OCR A Level English Literature Drama and poetry pre-1900 June 2017 question paper H472/01

Coriolanus

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 5 Scene 3, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

VIRGILIA     My lord and husband!
CORIOLANUS These eyes are not the same I wore in Rome.
VIRGILIA   The sorrow that delivers us thus chang’d
  Makes you think so.
CORIOLANUS   Like a dull actor now
  I have forgot my part and I am out,
  Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
  Forgive my tyranny; but do not say,
  For that, ‘Forgive our Romans’. O, a kiss
  Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!
  Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
  I carried from thee, dear, and my true lip
  Hath virgin’d it e’er since. You gods! I prate,
  And the most noble mother of the world
  Leave unsaluted. Sink, my knee, i’ th’ earth;

  [Kneels.

  Of thy deep duty more impression show
  Than that of common sons.
VOLUMNIA   O, stand up blest!
  Whilst with no softer cushion than the flint
  I kneel before thee, and unproperly
  Show duty, as mistaken all this while,
  Between the child and parent.   [Kneels.
CORIOLANUS   What’s this?
  Your knees to me, to your corrected son?
  Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach
  Fillip the stars; then let the mutinous winds
  Strike the proud cedars ’gainst the fiery sun,
  Murd’ring impossibility, to make
  What cannot be slight work.
VOLUMNIA   Thou art my warrior;
  I holp to frame thee. Do you know this lady?
CORIOLANUS The noble sister of Publicola,

  The moon of Rome, chaste as the icicle
  That’s curdied by the frost from purest snow,
  And hangs on Dian’s temple – dear Valeria!
VOLUMNIA This is a poor epitome of yours,
  Which by th’interpretation of full time
  May show like all yourself.
CORIOLANUS   The god of soldiers,
  With the consent of supreme Jove, inform
  Thy thoughts with nobleness, that thou mayst prove
  To shame unvulnerable, and stick i’ th’ wars
  Like a great sea-mark standing every flaw,
  And saving those that eye thee!
VOLUMNIA   Your knee, sirrah.
CORIOLANUS That’s my brave boy.
VOLUMNIA Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself,
  Are suitors to you.
CORIOLANUS   I beseech you, peace!
  Or, if you’d ask, remember this before:
  The thing I have forsworn to grant may never
  Be held by you denials. Do not bid me
  Dismiss my soldiers, or capitulate
  Again with Rome’s mechanics. Tell me not
  Wherein I seem unnatural; desire not
  T’allay my rages and revenges with
  Your colder reasons.

And

‘The play explores the effects of pride on individuals and the state.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of the play Coriolanus.

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

Hamlet

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 1 Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

  Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo

HORATIO   Hail to your lordship!
HAMLET     I am glad to see you well.
  Horatio – or I do forget myself.
HORATIO The same, my lord, and your poor servant ever.
HAMLET   Sir, my good friend. I’ll change that name with you.
  And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?
  Marcellus?
MARCELLUS My good lord.
HAMLET   I am very glad to see you. [To Bernardo] Good even, sir. –
  But what, in faith, make you from Wittenberg?
HORATIO A truant disposition, good my lord.
HAMLET   I would not hear your enemy say so;
  Nor shall you do my ear that violence,
  To make it truster of your own report
  Against yourself. I know you are no truant.
  But what is your affair in Elsinore?
  We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
HORATIO My lord, I came to see your father’s funeral.
HAMLET   I prithee do not mock me, fellow student;
  I think it was to see my mother’s wedding.
HORATIO Indeed, my lord, it followed hard upon.
HAMLET   Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral bak’d-meats
  Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.
  Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven
  Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio!
  My father – methinks I see my father.
HORATIO Where, my lord?
HAMLET     In my mind’s eye, Horatio.
HORATIO I saw him once; ’a was a goodly king.
HAMLET   ’A was a man, take him for all in all,
  I shall not look upon his like again.
HORATIO My lord, I think I saw him yester-night.
HAMLET   Saw who?
HORATIO My lord, the King your father.
HAMLET     The King my father!
HORATIO Season your admiration for a while
  With an attent ear, till I may deliver,
  Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
  This marvel to you.
HAMLET     For God’s love, let me hear.
HORATIO Two nights together had these gentlemen,
  Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,
  In the dead waste and middle of the night,
  Been thus encount’red. A figure like your father,
  Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe,

  Appears before them, and with solemn march
  Goes slow and stately by them; thrice he walk’d
  By their oppress’d and fear-surprised eyes,
  Within his truncheon’s length; whilst they, distill’d
  Almost to jelly with the act of fear,
  Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
  In dreadful secrecy impart they did;
  And I with them the third night kept the watch;
  Where, as they had delivered, both in time,
  Form of the thing, each word made true and good,
  The apparition comes. I knew your father;
  These hands are not more like.

And

‘The play Hamlet shows a disturbing fascination with death.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of Hamlet.

