English Literature Example Questions

1. English Literature Example Questions Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls, Power & Conflict Poetry

2. Q: Starting with this speech, explain how far you think ​Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a hero. (34 marks) ​ MACBETH Bring me no more reports; let them fly all: ​Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, I cannot taint ​with fear (​I’m not worried until the wood comes to the ​hill)​. What's the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of ​woman? (​The witches second apparition – the bloody ​child: no one born of woman shall harm Macbeth). ​The ​spirits (​witches​) that know All mortal consequences ​(have power to see the future) ​have pronounced me ​thus: ‘Fear not, Macbeth; no man that's born of ​woman Shall e’er have power upon thee.’ Then fly (​go ​away)​, false thanes​ (those who give reports)​, And ​mingle with the English epicures ​(speak to the English ​soldiers – don’t trouble me)​: The mind I sway by and ​the heart I bear Shall never sag with doubt nor shake ​with fear (​I’m certain and of no doubt – you do not ​worry me)​. ​Enter a Servant ​The devil damn thee black ​(you are not to be trusted)​, ​thou cream-faced loon! ​(idiot) ​Where got’st thou that ​goose look? (​why look so worried)

3. Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that their fitness now 10 Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you 15 Have done to this. MACBETH Prithee, peace: I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none LADY MACBETH What beast was’t, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? 5 When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would . key vocabulary ambitious callous cold determined doubtful human condition humiliate indecisive manipulate manipulative resolute ridicule Shakespeare

4. Act 3, sc 2 LADY MACBETH You’ve gained nothing and spent everything. You get what you want and you’re still not happy. It’s better to be the person who gets murdered than to be the killer and be tormented with anxiety. Macbeth enters What’s going on, my lord? Why are you keeping to yourself, 5 with only your sad thoughts to keep you company? Those thoughts should have died when you killed the men you’re thinking about. If you can’t fix it, you shouldn’t give it a second thought. What’s done is done. MACBETH We have wounded the snake but not killed it. 10 It will heal and be as good as new, and we’ll be threatened by its fangs once again. But the universe can fall apart, and heaven and earth crumble, before I’ll eat my meals in fear and spend my nights 15 tossing and turning with these nightmares I’ve been having. I’d rather be dead Like those we have killed to gain our peace than endure this endless mental torture and harrowing sleep deprivation. Duncan lies in his grave, 20 through with life’s troubles, and he’s sleeping well. We have our worst with our treason: nothing –not weapons, poison, Not rebellion, invasion, or anything else can hurt him further • Q. Starting with this speech [AO2], explain how far you think Shakespeare presents Macbeth as troubled [AO1&3]. • Write about • How Shakespeare presents Macbeth in this speech; • How Shakespeare presents Macbeth in the play as a whole. 34 marks

5. I.vii it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: if the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, 5 But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice 10 Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, 15 Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking-off; 20 And pity, like a naked new-born babe,Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsedUpon the sightless couriers of the air,Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur 25To prick the sides of my intent, but onlyVaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itselfAnd falls on the other. Enter L Macbeth Q: Starting with this extract, explain how far Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a conflicted character? (34 marks)

6. This extract takes place before the killing of Duncan • Act 1 Scene 5. • The raven himself is hoarse, • That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan • Under my battlements. Come, you spirits • That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here • And fill me from the crown to the toe top full • Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, • Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse and • That no compunctious visitings of nature • Shake my fell purpose nor keep peace between • Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts • And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, • Wherever in your sightless substances • You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, • And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, • That my knife see not the wound it makes, • Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, • To cry, ‘Hold, hold.’ • Starting with this speech, explain how far you think • Shakespeare presentsLady Macbeth as powerful • woman. • Write about: • how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in this speech • how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth in the play as a whole. (34 marks)

7. Read this extract from Stave 2. • In this extract Scrooge is being taken back to his childhood at school. • To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness of his nature on such subjects, in a most extraordinary voice between laughing and crying; and to see his heightened and excited face; would have been a surprise to his business friends in the city, indeed. • “There’s the Parrot!” cried Scrooge. “Green body and yellow tail, with a thing like a lettuce growing out of the top of his head; there he is! Poor Robin Crusoe, he called him, when he came home again after sailing round the island. ‘Poor Robin Crusoe, where have you been, Robin Crusoe?’ The man thought he was dreaming, but he wasn’t. It was the Parrot, you know. There goes Friday, running for his life to the little creek! Halloa! Hoop! Halloo!” • Then, with a rapidity of transition very foreign to his usual character, he said, in pity for his former self, “Poor boy!” and cried again. • “I wish,” Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket, and looking about him, after drying his eyes with his cuff: “but it’s too late now.” • “What is the matter?” asked the Spirit. • “Nothing,” said Scrooge. “Nothing. There was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I should like to have given him something: that’s all.” • The Ghost smiled thoughtfully, and waved its hand: saying as it did so, “Let us see another Christmas!” • Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Scrooge’s growing self-awareness? • Write about: • how Dickens presents Scrooge in this extract • how Dickens presents Scrooge’s growing self-awareness in the novel as a whole. • 30 marks • 40 minutes

8. Read this extract from Stave 3. • In this extract Scrooge is shown his first love, Belle, and her family. • And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever, when the master of the house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside; and when he thought that such another creature, quite as graceful and as full of promise, might have called him father, and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life, his sight grew very dim indeed. • “Belle,” said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile, “I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.” • “Who was it?” • “Guess!” • “How can I? Tut, don’t I know?” she added in the same breath, laughing as he laughed. “Mr. Scrooge.” • “Mr. Scrooge it was. I passed his office window; and as it was not shut up, and he had a candle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him. His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear; and there he sat alone. Quite alone in the world, I do believe.” • “Spirit!” said Scrooge in a broken voice, “remove me from this place.” • “I told you these were shadows of the things that have been,” said the Ghost. “That they are what they are, do not blame me!” • “Remove me!” Scrooge exclaimed, “I cannot bear it!” • He turned upon the Ghost, and seeing that it looked upon him with a face, in which in some strange way there were fragments of all the faces it had shown him, wrestled with it. • “Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no longer!” • Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Scrooge’s distress? • Write about: • how Dickens presents Scrooge in this extract • how Dickens presents Scrooge’s distress in the novel as a whole. • 30 marks

