Introduction
The fifteenth in the EnglishEdu series on ‘frameworks’ for A Level English Literature.
This guide explores how to analyse the genre of novels, short stories or prose extracts in order to allow students access to the highest grades.
Genre: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (gothic); Hamlet by William Shakespeare (tragedy); As You Like It by William Shakespeare (pastoral)
NB Whilst the EnglishEdu Literature Frameworks generally analyse novels, short stories or prose extracts, the specific nature of the tragic and pastoral genres mean that the best examples are likely in drama, hence the use of a Shakespeare play here, the analysis of which we hope will be of intrinsic value as an exemplar of analysis.
The most straightforward way of demonstrating how to closely analyse a text in terms of the theme above is to exemplify it. The extract below is followed by a series of bullet points which demonstrate how to analyse closely using carefully chosen quotations in a variety of ways. These bullet points also include commentaries which aim to explain how and why such sections have been analysed and what they could highlight within the main text, contextually and thematically.
There are, of course, many more things that could be said about each extract, but it’s hoped that it will prove useful in your initial teaching stages to...
