What the exam asks
In Paper 2, you answer one of four general questions in a closed-book comparative essay on two literary works, marked out of 25. Examiners reward:
- Criterion A (5 marks): Accurate knowledge of Act 2’s nine short scenes and how they advance both the Belmont and Venice plots.
- Criterion B1 (5 marks): Close analysis and evaluation of authorial choices—both micro-features (rhyme, prose rhythm, chiasmus, imagery) and broader choices (alternating settings, parody, off-stage reported action).
- Criterion B2 (5 marks): Sustained comparison explaining how and why two works converge or differ (for instance, pairing Jessica’s escape from Shylock’s locked house with Kambili and Jaja leaving Eugene’s compound in Purple Hibiscus, or comparing how outsiders are framed in Kafka’s stories).
Core ideas
1. Rapid scene alternation (Belmont and Venice)
Shakespeare splits Act 2 into nine brisk scenes, cutting back and forth between two plots of choosing and leaving. This structural juxtaposition asks the audience to measure Venice’s mercenary deals against Belmont’s riddles—and to notice where the two worlds share the same prejudices.
| Scenes | Location | Core action and structural role |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1, 2.7, 2.9 | Belmont | Morocco and Arragon take the casket test; fairy-tale riddles expose self-love and surface judgment before Bassanio tries in Act 3. |
| 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 | Venice | Launcelot leaves Shylock’s service; Jessica plans her elopement with Lorenzo; comic and romantic rebellion against the household. |
| 2.5, 2.6 | Venice | Shylock hands Jessica his keys and goes to Bassanio’s supper; Jessica disguises herself, takes his ducats and flees. |
| 2.8 | Venice | Solanio and Salarino mock Shylock’s off-stage grief and report Antonio’s rumoured shipping losses. |
2. The Belmont casket test: surface, self-worth and prejudice
Portia’s dead father has bound her marriage to three caskets: gold, silver and lead. The test is a fairy-tale structure that tests the choosers rather than Portia, training the audience to value hazard and giving over outward show before the trial in Act 4 asks similar questions of Venice’s law.
- Morocco and complexion (2.1): Before choosing, the Prince of Morocco addresses Portia’s possible racial bias:
"Mislike me not for my complexion". His defensive opening widens the play’s treatment of prejudice beyond antisemitism. Portia answers politely that he stands as fair a chance as any suitor she has seen so far, yet when he fails in 2.7 she dismisses him with a rhyming couplet asking that all of his complexion choose so—exposing the cool prejudice beneath Belmont’s courtesy. - Gold vs silver (2.7 and 2.9): Morocco picks gold, thinking only gold is worthy of Portia, and reads the scroll’s warning that
"All that glisters is not gold"and"Gilded tombs do worms infold."In 2.9, Arragon scorns gold because he refuses to"jump with common spirits / And rank me with the barbarous multitudes"—calling them"the fool multitude, that choose by show"—and picks silver, whose inscription promises"Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves."His pride is exposed by his own words when the casket reveals a blinking idiot’s portrait.