Grade 9 Macbeth Extract Question Model Answer (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature)

Grade 9 Macbeth Extract Question Model Answer

You will always answer two exam questions for the WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature Shakespeare component:

• A question based on an extract of about 25–30 lines from Macbeth 

• A longer, “discursive” essay, which won’t include an extract from the play

Here, we will show you how to write a Grade 9 answer for the extract-based question.

How is the extract question different from the other Macbeth essay question in Component 1?

Although the mark scheme is nearly identical for both questions, there is one significant difference: you are not expected to use quotations from elsewhere in the play when answering the extract question, whereas this is a requirement for the longer essay. 

Another difference is that the extract question is worth fewer marks: it is out of 15, compared to the 25 marks awarded to you for the discursive essay. This means that you should spend only 20 minutes on the extract question, including planning, writing and checking it over. 

You also won’t be marked for SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) for this question. 

For more advice on how to answer both Macbeth questions, see our How to Write a Grade 9 Macbeth Essay guidance.

How do you revise for an extract question?

Many students assume that you can’t really revise for the extract question because you are provided an extract from Macbeth and you are not expected to include quotations from elsewhere in the play. 

However, Eduqas examiners say that being able to “contextualise” the extract is an “effective way into an answer”. This means that mentioning which part of the play the extract comes from, as well as commenting on what comes before and after the passage, will help you explore the wider significance of the extract the exam board has chosen.

In terms of revision, this means it’s really important to revise the plot of Macbeth, including the key moments in the play and the key scenes for the central characters (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, Duncan, Malcolm and Macduff), so you can “contextualise” any passage should it come up in the exam.

How do you analyse an extract for the Macbeth essay at GCSE?

The most important thing before starting to write is to annotate the extract and then plan your answer. The extract should provide you with all the evidence you need to write a coherent response, so think carefully about how the extract informs the argument you will make in your essay.

It’s a great idea ― even though you only have 20 minutes ― to spend at least 5 minutes annotating the extract and planning so you have a clear idea of what your argument will be. 

Underline any evidence that could support a central argument. Look for instances of specific language choices by Shakespeare and consider their effects, and make sure you select evidence from the beginning, middle and end of the passage. 

Other great things to look for when annotating are:

• Turning points

• Changes in mood

• Contrasts between characters

• Foreshadowing

• Instances of dramatic irony

Grade 9 Macbeth sample answer

You will find an exemplar full-mark answer for a past Eduqas GCSE English Literature Macbeth extract essay question. This Macbeth model answer includes annotations to show you where and how the response has achieved full marks, based on the assessment objectives. It’s a sample answer to the following past paper question:

Read the extract below. Then answer the following question:

Look at how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth speak and behave here. How do you think an audience might respond to this part of the play? Refer closely to details from the extract to support your answer.

[15]

Annotated Grade 9 answer

This passage represents the first time that the audience sees Macbeth and Lady Macbeth on stage together, and although Shakespeare presents them as a couple united by their shared ambition, it is a relationship that Lady Macbeth seems to dominate (AO1).

Although it could also be argued that Lady Macbeth is sincere in her admiration for Macbeth, at the start of the extract there are already clues to an unusual gender imbalance in their relationship. While Lady Macbeth greets her husband with Macbeth’s impressive honorifics and describes him as “great”, she suggests he could be “greater” in the future. Indeed, Macbeth returns his wife’s affection by calling her his “dearest love”: a superlative, rather than the comparative that Lady Macbeth uses, hinting that Macbeth holds his wife in higher regard than she does him (AO2).

Furthermore, Lady Macbeth seems to assert her subtle dominance during this part of the extract over her husband by manipulating him through flattery (AO1). Earlier in the same scene, Lady Macbeth expresses her anxiety that Macbeth may be too honourable to go through with the treacherous act of regicide (AO1). Her first tactic in this passage, before directly attempting to persuade Macbeth to go through with the murder, is to heap praise on her husband: she calls him “great” and “worthy” (AO1). Her first words to her husband serve to disarm him, as if to prepare him for more forceful persuasion and manipulation.

Indeed, Lady Macbeth more forcefully dominates Macbeth later in the extract (AO1). When Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that Duncan is visiting their castle the next day, there is a shift in the way that Lady Macbeth communicates with her husband (AO2). The flattery and subtle manipulation is replaced by more commanding and domineerin language. Her repeated use of imperatives (“look”; “bear”; “look”) suggests she has the power to influence her husband’s actions, and her direct instruction to “Look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent underneath” further shows her primacy within the relationship. At the end of the extract, Lady Macbeth goes even further to wrest responsibility for their plotting away from her husband, another example of an unusual power dynamic in a Jacobean era couple  (AO1). She tells Macbeth that he “shall put this night’s great business into my despatch”, the conviction clear with the use of the future tense, as well as the use of the first-person pronoun in “my”, which again reflects her power and agency. This agency is further emphasised in her final imperative line of the dialogue: “Leave all the rest to me.” (AO2)

Ultimately, this scene introduces the audience to a formidable wife who manipulates and dominates her husband’s behaviour in a range of ways (AO1).

Sources

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Edited by Cedric Watts, Wordsworth Classics, 2005