An old essay on Lady Mac

Oh hi,

This one is going back a bit. Before the days of 100% exam, there was controlled assessment. But before that, there was coursework.

Doing English coursework allowed you to spend ages crafting a single piece of work, re-drafting it until it couldn't be any better. This had its ups and downs. The upside was that students often grafted until they really learnt to write a beautiful essay. The downside is that it took forever and it made it easy to cheat. Some students were so desperate to do well that they ended up writing 20 pages and then re-drafting it. Plus, I had to chase people endlessly when they missed deadlines.

On balance, I'm glad coursework has gone and I think you're doing a better course. But I'm going to share a piece of Macbeth coursework with you that might well be a useful read before your exam. It's not perfect, but it's thoughtful, confident and detailed. I can't remember if it was an A or A* piece. A*, I think. Clearly, you can't write in this depth in your 45 minute answer. You have to plan, be concise and stick to key points. This is just an example of a good student writing in great depth about Lady Macbeth, and it will serve as a useful reminder of her role in the play for you.

Here it is (click to enlarge):

 

Mr M