OCR A Level English Literature Drama and poetry pre-1900 June 2019 question paper H472/01

Coriolanus

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 4 Scene 5 exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and dramatic effects.

Enter AUFIDIUS with the second Servant.

AUFIDIUS Where is this fellow?
2 SERVANT Here, sir; I’d have beaten him like a dog, but for disturbing the lords within.
AUFIDIUS Whence com’st thou? What wouldst thou? Thy name?
  Why speak’st not? Speak, man. What’s thy name?
CORIOLANUS [Unmuffling]   If, Tullus,
  Not yet thou know’st me, and, seeing me, dost not
  Think me for the man I am, necessity
  Commands me name myself.
AUFIDIUS       What is thy name?
CORIOLANUS A name unmusical to the Volscians’ ears,
  And harsh in sound to thine.
AUFIDIUS   Say, what’s thy name?
  Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face
  Bears a command in’t; though thy tackle’s torn,
  Thou show’st a noble vessel. What’s thy name?
CORIOLANUS Prepare thy brow to frown – know’st thou me yet?
AUFIDIUS I know thee not. Thy name?
CORIOLANUS My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done
  To thee particularly, and to all the Volsces,
  Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may
  My surname, Coriolanus. The painful service,
  The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood
  Shed for my thankless country, are requited
  But with that surname – a good memory
  And witness of the malice and displeasure
  Which thou shouldst bear me. Only that name remains;
  The cruelty and envy of the people,
  Permitted by our dastard nobles, who
  Have all forsook me, hath devour’d the rest,
  And suffer’d me by th’ voice of slaves to be
  Whoop’d out of Rome. Now this extremity
  Hath brought me to thy hearth; not out of hope,
  Mistake me not, to save my life; for if

  I had fear’d death, of all the men i’ th’ world
  I would have ’voided thee; but in mere spite,
  To be full quit of those my banishers,
  Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast
  A heart of wreak in thee, that wilt revenge
  Thine own particular wrongs and stop those maims
  Of shame seen through thy country, speed thee straight
  And make my misery serve thy turn. So use it
  That my revengeful services may prove
  As benefits to thee; for I will fight
  Against my cank’red country with the spleen
  Of all the under fiends. But if so be
  Thou dar’st not this, and that to prove more fortunes
  Th’art tir’d, then, in a word, I also am
  Longer to live most weary, and present
  My throat to thee and to thy ancient malice;
  Which not to cut would show thee but a fool,
  Since I have ever followed thee with hate,
  Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country’s breast,
  And cannot live but to thy shame, unless
  It be to do thee service.
AUFIDIUS   O Marcius, Marcius!
  Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart
  A root of ancient envy.

And

‘The conflicts presented in the play are rarely straightforward.’

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 5 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

1 CLOWN   What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or
the carpenter?
2 CLOWN   The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants.
1 CLOWN   I like thy wit well; in good faith the gallows does well; but how does it well?
It does well to those that do ill. Now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built
stronger than the church; argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To ’t
again, come.
2 CLOWN   Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter?
1 CLOWN   Ay, tell me that, and unyoke.
2 CLOWN   Marry, now I can tell.
1 CLOWN   To ’t.
2 CLOWN   Mass, I cannot tell.

Enter HAMLET and HORATIO, afar off.

1 CLOWN   Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull ass will not mend his
pace with beating; and when you are ask’d this question next, say ‘a
grave-maker’: the houses he makes lasts till doomsday. Go, get thee to
Yaughan; fetch me a stoup of liquor.   [Exit Second Clown.

  [Digs and sings] In youth, when I did love, did love,
  Methought it was very sweet,
  To contract-o-the time for-a my behove,
  O, methought there-a-was nothing-a meet.

HAMLET   Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that ’a sings in grave-making?
HORATIO   Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.
HAMLET   ’Tis e’en so; the hand of little employment hath the daintier sense.
1 CLOWN   [Sings] But age, with his stealing steps,
  Hath clawed me in his clutch,
  And hath shipped me intil the land,
  As if I had never been such.
    [Throws up a skull.
HAMLET   That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once. How the knave jowls it
to the ground, as if ’twere Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder! This
might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now o’erreaches; one that
would circumvent God, might it not?
HORATIO   It might, my lord.
HAMLET   Or of a courtier; which could say ‘Good morrow, sweet lord! How dost
thou, sweet lord?’ This might be my Lord Such-a-one, that praised my
Lord Such-a-one’s horse, when ’a meant to beg it ‒ might it not?
HORATIO   Ay, my lord.
HAMLET   Why, e’en so; and now my Lady Worm’s, chapless, and knock’d about the
mazard with a sexton’s spade. Here’s fine revolution, an we had the trick
to see’t. Did these bones cost no more the breeding but to play at loggats
with them? Mine ache to think on’t.

And

‘In the play Hamlet the comedy always makes serious points.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of the play 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 3 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

Enter ISABELLA.

