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GCSE English Literature · key term
A dramatic genre with a tightly constructed plot, often involving past secrets, carefully timed revelations and a climax followed by restored order.
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Paper 2
Revise: Writer's methodsA well-made play has a tightly organised plot in which past events and secrets are gradually uncovered. Popular in the nineteenth century, this form typically builds towards a climax before restoring order. Priestley uses its carefully linked clues but challenges its reassuring conclusion.
Paper 1
A tightly constructed dramatic form in which preparation, concealed information, revelations and reversals build towards a climax and resolution.
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A well-made play uses careful preparation, secrets, revelations and reversals to build towards a climax and resolution. Priestley uses these features from the opening. Sheila’s doubts about Gerald’s absence during the previous summer prepare us for his affair; Eric’s awkwardness and drinking prepare us for his confession.
Paper 1
A dramatic form with a tightly organised plot, secrets from the past and carefully timed revelations, usually ending in restored order.
Revise: Writer's methodsThe play uses the conventions of a well-made play: secrets from the past, early clues, tightly connected events and carefully timed revelations. Sheila's early suspicion about Gerald's absence prepares for his later confession. Eva's changing names connect apparently separate encounters.
Component 2
A tightly constructed drama in which secrets, clues and revelations build towards a climax, usually followed by a resolution.
Revise: Writer's methodsThis tightly linked plot resembles a well-made play, in which concealed information emerges through carefully prepared revelations. Priestley uses that satisfying machinery but resists a comfortable resolution. Solving the mystery does not allow the audience to dismiss wrongdoing as someone else’s problem.
