CCEA English Literature A-Level

I haven't done a whole lot for Catcher/Outsider, but I'm pretty much just summarising old essays I've done into short(ish) essay plans, and then adding to them.

I try to make other some points on literary and socio-historical context and connect them to method/comparison points that I've made in some of the essay plans too.



I would really recommend doing some essay practice then, because it takes a little while getting your head around the comparative aspects of both these books. As long as you constantly use outsider synonyms/words in every point you make eg. individual, estranged, ostracised, non-conformist etc. and stick to the KTs of the question you should get a decent mark.

Hi everyone! Does anybody have any predictions for King Lear/ Burial at Thebes or Jane Eyre/ Wide Sargasso Sea? Seriously stressing here!

My teacher seems to think that a question on Antigone/Cordelia and tragic heroine is likely to come up. Thankfully thats the same contextual information as tragic hero, so you can revise for it at the same time as Lear/Creon. I did a practise essay for tragic heroine yesterday, and came to the conclusion that Cordelia is more of a tragic heroine than Antigone

Noble & Admirable Qualities: Both have this criteria

Flaw/Hubris/Hamartia: Cordelia is unable to display affection, and is stubborn in that she wont just appease her father. She also leaves her father with sisters she know have lied about their affections. Antigone is stubborn in refusing to see any other viewpoints & she is seems to have ego "I am like Niobe", seeing herself as of a divine level. These lead to their downfalls. So they are still on equal footing on how much of a tragic heroine they are at this point.

Peripeteia: Cordelia is disowned and loses her dowry. Antigone is sentenced to death. still equal.

Anagnorisis: Cordelia learns how to show emotion and affection, and seeks to help her father after his treatment by her sisters. Antigone does not seem to have any form of insight or epiphany, so here is where Cordelia is shown to be more of a tragic heroine than Antigone.

Catharsis: Cordelia dies despite having been a character of good, this insights pity in the audience due to simply the death, and fear in how she dies despite being a good character, getting the same fate as the evil characters Edmund, Goneril, and Regan, and arguably Lear. This suggests that the universe does not have a divine order and design and insights fear in the audience. It is harder to say that there is catharsis in reaction to Antigones fate, as she set out to do her task with full knowledge of what will happen as a result of it. She also shows pride and no fear in the idea of going down to the underworld "with head held high". Though it can be argued that it was not really her choice, but her fate due to the family curse being the child of Oedipus; "I retrace that fatal line and the ghastly love I sprang from." and the comments of the Chorus "Fate finds strange ways to fulfil its ends." But, despite this, I concluded that Cordelia is still more deserving of being called a tragic heroine than Antigone.

The paper this question is from is Jan 2011 btw.

I think my essay may have been a bit too narrative for its own health though, so i need to pay attention to avoiding that in the exam. Also need to ensure i keep bringing it back to the key terms of the question, but i think i was ok on that front.


I think the main areas you need to have knowledge about are (for any possible question)

Thanks so much! That was really helpful! For some reason I feel like we're going to get a horrible question on gender issues or something how are you getting on with your revision?

I think mine is going okay, just finishing a few essay plans then gonna do at least one more essay on Lear/Thebes, and then one on Pardoner just for practise drawing from an extract. If i have time might do a third, but that's pretty much up to what procrastination feels like allowing.

Will probably end the day just trying to learn off quotes I think are applicable more generally to any type of question, so I'll always have them as a back up if something more focused fails to come to mind during the exam.

The hardest part will probably be coming home from the exam and forcing myself to continue revision on A2 2, instead of getting lazy :P .

Oh gosh, you seem so motivated! we do rape of the lock but I feel quite confident for it! Do you do Jane eyre and wide sargasso sea? My problem is that I have two exams on Thursday so it's gonna be difficult trying to fit in time to do everything

I'm doing OCR not CCEA but the exams still on Jane Eyre
How are you guys revising? I've left it too late (procrastination and distractions)
Any tips?

What does your exam consist of?

We have two sections; poetry and prose each worth 30 marks
for poetry I'm doing Edward Thomas and Jane Eyre for prose

I just think that Jane Eyre is ridiculously long, and we have to compare it to Wide Sargasso Sea.

Anyone got Chaucer predictions?

Hoping something about the corruption of pardoners or something about sinning/death??? How can we be sure of anything though
What're you hoping will come up?


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