What the exam asks
In Paper 2, you write a closed-book comparative essay on two literary works in 1 hour 45 minutes, answering one of four general questions. The questions never name a specific literary form, so it is your responsibility to bring form-specific analysis into your essay.
- Criterion B1 (Analysis and evaluation of textual features and/or authorial choices, 5 marks): Rewards analysis of language and/or broader dramatic choices (staging, sound, lighting, entrances, structure) and evaluation of how they construct meaning for an audience. Marks follow the quality of the analysis, not how many features you cover, but a play’s staging is often its richest evidence.
- Criterion B2 (Comparative analysis, 5 marks): Rewards comparing how different playwrights (or a playwright and a novelist/poet) use their specific literary form to achieve similar or contrasting effects.
Core ideas
Speech on stage: dialogue and subtext
Because drama rarely uses a narrator, characters reveal themselves through how they speak—and what they refuse to say.
- Dialogue: Spoken exchange between characters. Analyse turn-taking, interruptions, overlapping speech, and stichomythia (rapid-fire alternating lines that build conflict or tension).
- Subtext: The unspoken meaning, motive, or emotion beneath the literal dialogue, often exposed through pauses, hesitations, or contradictions between a character’s words and physical actions.
- Monologue: An extended speech by one character addressed to others on stage, often used to persuade, dominate, or confess.
- Soliloquy: A speech delivered when a character is alone on stage (or believes they are), giving the audience direct access to their internal conflict.
- Aside: A brief remark directed to the audience that other characters on stage cannot hear, creating complicity or dramatic irony.
Stagecraft: the non-verbal language of theatre
Stage directions (often printed in italics) are deliberate authorial choices, not optional notes. Playwrights use non-verbal elements to create meaning visually and aurally:
| Feature | What to analyse | Example of dramatic effect |
|---|---|---|
| Setting & space | Set design, levels, confined vs open spaces, proxemics (physical distance between actors). | A claustrophobic, single-room set traps characters together, intensifying domestic conflict. |
| Props | Objects handled by actors on stage. | A recurring prop can accumulate symbolic weight (e.g., Nora’s macaroons or the tarantella tambourine in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House). |
| Lighting & sound | Colour, brightness, shadows, diegetic sound (heard by characters) and non-diegetic music/effects. | Harsh white lighting exposes a character’s guilt; a sudden blackout creates shock or finality. |
| Entrances & exits | Timing of arrivals and departures; who stays on stage. | A sudden exit mid-argument visually demonstrates a refusal to face the truth. |