Responsibility

An obligation to consider other people’s welfare and to answer for the consequences of one’s actions.

A moral obligation to care for someone or to answer for the consequences of one’s actions.

In Frankenstein, Shelley separates the power to make a living being from the responsibility to care for that being. Victor succeeds scientifically, but fails to provide protection, education or affection. The creature therefore becomes more than the result of an experiment: he is also an abandoned child who questions what his creator owes him.

Build an argument about responsibility rather than retelling Eva’s life: explain what each action reveals about morality and Priestley’s purpose.

Distinguish Eric’s accusation against his mother from the Inspector’s judgement that responsibility is shared.

Part (b), AO1: build an argument about responsibility using well-chosen moments from elsewhere in the novel. Short quotations and accurate paraphrases can both support your interpretation.

Responsibility means an obligation towards other people and accountability for the consequences of one’s actions. These are connected, but they are not identical: someone can be responsible for harm while refusing to feel guilty. Equally, feeling distressed is not necessarily evidence of lasting moral change.

The obligation to care for others and answer for the consequences of one’s actions.

Being answerable for your actions and recognising a duty to consider their effects on other people.

Guilt can mean a feeling of remorse, whereas responsibility involves being answerable for your actions and recognising their effects on others. A character may feel frightened or ashamed without becoming more responsible.

An obligation to answer for your actions and their consequences, or to protect and care for other people.

An obligation to answer for one’s actions and consider their effects on other people.

Responsibility means being answerable for your actions and their effects on others. Guilt can mean being to blame, but it can also mean the painful feeling of recognising that you have done wrong. These meanings do not always coincide: someone can cause harm yet refuse to feel guilty.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702

Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0

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OCR GCSE English Literature · J352

Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720