ISABELLA My business is a word or two with Claudio.
PROVOST And very welcome. Look, signior, here’s your sister.
DUKE   Provost, a word with you.
PROVOST As many as you please.
DUKE   Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be conceal’d.
    [Exeunt Duke and Provost.

CLAUDIO   Now, sister, what’s the comfort?
ISABELLA Why,
  As all comforts are; most good, most good, indeed.
  Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,
  Intends you for his swift ambassador,
  Where you shall be an everlasting leiger.
  Therefore, your best appointment make with speed;
  To-morrow you set on.
CLAUDIO     Is there no remedy?
ISABELLA None, but such remedy as, to save a head,
  To cleave a heart in twain.
CLAUDIO     But is there any?
ISABELLA Yes, brother, you may live:
  There is a devilish mercy in the judge,
  If you’ll implore it, that will free your life,
  But fetter you till death.
CLAUDIO     Perpetual durance?
ISABELLA Ay, just; perpetual durance, a restraint,
  Though all the world’s vastidity you had,
  To a determin’d scope.
CLAUDIO     But in what nature?
ISABELLA In such a one as, you consenting to’t,
  Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,
  And leave you naked.
CLAUDIO     Let me know the point.
ISABELLA O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,
  Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain,
  And six or seven winters more respect
  Than a perpetual honour. Dar’st thou die?
  The sense of death is most in apprehension;
  And the poor beetle that we tread upon
  In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
  As when a giant dies.
CLAUDIO     Why give you me this shame?
  Think you I can a resolution fetch
  From flow’ry tenderness? If I must die,
  I will encounter darkness as a bride
  And hug it in mine arms.

ISABELLA There spake my brother; there my father’s grave
  Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:
  Thou art too noble to conserve a life
  In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,
  Whose settled visage and deliberate word
  Nips youth i’ th’ head, and follies doth enew
  As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil;
  His filth within being cast, he would appear
  A pond as deep as hell.
CLAUDIO     The precise Angelo!
ISABELLA O, ’tis the cunning livery of hell
  The damned’st body to invest and cover
  In precise guards! Dost thou think, Claudio,
  If I would yield him my virginity
  Thou mightst be freed?
CLAUDIO     O heavens! it cannot be.
ISABELLA Yes, he would give’t thee, from this rank offence,
  So to offend him still. This night’s the time
  That I should do what I abhor to name,
  Or else thou diest to-morrow.
CLAUDIO     Thou shalt not do’t.
ISABELLA O, were it but my life!
  I’d throw it down for your deliverance
  As frankly as a pin.
CLAUDIO     Thanks, dear Isabel.

And

‘For a play that ends happily Measure for Measure has a lot to say about death.’

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 5 Scene 3, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

Enter the Ghost of HASTINGS.

GHOST   [To Richard] Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake,
  And in a bloody battle end thy days!
  Think on Lord Hastings. Despair and die.
  [To Richmond] Quiet untroubled soul, awake, awake!
  Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England’s sake!

Enter the Ghosts of the two young Princes.

GHOSTS   [To Richard] Dream on thy cousins smothered in the Tower.
  Let us be lead within thy bosom, Richard,
  And weigh thee down to ruin, shame, and death!
  Thy nephews’ souls bid thee despair and die.
  [To Richmond] Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace, and wake in joy;
  Good angels guard thee from the boar’s annoy!
  Live, and beget a happy race of kings!
  Edward’s unhappy sons do bid thee flourish.

Enter the Ghost of LADY ANNE, his wife.

GHOST   [To Richard] Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife
  That never slept a quiet hour with thee
  Now fills thy sleep with perturbations.
  To-morrow in the battle think on me,
  And fall thy edgeless sword. Despair and die.
  [To Richmond] Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep;
  Dream of success and happy victory.
  Thy adversary’s wife doth pray for thee.

Enter the Ghost of BUCKINGHAM.

GHOST   [To Richard] The first was I that help’d thee to the crown;
  The last was I that felt thy tyranny.
  O, in the battle think on Buckingham,
  And die in terror of thy guiltiness!
  Dream on, dream on of bloody deeds and death;
  Fainting, despair; despairing, yield thy breath!
  [To Richmond] I died for hope ere I could lend thee aid;
  But cheer thy heart and be thou not dismay’d:
  God and good angels fight on Richmond’s side;
  And Richard falls in height of all his pride.

  [The Ghosts vanish. Richard starts out of his dream.

KING RICHARD Give me another horse. Bind up my wounds.
  Have mercy, Jesu! Soft! I did but dream.
  O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
  The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight.
  Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
  What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
  Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
  Is there a murderer here? No ‒ yes, I am.
  Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why ‒
  Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself!
  Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good.
  That I myself have done unto myself?
  O, no! Alas, I rather hate myself
  For hateful deeds committed by myself!
  I am a villain; yet I lie, I am not.
  Fool, of thyself speak well. Fool, do not flatter.
  My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
  And every tongue brings in a several tale,
  And every tale condemns me for a villain.
  Perjury, perjury, in the high’st degree;
  Murder, stern murder, in the dir’st degree;
  All several sins, all us’d in each degree,
  Throng to the bar, crying all ‘Guilty! guilty!’
  I shall despair. There is no creature loves me;
  And if I die no soul will pity me:
  And wherefore should they, since that I myself
  Find myself no pity to myself?
  Methought the souls of all that I had murder’d
  Came to my tent, and every one did threat
  To-morrow’s vengeance on the head of Richard.

