Text response - what tense to use?

[davsalooki]

Say for example, Macbeth becomes king. I need a comparison between when Macbeth WAS Thane and when he is KING. Would I write this both in present tense or only when he is king?

[milanander]

Say for example, Macbeth becomes king. I need a comparison between when Macbeth WAS Thane and when he is KING. Would I write this both in present tense or only when he is king?

my teacher said to use past tense for both cases.

[literally lauren]

Good question! Yep, as milanander said, you should try to keep a consistent past tense when referring to any events in the text - it doesn't matter whether they occured in Act 1 or Act 5.

However, when you're talking about Shakespeare's message and the overall impact, you should use present tense (e.g. Macbeth killed Banquo, which Shakespeare shows is a consequences of his madness and a catalyst for his downfall).

This isn't something the assessors will explicitly mark you down for, and there are also circumstances where using a different tense would make more sense (e.g. I usually use present tense when talking about dialogue, like 'Lady Macbeth describes her hands as a "sorry sight... infirm of purpose.")

So long as your writing is fairly consistent and always clear, you'll be fine!