Key Extracts & Exam Practice

GCSE English Literature exams typically present an extract from the play and ask you to analyse it, then connect your analysis to the play as a whole. This lesson covers four frequently examined passages with model PEE/PEAL paragraphs and step-by-step guidance.

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How to Approach an Extract Question

    STEP 1: Read the extract carefully (twice)
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    STEP 2: Identify the CONTEXT — where does this fit in the play?
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    STEP 3: Pick out KEY QUOTES (3-5 short quotations)
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    STEP 4: Analyse LANGUAGE — technique, word choice, imagery
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    STEP 5: Connect to THEMES — power, forgiveness, colonialism, etc.
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    STEP 6: Link to the WIDER PLAY — how does this moment relate
            to events/themes elsewhere?
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    STEP 7: Consider CONTEXT — Jacobean era, colonialism, genre
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    STEP 8: Offer ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS for grade 8-9

Examiner's tip: You must write about both the extract and the play as a whole. A common mistake is spending too long on the extract and not making links to other parts of the text. Aim for roughly 60% extract analysis and 40% wider play connections.

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Extract 1: Prospero Tells Miranda Their History (Act 1 Scene 2)

The Extract (lines paraphrased for study purposes)

Prospero reveals to Miranda that he was once Duke of Milan, that his brother Antonio conspired against him, and that they were cast adrift. Key lines include:

"I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated / To closeness and the bettering of my mind"

"My brother and thy uncle, called Antonio — / I pray thee mark me — that a brother should / Be so perfidious!"

"Me, poor man, my library / Was dukedom large enough"

Context Within the Play

This scene provides all the backstory the audience needs. It is essentially a long piece of exposition delivered as dialogue between father and daughter.

Analysis Points

Quote	Technique	Analysis
"neglecting worldly ends"	Gerund + abstract noun	Prospero admits his own flaw — he prioritised study over duty
"closeness and the bettering of my mind"	Abstract nouns	Values intellectual improvement over political responsibility
"perfidious"	Adjective (formal, Latinate)	Strong moral condemnation — treacherous, faithless
"my library / Was dukedom large enough"	Metaphor	His books were his kingdom — knowledge as power/substitute for power

Model PEAL Paragraph

Shakespeare uses Prospero's exposition to establish him as a complex, flawed protagonist. The admission "I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated / To closeness and the bettering of my mind" reveals Prospero's culpability in his own downfall: the gerund "neglecting" places the responsibility squarely on Prospero, while "worldly ends" — meaning political duties — is positioned in opposition to "the bettering of my mind," creating a tension between public responsibility and private intellectual ambition. The metaphor "my library / Was dukedom large enough" crystallises this conflict, equating his books with a kingdom and suggesting that for Prospero, knowledge is literally equivalent to power. A Jacobean audience, aware of James I's scholarly reputation, might have viewed this sympathetically, while a modern audience might read it as a warning about leaders who retreat from their responsibilities. This exposition is crucial because it makes Prospero's desire for restoration — and his use of magic to achieve it — morally ambiguous rather than straightforwardly justified.

Link to Wider Play

• Prospero's admission of fault here complicates his later claims to moral authority
• The idea that "my library / Was dukedom large enough" explains why his books (and therefore his magic) are so important to him throughout the play
• Compare with Caliban's understanding: "First to possess his books; for without them / He's but a sot"

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Extract 2: Caliban's "This Island's Mine" (Act 1 Scene 2)

Key Lines

"This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first, / Thou strok'st me and made much of me, wouldst give me / Water with berries in't, and teach me how / To name the bigger light and how the less, / That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee / And showed thee all the qualities o' th' isle, / The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile. / Cursed be I that did so! ... / For I am all the subjects that you have, / Which first was mine own king."

Context Within the Play

Caliban confronts Prospero directly about the injustice of his situation. This is one of Caliban's longest speeches and a key moment for the colonialism theme.

Analysis Points

Quote	Technique	Analysis
"This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother"	Possessive pronoun; hereditary claim	Legal language of ownership — asserts prior rights
"thou strok'st me"	Past tense verb	Physical tenderness that became patronising control
"Water with berries in't"	Concrete detail	Simple, specific gifts — the initial exchange between coloniser and colonised
"teach me how / To name the bigger light"	Periphrasis	Caliban learned European names for sun and moon — language as cultural imposition
"showed thee all the qualities o' th' isle"	List	Caliban shared his knowledge freely — a reciprocal relationship that was exploited
"Which first was mine own king"	Antithesis	He was sovereign; now he is a slave

Model PEAL Paragraph

Shakespeare gives Caliban a powerful articulation of colonial dispossession in his declaration "This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak'st from me." The possessive pronoun "mine" and the legal phrasing "by Sycorax my mother" establish a hereditary land claim, framing Caliban's grievance in terms a Jacobean audience — deeply invested in questions of legitimate succession — would understand. The speech traces a familiar colonial arc: initial friendliness ("thou strok'st me and made much of me"), cultural exchange ("teach me how / To name the bigger light"), reciprocal sharing of knowledge ("showed thee all the qualities o' th' isle"), and eventual subjugation. The verb "strok'st" is particularly telling, connoting the taming of an animal rather than genuine affection between equals. The devastating final line — "Which first was mine own king" — compresses the entire experience of colonisation into a single antithesis: from sovereignty to subjection. Postcolonial readings, such as those by Aime Cesaire and Roberto Fernandez Retamar, have used this speech to argue that Shakespeare unconsciously encoded the injustice of European expansion. However, Shakespeare complicates this reading by having Prospero accuse Caliban of attempting to assault Miranda, which the original audience may have used to justify Prospero's authority.

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Extract 3: "The Isle Is Full of Noises" (Act 3 Scene 2)

Key Lines

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, / Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. / Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments / Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices / That, if I then had waked after long sleep, / Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, / The clouds methought would open and show riches / Ready to drop upon me, that, when I waked, / I cried to dream again."

Context Within the Play

Caliban reassures the frightened Stephano and Trinculo. This speech comes in the midst of the comic subplot — making its beauty all the more striking.

Analysis Points

Quote	Technique	Analysis
"Be not afeard"	Imperative	Caliban as protector/comforter — reverses expectations
"full of noises, / Sounds, and sweet airs"	List (tricolon) with climactic structure	Each term is more refined than the last — noise to sounds to "sweet airs"
"a thousand twangling instruments"	Hyperbole + onomatopoeia	Overwhelmed by beauty; "twangling" creates a musical sound effect
"hum about mine ears"	Onomatopoeia + intimacy	The music is close, personal, enveloping
"clouds methought would open and show riches"	Visual imagery; personification	Sky as generous, divine source — echoes religious imagery
"I cried to dream again"	Pathos	Profound vulnerability; the waking world cannot match the dream

Model PEAL Paragraph