1) Remember that any extract you have to analyse must be pivotal to the play or novel. Think about the importance of the scene structurally. What is its role in the text? What does it contribute in terms of character development? And dramatically?
That is why the context of the extract must be mentioned when you are offering an analysis. ‘‘In this scene, Macbeth is unusually by himself for the first time and speaking in soliloquy as he confides his anxieties about killing Duncan. Significantly he has left the well-earned feast to celebrate the victory on the battlefield. Such a celebration heavily depended on Macbeth’s courage yet we can see that already the great ‘noble Macbeth’ has become withdrawn soically and is not part of the triumph and public celebration.”2) The audience may also sense that Macbeth cannot share food with the King because the hypocrisy would be overwhelming. Sharing food implies trust and has religious connotations too. This withdrawal and isolation contrasts with the busy nature of Macbeth’s life earlier in the play and also with his intense intimacy with his wife with whom he had shared so much. By the end of the play, the husband and wife are physically and emotionally estranged and then become permanently estranged through death. Hence this scene sets up the expectation that the murder will separate husband and wife and that both are sacrifcing their better selves or humanity too.Can you see how important the end of a text is in discussing the importance of an extract? Whatever you are given its role must be pivotal and worthy of consideration. This approach makes it clear to the examiner that you are cognisant of the writer’s intention.
