Context includes the circumstances of composition, setting, circulation and reception, as well as social, cultural, religious and literary ideas. Distinguish what is established from an inference about purpose or audience response.
Relevant context can illuminate meaning where the task assesses it. It is not merely a historical fact bank, and unseen responses must not invent contextual information.
Different contexts ask different questions
Using context well
Connect an accurate fact or wider idea to a particular choice. Beliefs about sacred kingship may intensify the significance of Duncan’s murder for some spectators; the claim needs qualification.
No PEEL or other paragraph pattern is compulsory. Place the contextual connection where it helps develop the interpretation.
Distinguish the 1912 setting of An Inspector Calls from writing in 1944 and first performance in 1945. The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 reformed an existing system; earlier workhouses were already operating.
Consider differences within audiences as well as across time. Use could or may for a supported possible reaction rather than declaring what everyone felt.
Historical: war, revolution, scientific ideas (Darwin; Russian Revolution; WWII).
Cultural/religious: beliefs (witchcraft, original sin, Christmas).
Biographical context can help when it explains a relevant choice, but it does not prove one message or equate a speaker with the writer. Genre and literary traditions may also provide useful context.
Check the claim before using it
Common errors
Avoid sweeping claims about everyone in an era, invented biography, confused dates, and unrelated lists. A separate sentence about context is not inherently wrong; the issue is whether it develops the answer.
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