EDEXCEL Style GCSE

English Language
Paper 1 - 002

Mark Scheme

Section A
It is not possible to reproduce EDEXCEL’s mark scheme, therefore on this
mark scheme you will find the suggested content for each answer.
Suggested content is just that. Often pupils come up with different and better
interpretations of the text. Credit anything that is relevant and backed up by a
quote from the text.
The best approach may be to use the suggested content along with the
EDEXCEL mark scheme to be able to put each pupil into the band that best fits
their answer.
Section B
It is not possible to reproduce EDEXCEL’s mark scheme or give suggested
content for this section as each piece of work will be individual to the pupil.
You may wish to refer to EDEXCEL’s mark scheme to award marks in a
consistent way.

Page 1 of 3

Question Marks
Available
1. Look at lines 1-5 and find
a phrase to explain why
they went into the house
through a side door.
2. From lines 6 – 12, give
two reasons the narrator
feels uncomfortable in his
surroundings.
3. In lines 13 - 31, how does
the writer use structure
and language to describe
the woman and her room?
Section A: Reading
Suggested Content
1 • ‘the great front entrance had two chains across it outside’
2 Any variation on these two as long as it is relevant:
• The girl ‘scornfully’ walks away from him – she is unwelcoming.
• The girl ‘took the candle with her’ so the narrator is left in the dark.
• There is “no glimpse of daylight”, so he is unable to see far.
• The furniture is “of forms and uses then quite unknown to me” – he is unfamiliar
with his surroundings.
6 Candidates do not need to mention every point here; this is possible content.
Credit any relevant answer.
• The narrator’s use of a superlative (‘the strangest lady I have ever seen or
shall ever see’) emphasises the unusual nature of the woman.
• The use of a list ‘satins, and lace, and silks’ emphasises that the woman is
probably rich and conveys how overwhelmed the narrator is at the sight of
such luxuries.
• There is an impression of disarray in the room, caused by the long lists of
items in his view, separated by commas and occasional asides (indicated with
dashes).
• This is underlined by the use of ‘scattered’ and ‘confusedly’ to describe how
the items are arranged – it is as if the narrator has interrupted preparations
of some sort.
• The repetition of ‘white’ in lines 16-22 stresses the bridal aspect of the scene
and hints to the reader that the woman is dressed for a wedding.
• ‘Rich’, ‘sparkling’ and ‘splendid’ convey a sense of luxury and an important
event.
• In lines 23-31, the narrator goes on to describe how ‘everything within my
view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre’
and how everything appears to have deteriorated.
• Whereas lines 16-22 convey confusion, the final paragraph switches to
the almost supernatural aspects of the room and the woman. The narrator
describes the woman as ‘withered’ and ‘sunken’, and compares her to a
‘waxwork’ or ‘skeleton’.
Page 2 of 3

Question
4. In this extract, there is an
attempt to build tension;
how successfully is this
achieved?
Section A: Reading
Marks Suggested Content
Available
15 Students must give their personal response to the extract. However, these are
some of the points they may consider:
• The fact that the front entrance to the house has ‘two chains’ across it
indicates to the reader that the house may be unusual in some way, and is not
often visited. It implies that visitors are not welcome.
• The writer’s emphasis of the ‘dark’ journey up to the room, lit only by a candle,
creates an air of mystery.
• The fact that the girl abandons the narrator at the door, taking the light with
her, increases the tension – the reader feels sympathy for him as he is alone
in a strange and dark place.
• The narrator’s admission that he was ‘half afraid’ reinforces this impression.
• The narrator firstly describes his surroundings when entering the room, so that
the next paragraph introducing the woman becomes more prominent and more
likely to shock the reader.
• The narrator describes how the woman has ‘her head leaning on that hand’,
which indicates an attitude of despondency or fatigue – it is at odds with what
we would expect from a lady, which increases the atmosphere of unease.
• The narrator attempts to shock the reader by conveying that the woman is the
‘strangest lady’ he has ever seen. This builds tension because the reader is
then intrigued to find out the reason for this description.
• The fact that the narrator then focuses on the woman’s dress and possessions
again builds tension, because the reader still does not know what it is about
the woman’s appearance that is strange.
• The repetition of ‘I saw’ in the final paragraph implies that the narrator is too
stunned by what he has seen to elaborate or develop his language – he is in
shock.
• The final paragraph juxtaposes ideas of death and decay (‘faded’, ‘yellow’,
‘withered’, ‘sunken’) with the idea of a wedding, which shocks and intrigues
the reader.
• The image of a ‘rounded young woman’ shrunk to ‘skin and bone’ is macabre
and adds to the surreal feeling of the piece.
• The comparison with a ‘ghastly waxwork’ and a ‘skeleton’ that has been dug
up make the woman appear supernatural and sinister.
• The ‘dark eyes that moved’ reminds us that this sinister creature is alive, and
conveys the idea that she is a predator of some kind.
• The final line, ‘I should have cried out, if I could’, is an effective ending to the
description and is a climax of the tension in the piece. The narrator’s inability to
express his terror conveys just how frightening the woman appears to be.
Page 3 of 3