Example student response and examiner commentary

Here's an example student response to a Section C question in the sample assessment materials, followed by an examiner commentary on the response.

Paper 1B, Section C

Sample question

'Comedies leave readers and audiences with a final sense of joy.'

To what extent do you agree with this view in relation to two texts you have studied?

Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on the ways the writers have shaped meanings.

Band 4 response

When considering The Importance of Being Earnest and Emma, it is easy to agree with the claim that comedies leave readers and audiences with a final sense of joy. Certainly Wilde's play is so bright and sparkling and everything is reduced to the level of nonsense that it would be foolish to feel anything other than joy at the end, especially since by the end all the problems are resolved, two couples get married (and possibly Miss Prism and Dr Chasuble too) and all difficulties are resolved. Even Lady Bracknell gives her blessing to the marriages. Perhaps more importantly Jack finds out who he really is – Algernon's brother Ernest, so he really understands the importance of his name. Emma also ends with everyone happy – apart from Mrs Elton and we might feel joyful that she is miserable since she is so horrible. But Emma marries Mr Knightley, Harriet marries Robert Martin and Frank Churchill marries Jane Fairfax.

Although both texts end with multiple marriages and an upbeat feel, the ways the writers get to that point is very different. Because The Importance of Being Earnest is so bright and sparkling, there is never any doubt that things are not going to end well. Even when there are arguments or when interests are thwarted, the language is always upbeat and comic. No-one is sad and no-one cries. For example in the first act when Jack says he wants to marry Gweldolen and Lady Bracknell says absolutely not because she will not allow her daughter 'to marry into a cloakroom and form an alliance with a parcel', Jack is only comically angry and certainly not distraught. He doesn't focus on the non-event of his wedding but thinks about the Gorgon Lady Bracknell, the 'monster, without being a myth'. When he apologises to Algernon about abusing his aunt, Algernon says joyfully that he loves hearing his relations abused.

Even the young women, who might be expected to behave in a more emotional way (especially in Victorian England when women had little to look forward to other than marriage), are not troubled overly when problems arise regarding their love interests. When Lady Bracknell unexpectedly arrives in the country and claims that all communication between Jack and Gwendolen must cease at once, Gwendolen does not faint or react. Although Gwendolen does not speak for a while, she is on stage during the conversations between her mother and the men and from their words and from the stage directions there is no sense that she is weeping. Similarly when Jack says he will prevent the eighteen year old Cecily from marrying Algernon till she is thirty five, Cecily merely asks if Algy will wait for her and when he says he can she says rather casually that she couldn't wait even five minutes. This play is not to be taken seriously – its sub-title, a trivial play for serious people, makes that clear and is part of the joy audiences feel at the end. It is difficult to take any of it seriously so the ending is merely an extension of what has been felt throughout. Given the lack of depth of any of the characters and Wilde's determination to write amusing lines at every opportunity, I don't think it would affect the mood much at the end if no-one got married. I think there could still be a final sense of joy so long as the bright and sparkling language continued. And if the characters suddenly became sad, it would not be very convincing or consistent with what had happened before.

But the play does end with all problems resolved and they are solved in a way that is acceptable to Victorian society. Although it would have been more likely that a baby left in a handbag would not have a noble background (and would more likely than not have been unwanted and perhaps illegitimate in the real world), in this play credibility is stretched. Jack, it turns out, was a baby left by mistake by his nanny who confused him with a manuscript for a romantic novel! His parents were doting and his father none other than a General named Ernest Moncrieff, making Jack Algernon's bother, Lady Bracknell his aunt and himself, a true Ernest. So it's not only a celebration of marriage but of a family discovering a long lost child and Jack discovering his name. Joy for everyone and significantly all the characters are on stage for the revelation. Each character's speech is written to complement another's. Gwendolen says 'Ernest! My own Ernest! I felt from the first that you could have no other name' and Jack replies, Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.

Emma also ends with a final sense of joy. However, the journey to the final happy conclusion is not without misery, sadness and at times despair. Joy at the end very much depends on Emma's growth from ignorance to knowledge, from self centredness to an appreciation of the feelings of others (learnt so painfully at Box Hill). After some tough lessons, Emma is unbelievably happy at the end when she marries Mr Knightley. Although she claimed she would never marry, when she thought that he might just marry Harriet Smith, Emma was mortified, no longer thinking that Donwell Abbey should become the property  of little Henry, but that Mr Knightley should be hers. She cannot imagine him marrying anyone but herself. Although she is a little sad that Harriet might be disappointed, it is a pain she easily endures as she comes to understand the depth of her own feelings of love. Harriet cannot possible feel as deeply as she does – even though Emma has encouraged her to develop her romantic feelings for much of the novel. The upbeat comedic conclusion is of course helped by the renewal of Robert Martin's addresses to Harriet, and if to prove Emma right (that Harriet's feelings are not deep) then Harriet readily accepts. For her the novel comes full circle. She no doubt would have been happier if she had married Martin in the first place.

The reader's sense of joy at the end might be a little dampened if readers focus on and sympathise with Mr Woodhouse. We have to remember that he is an old man who does not like change and he is about to lose his daughter, the daughter who has always put him first whatever has happened in her life. He does not want that to change. Of course some readers might think that he is selfish, but he is an old man and has always loved and cared for his daughter and change makes him 'miserable'. Surely he has a right to be a bit selfish. Fortunately for him, Emma and Mr Knightley cannot bear to see him suffer and their kindness is rewarded by Austen with the fortuitous event of the robbing of the turkeys from Mrs Weston's poultry house. So great is Mr Woodhouse's fear that he concedes that he will be safer if Mr Knightley is there to protect him, so his consent is given for the marriage. This results in joy all round and readers must surely smile.

Examiner commentary

This is a confident, focused and coherent response and the candidate makes a number of clearly developed points about joy felt at the end of The Importance of Being Earnest and Emma.  Both texts are handled well though the comments on Wilde's play are slightly stronger than those on Austen's novel. At times the student treats the characters as real. Although this is a Closed book exam, the student uses some relevant details and relevant quotations.

AO1

The essay is well structured and the task is clearly focused upon. Ideas are logically put together. The candidate shapes the argument well and writes with some confidence. There is a clear personal viewpoint offered. There is appropriate use of critical concepts and terminology and the expression is accurate.

AO2

There is thorough understanding that Wilde's text is a drama and that the text is structured to shape meanings. The focus on the end of the play is sharp and the student shows how the ending is structurally significant. Some relevant comments are also made about language. In the writing on Emma, there is also good structural awareness and some sense of Austen's voice.

AO3

There is a thorough understanding of the dramatic context of Wilde's play and some relevant discussion of Victorian attitudes to women as represented in the play. In both texts there is secure understanding of social contexts and the comments are linked well to the comedic context of joy being felt at the end of the texts.

AO4

As the candidate fully engages with the task and the final sense of joy, there is logical and consistent exploration of connections across literary texts showing very good understanding of generic study.

AO5

There is thorough and confident engagement with the debate set up in the task and the student clearly agrees with the proposition, offering some challenge in the response to Emma. The candidate is thinking well about the task.

This response seems consistent with the band 4 descriptors.

This resource is part of the Aspects of comedy resource package.