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

Measure for Measure

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 2 Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

ISABELLA Must he needs die?
ANGELO     Maiden, no remedy.
ISABELLA Yes; I do think that you might pardon him,
  And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.
ANGELO   I will not do’t.
ISABELLA   But can you, if you would?
ANGELO   Look, what I will not, that I cannot do.
ISABELLA But might you do’t, and do the world no wrong,
  If so your heart were touch’d with that remorse
  As mine is to him?
ANGELO     He’s sentenc’d; ’tis too late.
LUCIO   [To Isabella] You are too cold.
ISABELLA Too late? Why, no; I, that do speak a word,
  May call it back again. Well, believe this:
  No ceremony that to great ones longs,
  Not the king’s crown nor the deputed sword,
  The marshal’s truncheon nor the judge’s robe,
  Become them with one half so good a grace
  As mercy does.
  If he had been as you, and you as he,
  You would have slipp’d like him; but he, like you,
  Would not have been so stern.
ANGELO     Pray you be gone.
ISABELLA I would to heaven I had your potency,
  And you were Isabel! Should it then be thus?
  No; I would tell what ’twere to be a judge
  And what a prisoner.
LUCIO   [To Isabella] Ay, touch him; there’s the vein.
ANGELO   Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
  And you but waste your words.
ISABELLA   Alas! alas!
  Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once;
  And He that might the vantage best have took
  Found out the remedy. How would you be
  If He, which is the top of judgement, should
  But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
  And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
  Like man new made.
ANGELO     Be you content, fair maid.
  It is the law, not I condemn your brother.
  Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
  It should be thus with him. He must die to-morrow.
ISABELLA To-morrow? O, that’s sudden! Spare him, spare him.
  He’s not prepar’d for death. Even for our kitchens
  We kill the fowl of season; shall we serve heaven
  With less respect than we do minister
  To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you.

  Who is it that hath died for this offence?
  There’s many have committed it.
LUCIO   [Aside]   Ay, well said.
ANGELO   The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.
  Those many had not dar’d to do that evil
  If the first that did th’ edìct infringe
  Had answer’d for his deed. Now ’tis awake,
  Takes note of what is done, and, like a prophet,
  Looks in a glass that shows what future evils –
  Either now or by remissness new conceiv’d,
  And so in progress to be hatch’d and born –
  Are now to have no successive degrees,
  But here they live to end.

And

‘A play about the difficult relationship between justice and mercy.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of Measure for Measure.

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

Richard III

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 2 Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

Enter GLOUCESTER, BUCKINGHAM, DERBY, HASTINGS, and RATCLIFF

GLOUCESTER Sister, have comfort. All of us have cause
  To wail the dimming of our shining star;
  But none can help our harms by wailing them.
  Madam, my mother, I do cry you mercy;
  I did not see your Grace. Humbly on my knee
  I crave your blessing.
DUCHESS   God bless thee; and put meekness in thy breast,
  Love, charity, obedience, and true duty!
GLOUCESTER Amen! [Aside] And make me die a good old man!
  That is the butt end of a mother’s blessing;
  I marvel that her Grace did leave it out.
BUCKINGHAM You cloudly princes and heart-sorrowing peers,
  That bear this heavy mutual load of moan,
  Now cheer each other in each other’s love.
  Though we have spent our harvest of this king,
  We are to reap the harvest of his son.
  The broken rancour of your high-swol’n hearts,
  But lately splinter’d, knit, and join’d together,
  Must gently be preserv’d, cherish’d, and kept.
  Me seemeth good that, with some little train,
  Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch’d
  Hither to London, to be crown’d our King.
RIVERS   Why with some little train, my Lord of Buckingham?
BUCKINGHAM Marry, my lord, lest by a multitude
  The new-heal’d wound of malice should break out,
  Which would be so much the more dangerous
  By how much the estate is green and yet ungovern’d;
  Where every horse bears his commanding rein
  And may direct his course as please himself,
  As well the fear of harm as harm apparent,
  In my opinion, ought to be prevented.
GLOUCESTER I hope the King made peace with all of us;
  And the compact is firm and true in me.
RIVERS   And so in me; and so, I think, in all.
  Yet, since it is but green, it should be put
  To no apparent likelihood of breach,
  Which haply by much company might be urg’d;
  Therefore I say with noble Buckingham
  That it is meet so few should fetch the Prince.
HASTINGS   And so say I.
GLOUCESTER Then be it so; and go we to determine
  Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow.
  Madam, and you, my sister, will you go
  To give your censures in this business?

  [Exeunt all but Buckingham and Gloucester.

BUCKINGHAM My lord, whoever journeys to the Prince,
  For God sake, let not us two stay at home;
  For by the way I’ll sort occasion,
  As index to the story we late talk’d of,
  To part the Queen’s proud kindred from the Prince.
GLOUCESTER My other self, my counsel’s consistory,
  My oracle, my prophet, my dear cousin,
  I, as a child, will go by thy direction.
  Toward Ludlow then, for we’ll not stay behind.

  [Exeunt.

And

‘Richard and Buckingham are two of a kind.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of the relationship between Richard and Buckingham.

