GCSE English Literature (Eduqas)

197 free revision lessons in 24 units. Open the course or go straight to a lesson.

Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare: love, conflict and fate

1. Context: Elizabethan Love & Honour
2. Act 1: The Ball & Love at First Sight
3. Act 2: The Balcony & Secret Marriage
4. Act 3: Mercutio, Tybalt & Banishment
5. Acts 4-5: The Potion, Tomb & Ending
6. Character Analysis
7. Language, Structure & Stagecraft
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Macbeth

Shakespeare: ambition, guilt and the supernatural

1. Context: Jacobean World, James I & Witchcraft
2. Act 1: Prophecies & Lady Macbeth
3. Act 2: Duncan's Murder & Guilt
4. Act 3: Banquo's Ghost & Paranoia
5. Acts 4-5: Madness, Revenge & Downfall
6. Character Analysis
7. Language, Structure & Dramatic Techniques
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Othello

Shakespeare: jealousy, manipulation and race

1. Context: Race, Jealousy & Jacobean England
2. Act 1: Venice, Elopement & Iago's Plot
3. Acts 2-3: Cyprus, the Handkerchief & Manipulation
4. Acts 3-4: Othello's Transformation
5. Act 5: Murder, Truth & the Ending
6. Character Analysis
7. Language & Stagecraft
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare: love, honour and deception

1. Context: Elizabethan Honour & Gender
2. Act 1: The Merry War & Deceptions
3. Acts 2-3: Gulling & Don John's Plot
4. Act 4: Hero's Shaming
5. Act 5: Truth & Resolution
6. Character Analysis
7. Language & Stagecraft
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Henry V

Shakespeare: leadership, war and national identity

1. Context: Tudor Propaganda & the History Play
2. Acts 1-2: The Decision for War
3. Act 3: Harfleur & the Common Soldiers
4. Act 4: St Crispin's Day & Agincourt
5. Act 5: Peace & Marriage
6. Character Analysis
7. The Chorus & Epic Structure
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

The Merchant of Venice

Shakespeare: justice, mercy and prejudice

1. Context: Anti-Semitism & Elizabethan Venice
2. Acts 1-2: The Bond & the Caskets
3. Act 3: Hath Not a Jew Eyes?
4. Act 4: The Trial
5. Act 5 & Resolution
6. Character Analysis
7. Language & Dramatic Structure
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Lord of the Flies

Post-1914: civilisation, savagery and human nature

1. Context: Post-War Anxieties
2. Chapters 1-3: Arrival & Order
3. Chapters 4-6: The Beast & the Breakdown
4. Chapters 7-9: Savagery & Simon's Death
5. Chapters 10-12: The Final Descent
6. Character Analysis & Symbolism
7. Symbolism & Setting
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Anita and Me

Post-1914: identity, belonging and cultural conflict

1. Context: 1960s/70s Britain & Immigration
2. Meena's World & Tollington
3. Anita Rutter
4. Racism, Sam Lowbridge & Growing Apart
5. The Ending & Growing Up
6. Character Analysis
7. Narrative Voice & Structure
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Never Let Me Go

Post-1914: humanity, ethics and mortality

1. Context: Science, Ethics & Dystopia
2. Hailsham: Childhood & Clues
3. The Cottages & the Outside World
4. Donations & the Ending
5. Character Analysis
6. Structure, Narration & Memory
7. Symbolism & Setting
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

The Woman in Black

Post-1914: Gothic horror, suspense and the supernatural

1. Context: The Gothic Tradition
2. Chapters 1-4: Arthur's Journey
3. Chapters 5-8: Eel Marsh House
4. Chapters 9-12: The Truth & the Ending
5. Character Analysis
6. Atmosphere & Narrative Technique
7. Symbolism & Setting
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

Post-1914: identity, religion and rebellion

1. Context: 1980s Britain, Religion & Sexuality
2. Early Chapters: Jeanette's Childhood
3. Middle: Melanie, Discovery & Exorcism
4. Later: Katy, Leaving & Independence
5. Character Analysis
6. Narrative Structure & Biblical Parallels
7. Language, Imagery & Voice
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Post-1914: neurodiversity, truth and family

1. Context: Neurodiversity & Narration
2. Wellington's Murder
3. The Journey to London
4. Truth & Resolution
5. Character Analysis
6. Structure, Voice & Mathematical Form
7. Symbolism & Setting
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

