For the higher grades
Don’t mix up fate and fortune. They are two different ideas. Have a think about it. Fate: things are planned out in advance. Fortune: things keep changing. Both are outside human control. (See also below)
Use the EXPLAIN bit of the paragraph to show your advanced understanding (in other words, to get an A grade, this is where the difference lies). Extend your explanations to link back to the question to keep your essay focused. It’s no good simply saying Mercutio uses wordplay. What is the effect of the wordplay. To cause confusion, to antagonise? Therefore making the fight inevitable?
Try to get references to context into the main body of the essay. This allows you to link text to context.
Important!
Remember that word Conceptualize. In other words, discuss complex ideas. In this essay the big complex idea is the conflict or tension between:
the individual characters and how responsible they are for their own actions
and
external forces such as Fate and Fortune which act on the characters and take things out of their hands.
This is the core of the questions. It is this struggle that creates the drama in the play. Make it a key element of your essay.
