Take this Quiz: A-Level English Literature: building a comparative argument | Zestly

Question 1

Candidate A writes: 'This essay will explore the theme of ambition in Macbeth.' Candidate B writes: 'Macbeth’s ambition is not a singular flaw but a reactive force, triggered by the intersection of supernatural prophecy and his own latent insecurity.' Which statement is more effective for an A-Level essay?

Accepted Answer

Candidate B, because it presents a specific, arguable thesis rather than a descriptive topic announcement.

Answer

Candidate A, because it clearly states the topic of the essay.

Answer

Candidate A, because it is more concise and avoids unnecessary academic jargon.

Answer

Candidate B, because it uses more complex vocabulary to impress the examiner.

Question 2

A candidate writes: 'In the final scene, Lear carries Cordelia's body onto the stage and cries out in grief, showing that he has lost his mind.' The sentence is accurate but it is not analysis. Which revision changes that?

Accepted Answer

'Lear enters carrying the body himself, so that the last image of a king is of an old man doing the work of a servant — and his repeated "Never" refuses the consolation the ending might have offered.'

Answer

'Lear carries Cordelia's body onto the stage, which is one of the saddest moments in all of Shakespeare.'

Answer

'Lear carrying Cordelia's body shows that he is a father who loved his daughter after all.'

Answer

'Lear carries Cordelia's body onto the stage, which proves that the play belongs to the genre of tragedy.'

Question 3

A student claims: 'Keats presents the nightingale as a symbol of eternal, unchanging beauty.' Which of the following quotations best supports this specific claim?

Accepted Answer

'Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!'

Answer

'Forlorn! the very word is like a bell'

Answer

'Darkling I listen; and, for many a time'

Answer

'Was it a vision, or a waking dream?'

Question 4

A candidate argues that 'Wuthering Heights makes the love between Catherine and Heathcliff a matter of identity rather than of affection.' Which use of evidence serves that argument better?

Answer

A long block quotation of Catherine's whole speech to Nelly, set out on its own and followed by the comment 'this shows their love is very strong'.

Answer

Three words woven into the sentence — that Catherine does not say she loves him but that 'I am Heathcliff' — with the argument built around the verb.

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The long quotation, because it proves to the examiner that the candidate has read the novel closely.

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The short quotation, because it leaves more room in the essay for an account of what happens next.

Question 5

Two sentences about Tennyson's line 'The moan of doves in immemorial elms, / And murmuring of innumerable bees'. (1) 'Tennyson uses alliteration and assonance here.' (2) 'The hum of the m and n sounds runs unbroken through both lines, so that the ear is given the drowsiness the words describe before the sense of them has been taken in.' Why is the second better?

Answer

Because it uses more sophisticated critical vocabulary than the first.

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Because it says what the sound actually does to a reader, rather than only naming the device — the identification is where the first sentence stops and the second starts.

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Because it is longer, and length is rewarded.

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Because it avoids naming any technique at all, which examiners prefer.

Question 6

A student writes: 'In Jane Eyre, Jane is independent, whereas in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth is also independent.' What is the primary flaw in this comparative approach?

Answer

It does not mention the authors of the novels.

Answer

It focuses too much on the plot of the books.

Answer

It compares 'what' happens (both are independent) rather than 'how' the authors construct that independence through different narrative methods.

Answer

It is too short to be a proper comparison.