A Taste of Honey

Post-1914: class, gender and 1950s working-class life

1. Context: 1950s Salford & Kitchen Sink Drama
2. Act 1 Scene 1: Jo, Helen & Peter
3. Act 1 Scene 2: Jo & the Boy
4. Act 2: Geof, Helen's Return & the Ending
5. Character Analysis
6. Staging, Structure & Social Realism
7. Language & Dialogue
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

An Inspector Calls

Post-1914: responsibility, class and social morality

1. Context: 1912 vs 1945, Priestley's Socialism
2. Act 1: The Birlings' World Shattered
3. Act 2: Gerald & Mrs Birling Exposed
4. Act 3: Eric, the Speech & the Twist
5. Character Analysis
6. Structure & Dramatic Devices
7. The Inspector's Role
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

The History Boys

Post-1914: education, knowledge and growing up

1. Context: Education & 1980s Britain
2. Act 1: Two Teachers
3. Act 2: Truth, Performance & the Ending
4. The Holocaust Scene & Historical Truth
5. Character Analysis
6. Structure & Intertextuality
7. Language, Wit & Dialogue
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Blood Brothers

Post-1914: class divide, fate and nature vs nurture

1. Context: Class Divide in 1980s Liverpool
2. Act 1: Mrs Johnstone & the Pact
3. Childhood: Mickey & Eddie Meet
4. Adolescence & Growing Apart
5. The Tragic Ending
6. Character Analysis
7. Structure, Music & the Narrator
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

A Christmas Carol

19th Century: redemption, poverty and social responsibility

1. Context: Victorian Poverty & Dickens' Purpose
2. Stave 1: Scrooge & Marley's Ghost
3. Stave 2: Ghost of Christmas Past
4. Stave 3: Ghost of Christmas Present
5. Staves 4-5: Redemption
6. Character Analysis
7. Structure, Language & Symbolism
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Silas Marner

19th Century: isolation, community and redemption

1. Context: Rural England & Community
2. Part 1: Silas's Exile & the Gold
3. Part 1: The Theft & Eppie's Arrival
4. Part 2: Eppie's Childhood & Godfrey's Secret
5. Part 2: The Revelation & Resolution
6. Character Analysis
7. Structure, Narration & Symbolism
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

The War of the Worlds

19th Century: imperialism, science fiction and survival

1. Context: Victorian Science & Empire
2. Book 1 Opening: The Arrival
3. Book 1 Continued: The Fall of Civilisation
4. Book 2: Survival & Resolution
5. Character & Narration
6. Science Fiction Genre & Structure
7. Symbolism & Setting
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Pride and Prejudice

19th Century: love, class and social expectations

1. Context: Regency Society
2. The Assembly & First Impressions
3. Wickham, Collins & Darcy's Letter
4. Pemberley & Changed Perceptions
5. Resolution & Marriage
6. Character Analysis
7. Irony & Narrative Voice
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Jane Eyre

19th Century: independence, morality and social class

1. Context: Victorian Women & the Gothic
2. Gateshead & Lowood
3. Thornfield & Rochester
4. The Proposal & the Secret
5. Moor House & St John Rivers
6. The Reunion & Resolution
7. Character Analysis
8. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

19th Century: duality, repression and Victorian morality

1. Context: Victorian Duality
2. Chapters 1-4: Mystery & Terror
3. Chapters 5-8: The Unravelling
4. Chapters 9-10: The Revelations
5. Character Analysis
6. Setting & Narrative
7. Key Themes & Exam Technique

Unseen Poetry

Responding to and comparing unseen 20th/21st-century poems

1. What is Unseen Poetry?
2. Analysing Language & Imagery
3. Analysing Form & Structure
4. Responding to Themes
5. Comparing Two Unseen Poems
6. Exam Timing & Strategy
7. Full Exam Practice

Poetry Anthology

The fifteen poems of the anthology, first examined in 2027

1. The Schoolboy — William Blake
2. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
3. Cousin Kate — Christina Rossetti
4. Sonnet 29 — Elizabeth Barrett Browning
5. Drummer Hodge — Thomas Hardy
6. Disabled — Wilfred Owen
7. I Shall Return — Claude McKay
8. Decomposition — Zulfikar Ghose
9. Catrin — Gillian Clarke
10. Blackberry Picking — Seamus Heaney
11. Kamikaze — Beatrice Garland
12. War Photographer — Carol Ann Duffy
13. Dusting the Phone — Jackie Kay
14. Remains — Simon Armitage
15. Origin Story — Eve L. Ewing

How to revise English Literature

• Retrieval Practice
• Spaced Repetition
• Active Recall Flashcards
• Mind Maps & Diagrams
• Timed Practice Questions
• Quote Memorisation
• Essay Planning

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