English Literature GCSE Knowledge Organiser Year 11, Term 1 Macbeth Summary Meeting three Witches on the blasted heath Ambition grew and poisoned brave Macbeth. Cunning, his wife led him to stab the king, Banquo was next. His Ghost spoiled everything. Evil now reigned as Macbeth killed all dead, Tyranny ended when Macduff saw red. Hope came with Malcolm, Macbeth lost his head. Context James I and many others at the time believed in The Great Chain of Being which said that the King was appointed by God. By taking the throne through murder, Macbeth is therefore seen as going against God s wishes in multiple ways. The play was written in roughly 1606, just after James I had come to power, creating a real sense of change and upheaval in England (as he united the Scottish and English crowns). This feeling of upheaval and disturbance is reflected in the play. Macbeth was a real figure from Scottish history and this is often seen as a nod to James I s Scottish heritage (James I was a patron of Shakespeare s work). Imagery Darkness and Concealment Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold!' Lady Macbeth s soliloquy in I.v Blood his silver skin laced with his golden blood Macbeth describing Duncan s dead body Animals and Birds look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't. Lady Macbeth advising Macbeth Time If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not, Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favours nor your hate. Banquo speaking to the Witches Structure Macbeth follows a clear five-act structure: 1. Act I: Exposition 2. Act II: Complication 3. Act III: Crisis
4. Act IV: Resolution 5. Act V: Dénouement/Disclosure Macbeth does not appear on stage until I.iii so the audience are presented with the image of him as a brave and heroic character before they actually see him. Themes Key Quotes Macbeth: Ambition Fate and free-will Kingship brave Macbeth well he deserves that name (Sergeant about Macbeth) I.ii So foul and fair a day I have not seen. I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition I dare do all that may become a man Lady Macbeth: unsex me here Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under t I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me What hath quenched them hath given me fire. The Witches: Fair is foul and foul is fair All hail Macbeth (Repeated before each statement in I.iii) you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so. (Banquo to the witches)
English Literature GCSE Knowledge Organiser Year 11, Term 1 - A Christmas Carol Summary STAVE 1 On Christmas Eve, the ghost of Marley, who warns him that he will suffer the same fate as him if he doesn t change his ways, visits Scrooge. Marley tells Scrooge that three spirits will visit him. STAVE 2 The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his younger self, at school and as a young man. The ghost also shows him the moment when Belle broke off their engagement. STAVE 3 The Ghost of Christmas Present teaches Scrooge about the joy of Christmas. He takes Scrooge to Bob Cratchit s home so that he can see a happy family but he learns that Tiny Tim (Bob s son) may die. They travel the world and visit his nephew s house. STAVE 4 The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come collects Scrooge and shows him the reaction some people have to the death of an unknown man. Scrooge discovers Tiny Tim is dead. The ghost takes Scrooge to a graveyard and shows him his own grave. Scrooge promises that he will honour Christmas and change the course of his life. STAVE 5 Scrooge finds himself back in his own bed on Christmas morning. He has completely changed. He wishes passers by a Merry Christmas, buys the Cratchits a huge turkey and visits his nephew for dinner. The next day he gives Bob a pay rise. We are told that Tiny Tim will survive and that Scrooge is a changed man. Context What did Dickens want to change? Poverty was a huge problem in Dicken s time. Originally, he wanted to write a pamphlet to raise awareness about poverty but decided that a short Christmas story would be more effective. It was published in December 1843 in a serialised format, making it more affordable than an entire novel. Due to the Industrial Revolution, between 1800 and 1900 London s population had grown from roughly 1 million to 6 million. As a result, the poor were crammed into overcrowded living conditions and faced hunger, disease and crime. Economists, like Thomas Malthus, thought that giving the poor help encouraged laziness. The 1834 Poor Law reduced financial help for the poor and stated that the unemployed had to go to workhouses. However, after visiting a ragged school and Cornish tin mines, Dickens witnessed first-hand the terrible living conditions of England s poorest children. He used his writing to garner public sympathy.
Imagery - Dickens uses symbols throughout the novel Image a) Marley s chain b) Children of Ignorance and Want c) Warmth and Brightness d) Scrooge s dark home e) Music e.g. Fezziwig s party, Tiny Tim s singing f) Fog and cold weather g) Scrooge s bed What does it symbolise? a) Marley s obsession with money b) They are a personification of society s neglect of the poor c) Emotional happiness & family d) His lack of joy and companionship e) Celebration and happiness f) Scrooge s isolation. The fog goes at the end of the novel. g) This is a recurring motif; the ghosts access this private place. Structure STAVE 1 STAVE 2 STAVE 3 STAVE 4 STAVE 5 Marley s Ghost The Ghost of Christmas Past The Ghost of Christmas Present The Ghost of Christmas yet to Come The End of It The novel has a circular structure. Dickens takes elements from the first Stave and reintroduces them, with a twist. E.g. in Stave 1, the office fire is weak but Scrooge lets Bob buy more coal for it in Stave 5. Themes The Christmas Spirit Poverty and Social Responsibility Redemption Family Key Quotes Scrooge: Bah, humbug! Narrator: Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Scrooge: every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart." Marley s ghost to Scrooge: No space of regret can make amends for one life s opportunity misused. Ghost of Christmas Past: What! Would you so soon put out, with worldly hands, the light I give? Scrooge: I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. Scrooge: I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! Narrator, of Scrooge: And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well.