Prose and Drama Advice

Question 1

What do “how” questions want you to think about?

Answer 1

The writer’s techniques and literary features

Question 2

What do you look at to find how things are presented in a text?

Answer 2

The use of language, structure and form to present things

Question 3

Can you use words such as “I”?

Answer 3

No. Use words such as the “reader” instead

Question 4

How does an author get messages across about a character?

Answer 4

Describing their appearance, through actions and dialogue and their treatment and attitudes with other characters.

Question 5

What do you need to consider when answering “Why is the character important?” questions?

Answer 5

• How they affect the plot
• What is their role
• If they represent a particular point of view
• What would happen if they weren’t there

Question 6

What do you need to consider when answering “Does the character change over the course of the story?” questions?

Answer 6

• Does the character learn anything
• Does their personality or behaviour change
• Are the changes positive or negative
• How do these changes affect the character

Question 7

What do you need to consider when answering “How does the writer reveal the character’s personality?” questions?

Answer 7

• how are the character’s actions and experiences presented

- Is the reader’s view of the character the same as the other characters’ view of them?

Question 8

What do you need to consider when answering “How is the character similar or different to other characters?” questions?

Answer 8

• How does the character relate to other characters?
• Do differences between characters impact on the plot?
• What is the writer showing us through these differences?

Question 9

What do you need to consider when answering “Does the reader like or sympathise with the character?” questions?

Answer 9

• Why does the reader feel that way about the character
• How does the writer shape the reader’s feelings about the character
• how does the reader’s opinion of the character affect their opinion of the text as a whole

Question 10

What are the key writer’s techniques?

Answer 10

• Language (shows class etc.)
• Imagery
• Sentence structure
• Descriptions and settings
• Symbolism (reinforce themes or suggest something is going to happen)
• Structure and order of events (use of foreshadowing or flashbacks)

Question 11

What should you ask yourself when reviewing context questions?

Answer 11

• Where is the text set? (Is it off own experiences?)
• When was the text written? (What was happening at the time, what was society like?)
• When does the story take place?
• What do you know about the writer? (Background, country)
• What genre is the text part of? (Based off another novel, part of a literary movement)

Question 12

What issues can a text raise?

Answer 12

• Social or cultural issues
• Historical of political issues
• Moral issues
• Philosophical issues

Question 13

What themes should you assess in the text?

Answer 13

• Fate (do we control our lives)
• Gender (inequality and differences in roles)
• Social class (impact and importance)
• Ambition (good or bad or uncontrollable)
• Love (nature and lengths you go for it)

Question 14

How do you work out the overall message of the text?

Answer 14

Look at the issues and questions the text raises. Why has the writer written this book or play?

Question 15

What forms of stage directions are there to consider?

Answer 15

• Actions
• Staging
• Characterisation
• Dialogue

Question 16

What are the types of speech in a play?

Answer 16

• Dialogue (interaction of speech)
• Monologue (one character speaks for a long time and others listen)
• Soliloquy (a single character speaks their thoughts out loud. Others can’t hear)
• Aside (short soliloquy to the audience)

Question 17

What must be considered when looking at the language of the play?

Answer 17

Imagery (similes, metaphors etc.)
Dialogue
Effects on the audience

Question 18

What has to be considered when thinking about structure?

Answer 18

Act and scene breaks

Changes in time

Question 19

How must you show the writers skill at writing for the stage?

Answer 19

Appreciate stagecraft- actions, sound affects,silences, proxemics, semiotics, looks, reactions, dramatic irony(audience knows something a character doesn’t )

Question 20

What style of plays to modern plays tend to be?

Answer 20

Realistic

Question 21

What are the main issues raised in modern plays?

Answer 21

Social divides, age impacts, gender and sexuality (affects audience)

Question 22

How can technology be used in scenes?

Answer 22

To emphasise points or make the scene more realistic

Question 23

How are Shakespeare’s plays categorised?

Answer 23

Into:
Tragedies
Comedies
Romances
Histories

Question 24

What are the common themes in Shakespeare’s plays?

Answer 24

Power and Ambition
Fate and Free Will
Love and Relationships
Justice and Revenge

Question 25

What are some key context points to consider with Shakespeare’s plays?

Answer 25

• He was alive between 1564 and 1616
• Lived at the end of the Renaissance (arts, politics,religion and science)
• Class difference in audience (e.g slapstick for poor and complex imagery for educated nobles)
• Belief in supernatural
• Keep King James 1 happy and Elizabeth 1 happy

Question 26

What were the key features of theatrical performance in Shakespeare’s time?

Answer 26

• Little scenery
• Only male actors
• Musicians helped create atmosphere
• Costumes based on fashions of location

Question 27

What are key things to look out for in Shakespeare’s language?

Answer 27

• Imagery
• Striking words and phrases
• Humour
• Verse forms
• Switches between poetry and prose

Question 28

What are the key structures of Shakespeare’s plays?

Answer 28

• Tragic structure (build up to turning point and consequences)
• Cyclical structure
• Repetition
• Order of scenes
• Key scenes and minor scenes (main plot and sub plot)

Question 29

What are the structural devices in prose?

Answer 29

• Flashbacks
• Foreshadowing
• Frame narrative(main story told within the frame of another story)
• Embedded narrative (different stories told within the main story)

Question 30

What else needs to be considered when discussing prose?

Answer 30

• Langauge (techniques, repetition and dialect)
• Character’s thoughts
• Narrator (first or third person, omniscient or limited)
• Reliability

Question 31

What key contextual knowledge is needed for 19th century fiction?

Answer 31

• Upper and Lower Class Gap
• Industrial revolution (emergence of middle class)
• Overcrowded cities and terrible living conditions
• Women dependent on men (no marriage out of love)
• Education was a privilege. Boys’ education was a priority, girls taught art, music and dance until school made compulsory in 1880 for children aged 5-10
• Reputation was important for upper and middle classes (desires kept secret and emotions kept under control
• Romanticism and Gothic genre influences
• Religious christian society
• Darwin’s controversial theory of Evolution (natural selection and descendants of apes)
• Scientists interested in basics and origins

Question 32

What is Romanticism?

Answer 32

• A genre that had a large impact in the late 18th century and early 19th century
• Romantics tried to capture intense emotions and experiences and were influenced by nature. They saw nature as a powerful force that could inspire and restore people

Question 33

What is the Gothic genre?

Answer 33

• Many 29th century writers were influenced by the Gothic genre
• The genre mainly involved a mysterious location, supernatural elements, troubling secrets and elements of madness
• The doppelganger is another key feature of Gothic novels