IB Diploma Programme Language A: Literature – Paper 2: The Comparative Essay Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

These questions practise the Paper 2 comparative essay for IB Diploma Programme Language A: Literature, SL and HL, drawing on the areas of exploration Intertextuality: connecting texts and Time and space. They follow the current IB subject brief (first assessments for SL and HL 2021). Every question suits both levels.

Learn the method first in the Paper 2 study guide and the Paper 2 revision notes. Course links: Literature course hub · printable checklist · Intertextuality practice.

Marks here are for self-checking. The real essay is marked holistically against the IB assessment criteria, which your teacher will share, not point by point.

Questions

Passage A

From Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), opening chapter:

a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door on the lower storey and a blind forehead of discoloured wall on the upper; and bore in every feature, the marks of prolonged and sordid negligence. The door, which was equipped with neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and distained.

Passage B

From Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter VIII:

This portrait would be to him the most magical of mirrors. As it had revealed to him his own body, so it would reveal to him his own soul. And when winter came upon it, he would still be standing where spring trembles on the verge of summer. When the blood crept from its face, and left behind a pallid mask of chalk with leaden eyes, he would keep the glamour of boyhood.

Passage C

Original text written for Marlbridge: a weak student paragraph.

Stevenson’s novel is about a man with two sides. Jekyll drinks a potion and turns into Hyde, who does evil things like when he trampled the girl. This shows he is evil. “man is two”. Similarly, in Dorian Gray, Dorian has a painting that gets old. He does bad things and the painting changes. This shows that both books are about good and evil.

1. State three facts about Paper 2 given in the IB subject brief. [3]

2. Identify one technique in Passage A and explain its effect, supported by a quotation. [3]

3. Identify one technique in Passage B and explain its effect, supported by a quotation. [3]

4. Write one comparative topic sentence that links Passages A and B through a shared idea and a difference in method. [2]

5. Identify three weaknesses in Passage C. [3]

6. Rewrite Passage C as an integrated, hinged comparative paragraph of about 120 words. [6]

7. Original question: “To what extent do two works you have studied present the past as something characters cannot leave behind?”

(a) Identify the key terms and the double demand of the question. [2] (b) Carry out a fit test using the two novels. [2]

8. Original question: “Discuss the ways in which the endings of two works you have studied shape the reader’s final judgement of a central character.” Rank these theses from weakest to strongest and justify the ranking. [4]

• T1: Both novels have sad endings where the main character dies.
• T2: Stevenson ends with Jekyll’s written statement, while Wilde ends with servants finding a body.
• T3: Both writers end by destroying the divided self, but Stevenson lets Jekyll close the book in his own words, so we judge him from inside his confession, while Wilde ends with servants who find a withered stranger, so we must judge Dorian from what is seen, not what he explains.

9. A student writes: Jekyll says “man is truly two and not one”.

(a) State what is wrong with this evidence. [1] (b) Correct it in one sentence that embeds the quotation and comments on it. [2]

10. Write two sentences that use context to explain a difference between Stevenson’s and Wilde’s methods. [4]

11. Original question: “How do two works you have studied use a character who watches or investigates another to shape what the reader learns?” Write a thesis and a four-point integrated plan using the two novels, with evidence from both works in every point. [10]

Answers

1. It is a comparative essay [1]; based on two literary works [1]; written in response to one of four questions, in 1.75 hours at SL and HL (weighting 35% SL, 25% HL) [1]. Examiner insight: Only facts printed in the brief are safe; invented rules about the paper cost credibility.

2. Personification [1]: the wall is a “blind forehead”, so the building becomes a face with no eyes [1]. It suggests a secret, unseeing presence that gives nothing away, preparing for Hyde, who uses this door [1]. Examiner insight: Naming the technique earns little; the marks sit in explaining the effect.

3. Seasonal metaphor [1]: Dorian will stand “where spring trembles on the verge of summer” [1], fixed at the moment before maturity, while the portrait takes the “winter” of age and sin; the image makes his youth both beautiful and unnatural [1]. Examiner insight: Strong answers tie the image to the novel’s larger idea, not just its surface.

4. For example: “Both writers give the hidden self a physical surface [1], but Stevenson describes a blank wall that refuses to be read, while Wilde creates a portrait that shows everything [1].” Examiner insight: A topic sentence without a difference in method sets up description, not comparison.

5. Any three: plot summary instead of analysis [1]; a misquotation (“man is two”) dropped in with no comment [1]; “similarly” joins two separate discussions, with no real comparison [1]; also acceptable: no named technique; vague conclusion (“good and evil”). Examiner insight: Weak paragraphs usually fail on comparison and evidence together; name both.

