Year 13

COMPARATIVE ESSAY STUDY GUIDE

Paper 2

2015

Contents

Themes 3

Style 9

Action 13

Character 16

Setting 21

Comparative Essay Questions 29

Performance Criteria 30

Revision Guide 34

Oxford Revision Guide 36

Drama Terminology 51

Essay Examples 64

Themes

The conclusions we take away with us at the end.

• Ideas through a longer piece of writing become themes • Many ideas can branch out from one main one. • All events, all situations have ideas attached to them

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What are the significant ideas that are presented in this text?

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Text Two _______________________________________

What are the significant ideas that are presented in this text?

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TEXT 1 Theme Evidence

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TEXT 2 Theme Evidence

Select the most important quotations that support similar themes

Theme TEXT 1 pg TEXT 2 pg

What are the different elements of both texts? Include evidence.

Text 1 Text 2

Style

How it is all communicated?

• Genre and form of text • Use of punctuation • Use of imagery and symbolism • Sentence structure – short, complicated, non-sentences, enjambment • Tone • Narration style – 1st, 2nd or 3rd;changes • Figurative language eg simile, metaphor, personification • Sounds of words eg onomatopoeia, assonance, alliteration, consonance • Use of emotive or biased language, positive, negative or neutral • Rhyme and rhythm • Juxtaposition and contrast • Allusions to other literary works, characters, myths etc • Use of description, adjectives and appeal to senses • Use of persuasive language – subjective language eg hyperbole, magic realism • Use of rhetoric questions, statements, commands • Use of humour in its various forms eg sarcasm, wit, puns, oxymorons, irony • Dramatic techniques such as lighting, catharsis, chorus, dialogue, gesticulation etc. • Cinematographic techniques

List significant techniques used by the playwright / director. Remember to also refer to the genre / style of the text. The criterion explicitly refers to an analysis of how language, style, structure and techniques are used by the creator to infer meaning to the audience.

Text 1 Text 2

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TEXT 1 Theme Technique Evidence Effect on the audience

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TEXT 2 Theme Technique Evidence Effect on the audience

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Brainstorm a response to the following question. Create an essay plan that responds to the questions. Make specific reference to theme and style.

It is said that playwrights / directors are the conscience of the world. In what ways have at least two of the works you have studied encouraged you to appreciate or question this assertion.

Introduction- THESIS Para 1

Para 2

Para 3

Para 4

Para 5

Conclusion

Action

What happens … the plot

• Nature of conflict eg external, internal • Orientation, rising complication, climax, resolution, denouement • Outside events that are ‘contextual’ eg already taken place, current events in society,

predicted events • Parallel plotting, linear plots, use of flashback etc

Define the following terms. Give examples to the texts if applicable.

External conflict

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Internal Conflict

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Orientation / Exposition

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Rising Complication

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Climax

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Resolution

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Denouement

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Parallel plotting

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Linear plot

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Flashbacks

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Flash Forwards

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Catharsis

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Detail the significant points of action throughout both texts:

Text 1 Text 2 Orientation / Exposition

Rising complication

Climax

Resolution

Denouement

Character

Consider the following about characters:

• History • What others say about them • How they say it; tone of voice and use of language • Their gestures and the way they move • Relationships with other characters • Appearance eg age, race, demeanour • What they say ie the dialogue; what is revealed about them eg values, hopes

Define the following:

Antagonist

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Protagonist

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Dynamic

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Flat

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Minor

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Round

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Static

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Hero

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TEXT 1 Character Development / technique / evidence

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TEXT 2 Character Development / technique / evidence

Compare / contrast characters

Character Text 1 Text 2

Setting

Where and when did it take place? Don’t just think physical location, although that is important too. Also consider:

• Social setting • Historic setting • Economic setting

• Moral setting • Political setting • Philosophical setting

Define the following:

Social setting

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Historic setting

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Economic setting

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Moral setting

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Political setting

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Philosophical setting

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SOCIAL SETTING Text 1

Text 2

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HISTORICAL SETTING Text 1

Text 2

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ECONOMIC SETTING Text 1

Text 2

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MORAL SETTING Text 1

Text 2

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POLITICAL SETTING Text 1

Text 2

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PHILOSPHICAL SETTING Text 1

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Text 1 Text 2 Comparisons

Differences

Comparative Essay Questions

1. Discuss the use and effects of conflict or confrontation in plays you have studied.

2. ‘Characters in a play are often motivated by strong passions or desires’ Compare and contrast plays you have studied in light of this statement. Discuss, in each case, the dramatic effects created by the exploration of such motivation.

3. Referring closely to at least two of the works in your study show to what extent and in what ways dramatists use the irrational behavior of their characters to further the action of their plays.

4. Is the action that happens off-stage as important as that which happens on the stage? Refer closely to at least two of the works you have studied.

5. Most plays have stage directions; some have none or almost none. What do you see as the relevance of stage directions in at least two plays you have studied?

6. Plays frequently explore moral or ethical dimensions of choices people make. Discuss in at least two plays the dramatic handling of such issues.

7. Some plays appeal more to the head than the heart more to the head than the heart, while others seem to want to evoke an emotional response. Referring to at least two works you have studied, discuss with specific evidence the ways in which playwrights have appealed either to the “heads” or the “hearts” of their audiences, or to both.

8. Drama sometimes invites us to become acquainted with times and cultures not our own. What particular situations perhaps different to your own circumstances have at least two playwrights included in their plays and by what dramatic means have they delivered them to their audiences?

9. “The success of a play depends not on our liking, or approving of, the characters but on whether we recognize in them something of ourselves.” Say how far you would agree or not with this view of characters in two or three plays you have studied, discussing how characters are presented and with what effect.

10. “Plays are rarely entirely tragic or comic, but a mixture of the two.” Using two or three plays you have studied, say how far you would agree with this statement, supporting your view with address of both content and form.

12. “It is through speech primarily that a dramatist reveals who his characters are.” Using at least two works you have studied, show how far you can agree that this is a valid statement about the writing of plays.

13. The audience’s expectation and the fulfilment or reversal of expectation are both used by playwrights. How have at least two of the plays you have studied satisfied or disappointed expectation, and with what effect?

14. Plays which succeed with audiences must communicate some aspects of the thoughts and motivations of characters. How far and by what means have dramatists in your study conveyed the interior lives of their characters?

15. The performance of a play usually offers the audience some interval(s) or relief from dramatic tension. Compare and contrast plays which you have studied by discussing the breaks that have been indicated in the action in each play (or the lack of them) and the dramatic effects achieved.

16. “The compulsion to talk,” to tell one’s story, or the stories of others might be seen as very important to the construction of plays. How far has the telling of stories been important to at least two plays you have studied and how have the “stories” been effectively delivered through theatre?

17. The climax of a dramatic work does not always occur in a fixed or expected place. Comparing at least two works you have studied, discuss the placement of the climactic moment of the plays and the effects on dramatic action.

18. “On the stage character must be created solely through action, behavior and speech” Compare the skill with which dramatists create our impression the characters in two or three plays you have studied.

19. “All plays pose questions about the world, yet some questions are easier to ignore than others.” In light of this statement, evaluate the questions raised in two or three plays and show how and to what degree these issues are explored.

TEMPLATE FOR ESSAY PLAN

ESSAY QUESTION

KEY WORDS

SYNONYMS FOR KEY WORDS

PROCESSES (VERBS)

ESSAY QUESTION TYPE

PLAYS USED FOR PLAN

THESIS IN ONE SENTENCE

TOPIC SENTENCES (6 OR 7) WITH FOUR QUOTATION

SNIPPETS PER PARAGRAPH

COMPLETE INTRODUCTION

LAST LINE OF YOUR ESSAY