AS ENGLISH LITERATURE - SOME FEEDBACK - JANE EYRE

AS ENGLISH LITERATURE
F661 POETRY AND PROSE FROM 1800 – 1945
JANE EYRE – TIMED ESSAY FEEDBACK

This post is about one aspect of your timed work. I will post other comments about the timed work lqter on. Buitm this is so important we will deal with this first.

There are four marking criteria for this exam question.

We will stop working through the novel chapter by chapter in class. I expect that you have now read and annotated fully each chapter of Jane Eyre.

We have discussed a student reading of a text before but you can click here to show you what a student reading of a novel consists of if you need to be reminded.

There are four marking criteria for this exam question. Your exam essay must engage with each of the four criteria.

An exam essay must contain evidence of all the following features. However not every paragraph needs to show all the evidence. Evidence should be woven through the essay as a whole.

• Good knowledge of the text and good writing style

• Analytical skills

• What other people have said about the novel – including film adaptations

• Context

This is how the exam board puts it:

AO1

articulate creative, informed and relevant responses to literary texts, using appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written expression

AO2

demonstrate detailed critical understanding in analysing the ways in which structure, form and language shape meanings in literary texts

AO3

explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers

AO4

demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received

The Jane Eyre exam question requires you to address all four of these criteria. It is a synoptic question - bringing together all the different elements of the course. AO1 and AO2  where highlighted in the 1000 word coursework essay. AO3 and AO4 where highlighted in the 2000 word essay. Therefore we have covered every aspect needed for this exam question. You do not need to learn anything new for this exam but you do need practice at writing incorporating the different elements of the assessment. 

Here are a couple of paragraphs that incorporate all the different elements of the assessment. 

In the exam you will only need to incorporate two or three of these elements in a paragraph. However the essay as a whole must cover all four of these elements between two and four times.

Here is a model paragraph that incorporates all the features of the assessment. What do you think?

 

Topic sentence	An important incident where we see Jane as the saviour of Rochester is where she saves his life after Bertha Mason has set his bedroom on fire.
Quotation	As Jane leaves Rochester’s bedroom he says ‘Jane you have saved my life.’
Literary comment	This is a strong, direct and honest declarative statement. It is a personal and open declaration of the facts of the situation. But also uses highly emotive language like ‘saved’ and ‘my life.’
Contextual comment	The significance of this situation is made evident in that it is spoken by a seemingly powerful man and employer to a poor female employee. In it Rochester is breaking the conventional ways in which an employer would speak to an employee – especially a woman.
Other interpretations	And as readers of Jane Eyre in the twenty first century we can’t ignore the fact that a young, innocent teenage girl is standing in her night clothes beside an older more powerful man who is also dressed in night clothes. The sexual implications of this scene has not been ignored by modern film makers – especially the 1934 production that has a blond, voluptuous Jane rescuing the darkly handsome Rochester. See the clip here.

So one useful revision exercise will be to have a look at some youtube clips of Jane Eyre. Note down the year of release and jot down comments on how characters are presented or the relationship between Jane and Rochester.

Here is another paragraph. Try and identify the different elements in this example.

	Bronte creates very powerful settings and these are often used as a foreshadowing of the disastrous attempt of Rochester’s to marry Jane.
	For example at the end of the proposal scene at the height of their joy and happiness it begins to rain and a lightning bolt strikes a nearby tree, splitting it in two.
	In this episode powerful elemental forces are introduced into the story. Bronte uses pathetic fallacy to emphasise Rochester’s crime. It’s even presented as a crime against nature and God.
	During the nineteenth century although Britain was a deeply Christian country, superstition and pagan ideas were still held in the popular imagination.
	Also Bronte draws on the genre of Gothic writing – a genre made popular in the middle of the nineteenth century by the publication of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly in 1818. The inclusion of Gothic images and symbols throughout the novel make it appear to be a ghost story rather than a simple love story.

So we are back to paragraphs - the building blocks of essays.

So now take an idea from your essay and in class write up for yourself a paragraph that addresses three or four elements of the assessment.

Share your paragraph with someone else.

For homework - using your essay write up a further two or three paragraphs and bring them to the lesson on Wednesday.