AS-Level English Literature OCR Exam

OMG you are an utter life saver....thank you so much, I can't thank you enough :| not gonna fail now hopefully!!! what themes do you think will come up tomorrow?

Your welcome, If there's anything else you need please just ask, It seems to me like women, Gothicism or aestheticism will come up, its seems like a lot of people are agreeing that at least one of these three will appear. I've just been trying to write an essay for each one today so its fresh in my mind for tomorrow, how about you, do you think anything is likely to come up?

Does anyone have any ideas as to how to analyse structure and form in Dorian Gray?
I can think of a few isolated points, but it would be VERY difficult for me to include it in that question on moral and spiritual corruption (Jan 2013).
Any ideas? x

I personally think duality is going to come up But I guess that could come under the Gothicism category .

Your welcome, If there's anything else you need please just ask, It seems to me like women, Gothicism or aestheticism will come up, its seems like a lot of people are agreeing that at least one of these three will appear. I've just been trying to write an essay for each one today so its fresh in my mind for tomorrow, how about you, do you think anything is likely to come up?

Yeah, Im going to incorporate it into the Gothicism essay. The more essays I write the more I find you can transfer certain paragraphs into different questions rather then making up completely new points for each one. I really hope women doesn't come up, I would hate to have to write about Sybil Vane, so far I've ignored her in every single essay I've written, haven't so much as written a sentence about her

I think it could be a character quote, don't forget aestheticism came under art and life in jun 2012, also influence could come up!! Or morality :/ lol anything!!

Hey

I keep getting 21-23 marks in every essay!! Does anyone have an idea or any tips of how i can get that to a higher band 5 or even into a band 6?

Thanks

Do you think morality could come up? I was thinking that maybe it wouldn't as the January question was on 'moral and spiritual corruption'. Maybe that's just me being hopeful, I hate the morality question -__- Wilde says one thing at the start of the book, and then at the end he flips it again

I think it could be a character quote, don't forget aestheticism came under art and life in jun 2012, also influence could come up!! Or morality :/ lol anything!!

That true, this exam is so frustrating in this sense! You think you've reduced it to a few themes then suddenly dozens more appear Im just trying to write broad essays now so I can transfer ideas and hopefully whole paragraphs seamlessly into the theme given in the exam

I love writing about women, there's so much to say Sibyl may be a twittering dodo, but she offers a good representation of the Victorian women, so good on her!

About 55/60, depending on grade boundaries.

Totally agree - at least we get two choices aha yh I'm doing some plans myself and if u keep it broad they link with other themes like lord Henry and influence. I'm thinking they could ask about the novel following the Faust theme - it's one of the essay questions my teacher had in an ocr pack???

Does Sibyl offer a good representation of Victorian women? She was an actress - not a respectable profession at the time. Obviously her total submission to Dorian is very typical but otherwise she seems to be in her own la la world. (How I would write that tomorrow... I haven't a clue).

I think Lady Narborough & the Duchess of Monmouth represent Victorian women to a larger extent. Lady Narborough "proved an excellent wife" and "married off her daughters" as was expected of a Victorian mother/ women. Also, her interest in "the pleasures of French fiction, French cookery and French esprit" show how Victorian women were becoming more educated...... someone can take it from here I'm out of ideas :P

I know thank god we have a choice! The other section though having just one question is going to make things really difficult, the questions either going to make you jump for joy or recoil in horror I have never adressed the 'Faust' theme in my essays, somehow I always manage to write in great detail about the most obscure things...

I agree that Sybil is a certainly a bit 'la la' when I read the book I found her rather annoying, so I never really addressed her in my essays. The other female characters were far more interesting and give a much better and far more exciting insight into the Victorian world. It's impossible to reduce the female identity to one single categorization, I'd explain but here's just a 'copy and paste' of one of my essay paragraphs

Wilde does not condemn the female to a encompassing preconception, but in all paints a picture of ambivalence, where they are not reduced to a dismissive categorization. As elegant as they are untidy as witty as they are dry women are more at the mercy of their societal position than they are their sex. However despite such neutrality, one opinion characteristically resonates throughout the novel. Just like art, ‘women for women’s sake’ as if a transferable motto applied itself into the female function, with a purpose only for beauty, as a ‘decorative sex’ to delight the senses and to gratify the soul.

Any Wuthering Heights/Colour Purple members here?

Any sort of general essay writing advice would be greatly appreciated as I think I know my stuff on poetry and I've been doing loads of unseen poetry & prose and seem to be coping quite well.

it seems I can't convey my ideas well in essay form and any tips would be great