions are authored choices (1–2 marks)
• Drama: consider how lines would be delivered in performance; what the audience (not just the reader) would experience; dramatic irony — what the audience knows that characters don't; subtext — what characters mean beneath what they say (1–2 marks)