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

The Tempest

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 1 Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

PROSPERO Awake, dear heart, awake; thou hast slept well;
  Awake.
MIRANDA   The strangeness of your story put
  Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO   Shake it off. Come on,
  We’ll visit Caliban, my slave, who never
  Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA     ’Tis a villain, sir,
  I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO   But as ’tis,
  We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,
  Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices
  That profit us. What ho! slave! Caliban!
  Thou earth, thou! Speak.
CALIBAN   [Within] There’s wood enough within.
PROSPERO Come forth, I say; there’s other business for thee.
  Come, thou tortoise! when?

  Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph.

  Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel,
  Hark in thine ear.
ARIEL     My lord, it shall be done.   [Exit.
PROSPERO Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
  Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

  Enter CALIBAN.

CALIBAN As wicked dew as e’er my mother brush’d
  With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen
  Drop on you both! A south-west blow on ye
  And blister you all o’er!
PROSPERO For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
  Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins
  Shall, for that vast of night that they may work,
  All exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch’d
  As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
  Than bees that made ’em.
CALIBAN   I must eat my dinner.
  This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,
  Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first,
  Thou strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me
  Water with berries in’t, and teach me how
  To name the bigger light, and how the less,
  That burn by day and night; and then I lov’d thee,
  And show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,
  The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile.

  Curs’d be I that did so! All the charms
  Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
  For I am all the subjects that you have,
  Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
  In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
  The rest o’ th’ island.
PROSPERO   Thou most lying slave,
  Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have us’d thee,
  Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg’d thee
  In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
  The honour of my child.
CALIBAN O ho, O ho! Would’t had been done.
  Thou didst prevent me; I had peopl’d else
  This isle with Calibans.
MIRANDA   Abhorred slave,
  Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
  Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
  Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
  One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage,
  Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
  A thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposes
  With words that made them known.

And

‘Caliban is a troubling mixture of brutality and sensitivity.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of Caliban.

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

Twelfth Night

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 2 Scene 3, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

MARIA   Sweet Sir Toby, be patient for tonight; since the youth of the
Count’s was to-day with my lady, she is much out of quiet. For
Monsieur Malvolio, let me alone with him; if I do not gull him into
a nay-word, and make him a common recreation, do not think I
have wit enough to lie straight in my bed. I know I can do it.
SIR TOBY   Possess us, possess us; tell us something of him.
MARIA   Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of Puritan.
SIR ANDREW O, if I thought that, I’d beat him like a dog.
SIR TOBY   What, for being a Puritan? Thy exquisite reason, dear knight?
SIR ANDREW I have no exquisite reason for’t, but I have reason good enough.
MARIA   The devil a Puritan that he is, or anything constantly but a time-
pleaser; an affection’d ass that cons state without book and utters
it by great swarths; the best persuaded of himself, so cramm’d,
as he thinks, with excellencies that it is his grounds of faith that all
that look on him love him; and on that vice in him will my revenge
find notable cause to work.
SIR TOBY   What wilt thou do?
MARIA   I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of love; wherein, by
the colour of his beard, the shape of his leg, the manner of his
gait, the expressure of his eye, forehead, and complexion, he
shall find himself most feelingly personated. I can write very like
my lady, your niece; on a forgotten matter we can hardly make
distinction of our hands.
SIR TOBY   Excellent! I smell a device.
SIR ANDREW I have’t in my nose too.
SIR TOBY   He shall think, by the letters that thou wilt drop, that they come
from my niece, and that she’s in love with him.
MARIA   My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour.
SIR ANDREW And your horse now would make him an ass.
MARIA   Ass, I doubt not.
SIR ANDREW O, ’twill be admirable!
MARIA   Sport royal, I warrant you. I know my physic will work with him.
I will plant you two, and let the fool make a third, where he shall
find the letter; observe his construction of it. For this night, to bed,
and dream on the event. Farewell.   [Exit.
SIR TOBY   Good night, Penthesilea.
SIR ANDREW Before me, she’s a good wench.
SIR TOBY   She’s a beagle true-bred, and one that adores me. What o’ that?
SIR ANDREW I was ador’d once too.
SIR TOBY   Let’s to bed, knight. Thou hadst need send for more money.
SIR ANDREW If I cannot recover your niece, I am a foul way out.
SIR TOBY   Send for money, knight; if thou hast her not i’ th’ end, call me Cut.
SIR ANDREW If I do not, never trust me; take it how you will.
SIR TOBY   Come, come, I’ll go burn some sack; ’tis too late to go to bed
now. Come, knight; come, knight.   [Exeunt.

And

‘Deliberate deception is the source of much of the play’s comedy.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of Twelfth Night.

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

Section 2 – Drama and Poetry pre-1900

Answer one question from this section. You should spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes on this section.

In your answer, you should refer to one drama text and one poetry text from the following lists:

7 ‘People are naturally inclined towards vain and selfish behaviour.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore vanity and selfishness. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

8 ‘Hidden truths will always be revealed in the end.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore truth and secrecy. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

9 ‘The Outsider is always an intriguing figure in literature.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore those who are placed outside the centre of society. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

‘Literature often presents characters in a state of reflection.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore the significance of thought and reflection. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

‘Freedom is a condition towards which all humanity aspires.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore the desire for freedom. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

‘Loss and suffering are familiar conditions in human experience.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore loss and suffering. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.