AQA A2 English Literature B (LITB3): Elements of the Gothic 11th June 2015

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Hi, I am doing Frankenstein, Macbeth, Bloody Chamber and Wuthering Heights. I got an A last year and am hoping for an A this year as well but I'm struggling so much with revision and I am terrified....

I just wanted to point out to you guys that if you are studying four, and want to only focus on three in the exam, one of them has to be pre-1800 (Macbeth, Dr Fautus etc.)
And also, bands don't necessarily match up to grades. I have done Band 5 essays that are a B and some that are an A. It depends on the year, because the bands don't change but the grade boundaries do.

For revision, are you guys focusing on only a few key scenes of your texts or are you trying to cover the whole thing?
Those doing Bloody Chamber, are you learning all the stories or just choosing a few to focus on? If so, which ones are you doing?
How are people picking out quotes? and are you classifying them into themes or what?
Are people learning critics?

Thanks so much for all the resources guys...you are lifesavers!

In terms of structure, I have been taught that the essay needs to be in the form of an argument. To hit the higher bands, this argument needs to be unique so can't just be for or against the statement and you should try and relate it to context/the Gothic genre/the writer's overall intentions.

Each paragraph has to start with a sentence that reinforces the argument, and always refer to context wherever you can and bring in any alternative interpretations you can think of of anything that you have written (as its an argument you can counter, and then counter-counter). Make sure you make explicit reference to language techniques when you can as well. I don't follow any particular pattern, I just have a paragraph per main point and bring in these things whenever I can.
If its Section B (which I am worse at) you need to do a paragraph per text. So really, you are only making one main point per text to follow your argument. If you are doing Bloody Chamber, you will need to do 2 of the stories at least so sometimes I write 2 paragraphs for that. It doesn't matter if one of the texts goes against your argument because that allows for AO3

Let me give you an example for a Section A that I did on Frankenstein, which got 35/40 (Band 6).
It was about whether it is a novel illustrating the power of science. The unique part of my argument was that I said it illustrates the power of science against nature and what is natural, and I linked this to romanticism.

This was my intro:
At the time Frankenstein was written, Mary Shelley was heavily immersed in Romanticism and its influences, which were created in response to technological and scientific advancements at the time. Romantics disliked the scientific certainty and rationalism involved, which society seemed to be valuing more than nature at the time. Frankenstein can be read as an illustration of Shelley's fear of the power of science, in that it causes people to reject nature and what is natural.

P.1: Frame narrative and how the scenes with Walton are used to set up narrative expectations of a moral tale - religious imagery e.g. "serpent to sting you" (link to context - religious society)
P.2. How science is portrayed as 'evil' when Victor starts to get involved in it - foil with Elizabeth (religious imagery again) and Clerval, Cornelius Agrippa (link to context - church was against him) etc.
P.3. Victor's self-isolation and how he rejects what is normal/natural and nature itself - natural imagery
P.4. The creation scene (the peak) - taboo imagery inc. taking on role of God, use of unnatural means to do so (scientific/clinical/cold language, link to context - industrial revolution), creating life from the dead, taking on role of women, necrophilia, incest

This is the best essay I have down all year and to be honest, I selected a question I knew I could do so I'm absolutely terrified for the exam because who knows what might come up :frown:

Reply 181

BOWE

Original post by ameliaedmondes

This is the best essay I have down all year and to be honest, I selected a question I knew I could do so I'm absolutely terrified for the exam because who knows what might come up :frown:

Very helpful , thank you :biggrin:

I am so rusty on this Unit as i'm also doing my all of my AS this year as well, so haven't touched Unit 3 since January :frown:

Is there any chance you could please post this essay, or take a pic of it, I would be soooo grateful, thank you :smile:

Reply 182

aedmondes

Hi, yes that must be a nightmare. There is one person in my class who retook and I have no idea how she managed tbh.

How do you attach something? I've never posted on a thread before but I'm always reading them!

I have to warn you that my handwriting is horrendous so you might struggle to read it.

I have another band 6 one on Frankenstein about good and evil if you'd like that too :smile:

Reply 183

aedmondes

Original post by BOWE

Very helpful , thank you :biggrin:

I am so rusty on this Unit as i'm also doing my all of my AS this year as well, so haven't touched Unit 3 since January :frown:

Is there any chance you could please post this essay, or take a pic of it, I would be soooo grateful, thank you :smile:

right, here you go

Has anyone got any predictions for Section B?

