You have a choice from TWO questions.
The first question is likely to ask you to compare and contrast two chapters
or passages, one from each novel. As you revise, ask yourself which
chapter from the other novel could be used in this way with the chapter
you are revising.Look at points like:
form, structure and language (of course!)
use of atmosphere and mood (eg rain/frost/snow etc)
use of image and symbol (eg Tess's attire at the May dance)
use of 'poetic' techniques, such as alliteration, rhythm, assonance,
sibillance, long heavy vowels, short quick vowels,irony, etc
the lexis and resultant semantic field
use of point of view (eg omniscient narrator)
didacticism (teaching a message)
prefiguring (hinting at events likely to follow)
the fact that the characters are constructions fulfilling certain
functions (see the advice under section B below, too)
Question B is likely to be an option to answer a 'straight' essay
question. An example would be: Compare and contrast the presentation
of Tess and Sarah
It is important to remember that this question is really asking you
about novelistic technique. Your answer should make clear that l
you realise the characters are constructions fulfilling a particular
function or illustrative role.
Some ideas to remember:
Tess is constructed to represent a woman pure in tendency
and instinct whose life is blighted by the Victorian double standard
which labels her a 'fallen' woman despite the fact that her 'fall'
was in fact a consequence of rape; Sarah is constructed to represent
a 1960s emancipated woman, in charge of her own sexuality, transported
back to the 1860s
in Tess we notice a parallel Darwinian theme: under this,
Hardy needs Tess, or her genes, to survive, so that modern emancipated
woman will appear. Hence the double ending: Tess is hanged, but Angel
appears to marry Liza-Lu, presented as practically a copy of Tess herself.
remember, therefore, that both novels have two or more endings!
Tess is presented by the novelist in a number of ways:
- we see her through the omniscient narrator's eyes
- we see her idealised as a pure peasant girl by Angel and
blamed as a witch by Alec
- we hear her own voice in snatches of conversation and in her
letters (as in ch 48)
- we deduce her character from symbolism, as when she is wearing
white at the May dance
- we deduce her character and personality from things she says (eg
'once victim...' and things she thinks (we often are guided through her thoughts
as a sort of third person stream of consciousness)
consider whether the novelist tells us her character (adjectives) or
shows us her character (through actions, others' perceptions)
consider whether she is, in E M Forster's terms, a fully realised
'round' character or a merely functional 'flat' character (an eg of the
latter is the 'stranger' Angel confides in Brazil, who fulfills his function
of telling Angel that he is 'wrong' and then dies within paragraphs)
consider whether characters represent a quality
consider whether the lexis reveals authorial approval / disapproval
consider whether the characters are 'projections' (eg of the author, or, in
the case of the stranger above, of Angel's own conscience and self-questioning;
Fowles actually projects himself into FLW.
Finally, remember the obvious facts about Tess's character: her faults (pride
, tendency to drowsiness, impulsiveness) and strengths (her simple loyalty, her
her pure instinct, her self-sacrifice for her family, her good looks, etc)
Use these notes as a supplement to notes made over the year in
lessons and to criticism or revision notes you have read.I have written them as
a summary of the last two lessons, which have had low attendance, so
that students who were absent can catch up.
Link to Darwinian sub-text
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