GCSE English Literature examiners will award the highest marks for answers which demonstrate an understanding, supported by relevant quotations from the text, of key aspects of the novel including the events, characters, themes and historical context. You might be asked, for example, to explore how Pip’s relationship with Magwitch is shown in one key extract, and how it develops over the course of the novel; or the way that Dickens uses Mr Jaggers to explore the theme of justice and the law.