Reply 185

BOWE

You are amazing, thank you! :biggrin:

Original post by ameliaedmondes

right, here you go

Reply 186

aedmondes

Original post by BOWE

Very helpful , thank you :biggrin:

I am so rusty on this Unit as i'm also doing my all of my AS this year as well, so haven't touched Unit 3 since January :frown:

Is there any chance you could please post this essay, or take a pic of it, I would be soooo grateful, thank you :smile:

Here's the other one. I was missing the bigger picture/context for this but still had a solid argument. Sorry if you can't read them :frown:

Original post by BOWE

You are amazing, thank you! :biggrin:

This might be helpful too - its a quotes bank with commentary for each quote for Frankenstein. Incomplete, but has most of what I used for the essays :smile:

frankenstein quotes.docx26.2KB

Reply 188

Kaydan

Original post by ameliaedmondes

This might be helpful too - its a quotes bank with commentary for each quote for Frankenstein. Incomplete, but has most of what I used for the essays :smile:

Thank you, this is brilliant! However, do you have anything on Macbeth? & have you heard about any predictions for section B?

Reply 189

BOWE

Original post by ameliaedmondes

This might be helpful too - its a quotes bank with commentary for each quote for Frankenstein. Incomplete, but has most of what I used for the essays :smile:

You're like a revision angel right now haha, always makes it less daunting when you have some guidance to start :smile:

Reply 190

aedmondes

Original post by Kaydan

Thank you, this is brilliant! However, do you have anything on Macbeth? & have you heard about any predictions for section B?

Nope, I'm yet to work on Macbeth...I had not such a good teacher for that and I have never done a single good essay! I'll post anything later on :smile:

and in terms of predictions...nope!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 191

The Egg

Has anyone got any predictions for Section A, Macbeth?

Reply 192

aedmondes

I emailed both my teachers to ask if they had any predictions. I'll let you know if they give me anything useful :smile:

Original post by The Egg

Has anyone got any predictions for Section A, Macbeth?

Original post by Kaydan

Has anyone got any predictions for Section B?

Reply 193

I Procrastinate

Original post by ameliaedmondes

Hi, those revision resources look great, thanks for sharing :smile:

are you going to revise all books from bloody chamber? i was thinking of leaving out puss in boots and wolf alice. :s-smilie:

Reply 194

Kaydan

Original post by The Egg

Has anyone got any predictions for Section A, Macbeth?

Yeah, that would be great.. Do you reckon it's religion or something this year?

Reply 195

aedmondes

My friend said she's only revising about 3 or 4! but in a lot of detail. She just picked the ones that she thinks she would talk about and has said it has worked so far when planning essays. I think it would be okay to leave out those two because it's not like they specify which ones you talk about and I think they are the least gothic. I don't know what I'm doing yet...some I have a really weak understanding of because the way we learnt it was we each taught one of the stories to the class. But my group ended up doing three so I only really know those and the title story :/
Do you have any resources at all on the bloody chamber? Even just notes from class would be good because I have barely anything

Original post by I Procrastinate

Hi, those revision resources look great, thanks for sharing :smile:

are you going to revise all books from bloody chamber? i was thinking of leaving out puss in boots and wolf alice. :s-smilie:

Reply 196

Grantland

Anyone willing to share some stockpiled quotes on any of the following texts? The Bloody Chamber, Wuthering Heights, Dr Faustus. I'm struggling to find quotes that can be used in a variety of questions.

Reply 197

JellyCat99

Has anyone got a list of key quotes for Northanger Abbey??

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Reply 198

I Procrastinate

Original post by ameliaedmondes

I haven't got much on the bloody chamber to offer, since i missed a lot of lessons. The notes are really scruffy and won't make sense, because of the way i've written it-sorry. Plus i have never uploaded images on the internet :s-smilie:

there are many useful websites. just type in "bloody chamber revision" and the first three are good. York notes is good too, i have the book, but they give you previews online

Look out for these: sexuality and violence, Marriage, entrapment, feminism, patriarchy, the matriarch (bloody chamber-the mother, is a good one), the innocent and helpless victim vs the independent, innocent males too, human animals, beauty, man/woman/nature.