How to Write a Comparative Essay 
Steps to Complete Essay with Unseen Question: Year 12 English
Preparing for an essay with an unseen question requires some very careful and strategic preparation to be successful. To succeed, you need the following:
1. Thorough knowledge of characters, themes and images/symbols
2. Strong familiarity with the playtext, with well-chosen brief tags inserted
3. Good knowledge of essay structure/expectations
4. Practice with managing an unseen question prior to the exam
1. KNOWLEDGE OF PLAY
You need to set up your notebook to take good notes on a range of aspects of the play – firstly:
THEMES:
Eg Macbeth: order and disorder ambition guilt/conscience good vs evil role of women
Hamlet: revenge death love/relationships inevitability natural order role of women
TECHNIQUES used within Shakespearean plays
Dramatic irony
Tragic hero and the concept of tragedy
Character as dramatic foil
IMAGES/SYMBOLS
Macbeth:
Evil, hell, disorder, darkness, good, heaven, order, light, sleep, blood, supernatural
Hamlet:
Sickness, misogyny, incest, sword, insanity, supernatural, skull/Yorrick
CHARACTERS
Macbeth:
Major characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, witches
Minor characters: Banquo/Duncan/Macduff/Lady Macduff as foils for major characters
Hamlet:
Major characters: Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude
Minor characters: Fortinbras, Horatio, Laertes as foils for major characters
2. FAMILIARITY WITH PLAYTEXT
To take notes, you need to:
Choose a strategic number of areas to focus on
Take notes on the focus areas above, including a reference to the line in the play where this has happened eg 1,7,1-5 (Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 1-5)
Insert tags within your text – 1-2 words max per tag. Use a variety of colours to show certain themes or characters etc
All of the above work together throughout the play. Questions will expect you to draw on a number of areas eg Show how symbolism has been used to develop a certain character, which, of
Preparing for an essay with an unseen question requires some very careful and strategic preparation to be successful. To succeed, you need the following:
1. Thorough knowledge of characters, themes and images/symbols
2. Strong familiarity with the playtext, with well-chosen brief tags inserted
3. Good knowledge of essay structure/expectations
4. Practice with managing an unseen question prior to the exam
1. KNOWLEDGE OF PLAY
You need to set up your notebook to take good notes on a range of aspects of the play – firstly:
THEMES:
Eg Macbeth: order and disorder ambition guilt/conscience good vs evil role of women
Hamlet: revenge death love/relationships inevitability natural order role of women
TECHNIQUES used within Shakespearean plays
Dramatic irony
Tragic hero and the concept of tragedy
Character as dramatic foil
IMAGES/SYMBOLS
Macbeth:
Evil, hell, disorder, darkness, good, heaven, order, light, sleep, blood, supernatural
Hamlet:
Sickness, misogyny, incest, sword, insanity, supernatural, skull/Yorrick
CHARACTERS
Macbeth:
Major characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, witches
Minor characters: Banquo/Duncan/Macduff/Lady Macduff as foils for major characters
Hamlet:
Major characters: Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude
Minor characters: Fortinbras, Horatio, Laertes as foils for major characters
2. FAMILIARITY WITH PLAYTEXT
To take notes, you need to:
Choose a strategic number of areas to focus on
Take notes on the focus areas above, including a reference to the line in the play where this has happened eg 1,7,1-5 (Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 1-5)
Insert tags within your text – 1-2 words max per tag. Use a variety of colours to show certain themes or characters etc
All of the above work together throughout the play. Questions will expect you to draw on a number of areas eg Show how symbolism has been used to develop a certain character, which, of