6. Model (original writing for Marlbridge):

Both novels give the divided self a visible form, but Stevenson hides it inside a person while Wilde moves it onto an object. Jekyll’s statement claims that “man is not truly one, but truly two”, and Hyde is that second self let loose, a man who “trampled calmly” over a child. Wilde keeps Dorian’s face unchanged and lets the portrait carry the damage, becoming “the most magical of mirrors”. The difference shapes our response: Stevenson’s reader fears what the hidden self will do next in the street, whereas Wilde’s reader watches the cost build up in private. Both writers show that a double life cannot last, but Stevenson makes it a danger to others and Wilde a record against oneself.

Indicative points: comparative topic sentence [1]; exact, embedded evidence from Stevenson [1]; exact, embedded evidence from Wilde [1]; named methods (a second body; a portrait as mirror) [1]; hinge sentence on effect [1]; link to an argument, not “good and evil” [1]. Examiner insight: Integration means one point developed through both works, not two halves.

7. (a) Key terms: “the past”, “cannot leave behind” [1]; double demand: “to what extent” asks for a judgement of degree, so show where the past can and cannot be escaped [1]. (b) Stevenson: Jekyll’s youthful “pleasures”, hidden for years, return as Hyde, whom he finally cannot control [1]. Wilde: the portrait records every act, and Dorian finally sees it as the last evidence against him [1]. Examiner insight: Ignoring “to what extent” produces a one-sided essay with no judgement.

8. Order: T1, T2, T3 [1]. T1 is a summary with no method and no link to “judgement” [1]. T2 names methods but gives no shared claim or effect [1]. T3 uses the key terms, names both works, sets a difference and states the effect on judgement [1]. Examiner insight: The best thesis already contains the essay’s plan; T3 gives two points at once.

9. (a) It is a misquotation: the words are changed and reordered [1]. (b) For example: In his final statement, Jekyll turns his case into a general law, “man is not truly one, but truly two” [1], so his own failure is presented as the human condition [1]. Examiner insight: If unsure of exact words, a precise paraphrase without quotation marks is safer.

10. For example: Stevenson’s novella of the 1880s moves through a lawyer and written statements [1], suiting a society in which reputation depended on what could be proved [1]. Wilde’s novel was attacked as immoral in 1890, and the 1891 Preface declares “All art is quite useless” [1], so where Stevenson hands readers a case to solve, Wilde refuses to supply a moral [1]. Examiner insight: Context scores only when it explains a method or a difference; dates alone do not.

11. Indicative plan:

Thesis: Both writers filter the story through observers, but Stevenson’s Utterson learns slowly and from outside, so the reader shares his suspense, while Wilde’s narrator moves between watchers and Dorian’s own mind, so we know the secret long before anyone in the story does.

Point	Jekyll and Hyde	Dorian Gray
1 The watcher	Utterson, “lean, long, dusty, dreary”, respectable and reserved	Basil and Lord Henry watch Dorian in the opening studio
2 Limits of watching	Utterson’s “Mr. Seek” pun: he hunts but cannot explain	Basil sees the portrait’s change and is killed in that room
3 Form	truth arrives late in Lanyon’s narrative and Jekyll’s statement	the portrait itself watches, “the most magical of mirrors”
4 Final view	Jekyll’s own voice ends the book	servants see only a withered body at the end

Indicative points: thesis with key terms and a difference [1]; thesis states the effect on the reader [1]; point 1 evidence from both [1]; point 2 evidence from both [1]; point 3 compares narrative forms [1]; point 4 compares endings [1]; exact short quotations [1]; balance between works [1]; a context link (for example, 1880s reputation, or Wilde’s Preface) [1]; each point linked back to “what the reader learns” [1]. Examiner insight: Plans that pair evidence point by point produce integrated essays; plans by work do not.

Where marks are usually lost

• Writing about a topic (“good and evil”) instead of the question’s key terms.
• Answering “how” and never “to what effect”.
• Quotations misremembered, reordered or merged.
• Quotations dropped in without comment.
• One work analysed, the other summarised.
• “Similarly” used as the only comparison.
• Context given as dates or biography with no link to method.
• Ignoring “to what extent” and giving no judgement.

Next steps

• Recall drill: Paper 2 revision notes
• Full method: Paper 2 study guide
• Course hub: IB DP Language A: Literature
• Checklist: printable checklist
• Try all free 10-minute diagnostics
• Book a free trial class

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Subject Brief, Language A: literature, first assessments for SL and HL 2021 (2019). Passages A and B are from public-domain editions of Stevenson (1886) and Wilde (1891); Passage C and all questions are original writing for Marlbridge.