1. Time to PEARL
Saturday, 01 December 2018

2. What is PEARL? P oint E vidence Analysis Relate/Reader Link.
All essays for SATS and beyond must be written in this way.

3. How it works
The question will ask you to answer certain questions. For example “How does Shakespeare show Brutus as being “noble” in Act 1.2?
You need to make a point: “He makes him seem interested in public, rather than personal, matters”
Give an example: “If it be aught toward the general good, set honour in one eye, and death i’ th’other” and I will look upon both indifferently”.

4. ARL
And analyse: “Brutus is saying that in matters of public good he would see death and honour as equals and would, therefore, risk his life in such circumstances”.
Relate by showing awareness of the question and zooming in: “Shakespeare uses the image of the “general good” to stress that Brutus is driven by the needs of Rome rather than by his own ambition…”
The Link should lead to the next paragraph…

5. Remember Examples are always quotations.
No quotations in an essay = no marks!
You can use an ELLIPSIS (…) to shorten a long quotation.
Explanations must do just that. They are not a chance to paraphrase or translate the quotation – the examiner will understand it. They are where you show your knowledge.
The characters are not real. They do not think or speak for themselves, Shakespeare created them!

6. PEARL
After you PEE, you must ensure that you leave the paragraph tidy: LINK it to the next one using conjunctions- similarly, however, in addition, on the other hand, furthermore…

7. Write PEARLs for (in Acts 1&2):
Brutus not being a good judge of character
Caesar being driven by ambition
Cassius being persuasive
Caska being humerous
Cassius being rational
Brutus being troubled by his conscience
Shakespeare using rhetoric for effect
Brutus being of generous spirit
Brutus as honourable in 2.1