And

‘The play Richard III dramatises the conflict between good and evil.’

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

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 2 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

SEBASTIAN Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,
  That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,
  But rather lose her to an African;
  Where she, at least, is banish’d from your eye,
  Who hath cause to wet the grief on’t.
ALONSO     Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN You were kneel’d to, and importun’d otherwise
  By all of us; and the fair soul herself
  Weigh’d between loathness and obedience at
  Which end o’ th’ beam should bow. We have lost your son,
  I fear, for ever. Milan and Naples have
  Moe widows in them of this business’ making,
  Than we bring men to comfort them;
  The fault’s your own.
ALONSO     So is the dear’st o’ th’ loss.
GONZALO My lord Sebastian,
  The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
  And time to speak it in; you rub the sore,
  When you should bring the plaster.
SEBASTIAN   Very well.
ANTONIO   And most chirurgeonly.
GONZALO It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
  When you are cloudy.
SEBASTIAN   Fowl weather?
ANTONIO       Very foul.
GONZALO Had I plantation of this isle, my lord –
ANTONIO   He’d sow ’t with nettle-seed.
SEBASTIAN   Or docks, or mallows.
GONZALO And were the king on’t, what would I do?
SEBASTIAN Scape being drunk for want of wine.
GONZALO I’ th’ commonwealth I would by contraries
  Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
  Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
  Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
  And use of service, none; contract, succession,
  Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
  No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
  No occupation; all men idle, all;
  And women too, but innocent and pure;
  No sovereignty –
SEBASTIAN   Yet he would be king on’t.
ANTONIO   The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
GONZALO All things in common nature should produce
  Without sweat or endeavour. Treason, felony,
  Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
  Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,

  Of it own kind, all foison, all abundance,
  To feed my innocent people.
SEBASTIAN No marrying ’mong his subjects?
ANTONIO   None, man; all idle; whores and knaves.
GONZALO I would with such perfection govern, sir,
  T’ excel the golden age.
SEBASTIAN   Save his Majesty!
ANTONIO   Long live Gonzalo!

And

‘The play encourages us to admire idealistic values such as those of Gonzalo.’

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

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 1 Scene 4, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and its dramatic effects.

The Duke’s palace.

Enter VALENTINE, and VIOLA in a man’s attire.

VALENTINE If the Duke continue these favours towards you, Cesario, you are like to
be much advanc’d; he hath known you but three days, and already you
are no stranger.
VIOLA   You either fear his humour or my negligence, that you call in question the
continuance of his love. Is he inconstant, sir, in his favours?
VALENTINE No, believe me.

Enter DUKE, CURIO, and Attendants.

VIOLA   I thank you. Here comes the Count.
DUKE   Who saw Cesario, ho?
VIOLA   On your attendance, my lord, here.
DUKE   Stand you awhile aloof. Cesario,
  Thou know’st no less but all; I have unclasp’d
  To thee the book even of my secret soul.
  Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her;
  Be not denied access, stand at her doors,
  And tell them there thy fixed foot shall grow
  Till thou have audience.
VIOLA     Sure, my noble lord,
  If she be so abandon’d to her sorrow
  As it is spoke, she never will admit me.
DUKE   Be clamorous and leap all civil bounds,
  Rather than make unprofited return.
VIOLA   Say I do speak with her, my lord, what then?
DUKE   O, then unfold the passion of my love,
  Surprise her with discourse of my dear faith!
  It shall become thee well to act my woes:
  She will attend it better in thy youth
  Than in a nuncio’s of more grave aspect.
VIOLA   I think not so, my lord.
DUKE     Dear lad, believe it;
  For they shall yet belie thy happy years
  That say thou art a man; Diana’s lip
  Is not more smooth and rubious; thy small pipe
  Is as the maiden’s organ, shrill and sound,
  And all is semblative a woman’s part.
  I know thy constellation is right apt
  For this affair. Some four or five attend him ‒
  All, if you will, for I myself am best
  When least in company. Prosper well in this,
  And thou shalt live as freely as thy lord
  To call his fortunes thine.

VIOLA     I’ll do my best
  To woo your lady. [Aside] Yet, a barful strife!
  Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife.

And

‘The play’s notions of gender are very complex.’

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 ‘Literature often celebrates the strong bonds between human beings.’

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

8 ‘Stereotypes about gender are as inappropriate in literature as they are in life.’

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

9 ‘Literature too often undervalues qualities of kindness and compassion.’

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

‘Literary works often explore the consequences of human error.’

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

‘The instinct to control others is natural in humanity.’

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

‘Happiness is difficult to find and difficult to keep.’

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