9. Read this extract from Stave 1. • In this extract Scrooge is visited by his nephew, Fred • He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again. • “Christmas a humbug, uncle!” said Scrooge’s nephew. “You don’t mean that, I am sure?” • “I do,” said Scrooge. “Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.” • “Come, then,” returned the nephew gaily. “What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.” • Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said, “Bah!” again; and followed it up with “Humbug.” • “Don’t be cross, uncle!” said the nephew. • “What else can I be,” returned the uncle, “when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in ’em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will,” said Scrooge indignantly, “every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!” • “Uncle!” pleaded the nephew. • “Nephew!” returned the uncle sternly, “keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.” • Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Scrooge as a cold character? • Write about: • how Dickens presents Scrooge in this extract • how Dickens presents Scrooge’s coldness in the novel as a whole. • 30 marks • 40 minutes

10. Read this extract from Stave 3. • In this extract Scrooge is made aware of the terrible situation of the poor, especially children. • ‘Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,’ said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit’s robe, ‘but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?’ • ‘It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it,’ was the Spirit’s sorrowful reply. ‘Look here.’ • From the foldings of his robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of his garment. • ‘Oh, Man! Look here. Look, look, down here!’ exclaimed the Ghost. • They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked; and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread. • Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude. • Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Scrooge as prepared to learn? • Write about: • how Dickens presents Scrooge in this extract • how Dickens presents Scrooge’s willingness to learn in the novel as a whole. 30 marks40 minutes

11. Read this extract from Stave 4. • In this extract Scrooge is shown his own death by the final spirit. • Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, Ebenezer Scrooge. • “Am I that man who lay upon the bed?” he cried, upon his knees. • The finger pointed from the grave to him, and back again. • “No, Spirit! Oh no, no!” • The finger still was there. • “Spirit!” he cried, tight clutching at its robe, “hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope!” • For the first time the hand appeared to shake. • “Good Spirit,” he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: “Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!” • The kind hand trembled. • “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!” • Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Scrooge as a changed man? • Write about: • how Dickens presents Scrooge in this extract • how Dickens presents Scrooge’s changed personality in the novel as a whole.30 marks 40 minutes

12. Read this extract from Stave 2. • In this extract Scrooge is shown his past when he was employed by Mr Fezziwig. • During the whole of this time, Scrooge had acted like a man out of his wits. His heart and soul were in the scene, and with his former self. He corroborated everything, remembered everything, enjoyed everything, and underwent the strangest agitation. It was not until now, when the bright faces of his former self and Dick were turned from them, that he remembered the Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking full upon him, while the light upon its head burnt very clear. • “A small matter,” said the Ghost, “to make these silly folks so full of gratitude.” • “Small!” echoed Scrooge. • The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig: and when he had done so, said, • “Why! Is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?” • “It isn’t that,” said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self. “It isn’t that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ’em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” • He felt the Spirit’s glance, and stopped. • “What is the matter?” asked the Ghost. • “Nothing particular,” said Scrooge. • “Something, I think?” the Ghost insisted. • “No,” said Scrooge, “No. I should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. That’s all.” • Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present Scrooge changing? • Write about: • how Dickens presents Scrooge in this extract • how Dickens presents Scrooge changing in the novel as a whole.30 marks40 minutes

13. EITHER How and why does Sheila change in An Inspector Calls? Write about: • how Sheila responds to her family and to the Inspector • how Priestley presents Sheila by the ways he writes. [30 marks] AO4 [4 marks] OR Question 2 How does Priestley explore responsibility in An Inspector Calls? Write about: • the ideas about responsibility in An Inspector Calls • how Priestley presents these ideas by the ways he writes. [30 marks] AO4 [4 marks]

14. EITHER 01 How far does Priestley present Mrs Birling as an unlikeable character? Write about: • what Mrs Birling says and does in the play • how Priestley presents her by the ways he writes. [30 marks] AO4 [4 marks] OR 02 How does Priestley use the character of the Inspector to suggest ways that society could be improved? Write about: • what society is shown to be like in the play and how it might be improved • how Priestley presents society through what the Inspector says and does. [30 marks] AO4 [4 marks]

15. Either • How does Priestley explore the role of women in the play. • Write about: • Ideas about how women are presented • How Priestley present these ideas. • [30 marks] • AO4 [4 marks] • OR • ‘We really must stop these silly pretences’ How does Priestley suggest that people often pretend to be things they are not in the play? • Write about: • The ways characters are different from the impression they create • How Priestley presents these differences [30 marks] • AO4 [4 marks]

16. ‘Compare the way poets present the reality of conflict in ‘Bayonet Charge’ and one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict’ (30 marks) Compare the way power is presented in ‘Ozymandias’ and one other poem Compare the way poets present place in ‘London’ and one other poem. Compare the way poets present memories in ‘The Emigree’ and one other poem. Compare how the poem ‘Remains’ and one other poem explore the effects of conflict. • Compare the way poets present memories in ‘The Emigree’ and one other poem. • Compare the way poets present Loss in ‘Poppies’ and one other poem. • Compare how the reality of war is presented in ‘Exposure’ and one other poem. • Compare the way Power is presented in ‘London’ and one other poem.