IB English paper 1: unseen tips

WHAT CAN WE SAY ABOUT A PLAY EXTRACT? • What attitude towards (main theme) does the playwright seem generally to have? • What are the main ideas about (main theme) in the extract? • Do the ideas and attitudes link in with ideas and attitudes that were prevalent at the time in which the play was written? • What is the main mood created on stage by the dialogue and action that are presented in the extract? Are there any mood shifts ? • How are the characters presented through what they say and what they do in the extract? Which features of language (rhetorical/ devices/selection of images and words for effect) does the playwright give the characters to express their thoughts and feelings ? • What use does the playwright make in the extract of stage directions: reference to props/settings (place)/lighting/sound/characters’ actions and reactions? Are the references to props /settings/lighting and sound to be taken at face value or do they have a symbolic significance? • What use does the playwright make of soliloquies/monologues/asides ? • What use does the playwright make of length of speeches/ types of speech sentences/pausing and rhythms ? • What use does the playwright make of switches between prose and verse ? • If the extract is in blank verse , how does the playwright manipulate the verse form (differences in metre ) to create effects? • What sort of effect would the beginning and end of the extract have on the audience? • What about the timing of entrances and exits ? • Is there a climax in the extract? If so, how is it built up to ? • Have the speeches been so placed (juxtaposed?) that a sense of contrast / similarity is created? Academic Register Soliloquy / monologue / denouement / rhetorical question / chiasmus / tricolon / anaphora / stichomythia / dramatic irony / empathy / sympathy