Summary 12 Essay Titles & Basic Plans for Comparative Prose
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Course
Comparative Study
Institution
AQA
12 essay titles, ranging in difficultly, for the Comparative Prose exam, with plans regarding Beloved & Dorian Gray, but not specifically (as the titles can be applied to any of the supernatural texts).
Prose Revision
Beloved & The Picture of Dorian Gray
1- Brainstorm the novels independently.
2- Form a LOA / concept. Find an end point. (Characters are haunted to show…)
3- Structure paragraphs of the essay (3?)
4- Develop ideas: quotes, context
5- Write!!!! (Edit as you go)
a. Don’t detract from essay structure
b. Don’t derail from LOA with other good ideas
Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts portray the intrusion of the supernatural
into everyday life.
PLAN
(2) Intrusionof supernatural = chipping away at identity/ destroying one’s identity.
Beloved supernatural = trauma/ constant reminder of slavery for ex-slaves and their families. Dorian =
insecurity, vanity, and an obsession with outer appearance.
(3)
1. Duos, blurring the lines between reality and the supernatural showing how it has intruded on their
sense of real life. Intrusions are unwanted, but cannot be ignored because they are parasitic and all-
consuming partners for the protagonist.
Sethe & Beloved
Dorian & painting
2. Duos withdrawing from society and ‘burning bridges’ with characters.
3. The power of the intruding supernatural weakening the protagonist and their family/ friends,
normalising the supernatural elements into the setting – magic realism. Failed attempts to remove
the intruding power.
(4) Slavery context – 1/3 of a person
Aesthetic movement context – pressures of Victorian society
Physiognomy and criminals
Dandyism ‘flower in his pocket’
Context is the reason why we have supernatural in the novels
Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts present characters who are haunted.
PLAN
Characters are haunted by a supernatural apparition of which embodies the social context of the time,
which, similarly, is haunting and harmful to minority groups.
Beloved = parasitic entity Beloved leeches off Sethe, reflective of the draining trauma experienced by an
ex-slave during the aftermath of slavery
Dorian = the painting symbolises the obsession with ‘art for art’s sake’ during the Aesthetic Movement
when it was more important to appear, than to be
1. Beloved & Sethe vs painting & Dorian. The push and pull between the power imbalance of a
haunting figure who encompasses the social context. The want to get rid/ hide the haunting figure,
but the reliance on it, and need for it to stay, to be alive.
2. The metaphorical haunted figures. Paul D and his masculine, identity crisis vs Sybil and her crisis
over being haunted by the characters she plays. Paul D is emasculated by Mister the Rooster, an
animal who has more freedom than him, and Sybil is haunted by the characters she plays who have
a bigger impact on audiences than she does herself as a person.
3. The motivations of the haunting social context, what characters it benefits and why and what
characters it belittles.
, Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts present disturbing aspects of human
nature.
PLAN
There are clear villainous characters in both novels – Lord Henry & Beloved, but equally ambiguous
characters who, despite appearing to be ‘good’ and ‘heroic’ embrace certainly disturbing aspects of human
nature. No one character shows good, all-rounded, positive human nature which reflects how this is
impossible and depending on scenarios, motivations and contexts, the extent to which an aspect of human
nature is considered disturbing differs.
1. Lord Henry & Beloved – easy control and manipulation of vulnerably protagonists. These archetypal
villains possess such power over the protagonists, a power that develops with the novels, and does
not diminish to allow the hero to have their ‘happily ever after’. Realistic portrayal of evil people in
power destroying the lives of the minorities, applicable to the social contexts of slavery and the
Victorian era (workhouses, slums etc)
2. Overwhelming, obsessive, threatening love. Basil putting his whole soul into Dorian’s painting of
which causes his demise, did he know this would happen? & Sethe’s murder sequence. Out of
love? To save her children from slavery she killed her baby
3. Scenarios at the time that seemed disturbing but in today’s context can be interpreted otherwise.
Shows how the powerful determine what is categorised as disturbing or admirable. Sybil’s suicide
and the slaves escaping.
Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts utilise setting
PLAN
Setting as a somewhat extra character than has an omniscient, omnibenevolent mind to predict and reflect
events. Writers use setting to deepen the plot without actually writing extra words, to create further meaning
and develop context, without wordy explanations.
1. Setting as a force of security, a safe place for isolated characters, who have been kicked out by the
supernatural. Basil’s garden and Denver’s playhouse.
2. Supernatural connotations in setting descriptions to reflect the corrupted social contexts.
3. Stark contrasts in setting to reflect corrupted social contexts.
Compare the way in which writers use time in the narrative
PLAN
Time used as a tool to provide insight. In Beloved this is to reveal past traumas and how they affect their
present. In Dorian this is to reflect his ever-growing hedonism, progressing quickly with time. Both
protagonists have something to remind them of the past and time.
Key characters:
Dorian vs painting to reflect true ageing and inner sins
Sethe vs Beloved as the embodiment of her past coming back to haunt her (‘rememory’)
Key sections/ quotes:
1. Symbols of time and the past, revealing feelings and how mental state is fragmented with
fragmented sense of time
DG
- The painting changes and reveals his conscience. ‘Lines of cruelty around the mouth’ reflects the
implications of Dorian’s actions and how his inner thought, over time, despite not being displayed on
his outer appearance, are shown on the painting, an embodiment of the true time, something he
destroys and loses touch with at the end. ‘It had altered already, and would alter more’
B
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