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Examiner reports 2023 - Macbeth and Jekyll & Hyde

Common factors of successful responses include having a clear focus on the question. For example, once students had identified either change, or masculinity, or both, as central concepts of the Macbeth question, they then had clear sense of direction which not only enabled them to select relevant details from the text to support and illustrate their responses, but which also ensured they were discussing relevant ideas.

was students relating the ideas of the text to their present day context. For example, we saw examples of responses where Macbeth was considered as a selfish warmonger satisfying his own ends, clearly related to the world we live in today;

It might be useful for students to think carefully about where in the play the extract comes from, and use this to guide them in their broader interpretation.

selecting material and references which enable students to explore and explain writer’s methods in their answers is crucial.

often failing to make a connection to the duality of man which is at the heart of the novel, the importance of reputation and the dangers of repression, which would have given them far richer material to address this aspect of the mark scheme

This involves discussing the effect of the writer’s choices, explaining why they had made particular decisions and what this reveals about the characters or ideas in the text.