A level English Lit

Hey guys
I study Othello, A street car named desire, wuthering heights and a tthousand splendid sun.
I'm struggling with essay writing, can someone please suggest to me some good essay structures.
And also anything else that can help me with English
Thank You!!

Reply 1

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Original post by jenniejane01

Hi! I’m in year 13 and am achieving As in my mocks and A* predicted, I can offer you some advice as I study Othello and streetcar which in my recent mock I received an A* and A in the papers.

Firstly memorising an essay structure isn’t a good idea In my opinion and I learn this the hard way I was trying to write a thesis in the formatt I always do for a question for about 5 minutes in an exam. By reading examplar essays I saw the variety of thesis and structures that were used and all of them achieve high grades so my first advice is reading student answers these are usuallt found in ur exam board mark scheme.

My second advice is knowing your text inside out. For streetcar If you asked me when a certain scene occurs in the play I would know it like off the top of my head I know the Mitch and Blanche date is either scene 6 or 7 because I know the books order and plot confidently. And Streetcar is a thin book so this makes it so much easier to find quotes, spending less time finding quotes avoids wasting time.

For the specific books of Othello:
Have a knowledge organiser. Mt knowledge organiser consists of a summary of each act and scene with juice quotes which are analysed. This means before the exam I can look at it as a refresher instead of reading the book again. I have a bank of critics that I memorise using mnemonics and I use mnemonics for everything in life. For example David’s Scot’s Kristen I associate the D at the beginning of his name with Desdemona reminding me of the critic that is about her and being able to quote the critic the S in Scott’s name allows me to remember “Desdemonas slowness to being suspected”.
And finallt remember Othello is a PLAY. So when Shakespeare used stage directions it’s so important you question why.

For street car, the themes and motifs can be repeated for almost any question that is asked this being the cleaning and bathing motif for Blanche / animalistic imagery of Stanley linked with masculinity and thereof. So knowing your themes and knowing the context as to why these themes are repeated will hopefully aid you.

I hope I helped and If u need any further clarification or advice just send a pm x