OCR A Level English Literature Drama and poetry pre-1900 June 2023 question paper H472/01

Coriolanus

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

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

its dramatic effects.

PLEBEIANS To th’ rock, to th’ rock, with him!
SICINIUS Peace!
We need not put new matter to his charge.
What you have seen him do and heard him speak,
Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,
Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying
Those whose great power must try him – even this,
So criminal and in such capital kind,
Deserves th’ extremest death.
BRUTUS   But since he hath
Serv’d well for Rome –
CORIOLANUS   What do you prate of service?
BRUTUS   I talk of that that know it.
CORIOLANUS You!
MENENIUS Is this the promise that you made your mother?
COMINIUS Know, I pray you –
CORIOLANUS   I’ll know no further.
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word,
Nor check my courage for what they can give,
To have’t with saying ‘Good morrow’.
SICINIUS   For that he has –
As much as in him lies – from time to time
Envied against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power; as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it – in the name o’ th’ people,
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
Ev’n from this instant, banish him our city,
In peril of precipitation
From off the rock Tarpeian, never more
To enter our Rome gates. I’ th’ people’s name,
I say it shall be so.

PLEBEIANS It shall be so, it shall be so! Let him away!
He’s banish’d, and it shall be so.
COMINIUS Hear me, my masters and my common friends –
SICINIUS He’s sentenc’d; no more hearing.
COMINIUS   Let me speak.
I have been consul, and can show for Rome
Her enemies’ marks upon me. I do love
My country’s good with a respect more tender,
More holy and profound, than mine own life,
My dear wife’s estimate, her womb’s increase
And treasure of my loins. Then if I would
Speak that –
SICINIUS   We know your drift. Speak what?
BRUTUS   There’s no more to be said, but he is banish’d,
As enemy to the people and his country.
It shall be so.
PLEBEIANS It shall be so, it shall be so.
CORIOLANUS You common cry of curs, whose breath I hate
As reek o’ th’ rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air – I banish you.
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts;
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders, till at length
Your ignorance – which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservation of yourselves
Still your own foes – deliver you
As most abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising
For you the city, thus I turn my back;
There is a world elsewhere.
[Exeunt Coriolanus, Cominius, Menenius, with the other Patricians.

And

‘The play sometimes suggests that Coriolanus is an enemy of the people.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of the character 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 2 Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

HAMLET   Now I am alone.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann’d;
Tears in his eyes, distraction in’s aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What’s Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech;
Make mad the guilty, and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears.
Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettl’d rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn’d defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across,
Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face,
Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i’ th’ throat
As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?
Ha!
’Swounds, I should take it; for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver’d and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should ’a fatted all the region kites
With this slave’s offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder’d,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing like a very drab,
A scullion! Fie upon’t! foh!
About, my brains. Hum – I have heard
That guilty creatures, sitting at a play,
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim’d their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I’ll have these players

Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle. I’ll observe his looks;
I’ll tent him to the quick. If ’a do blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be a devil; and the devil hath power
T’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds
More relative than this. The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.
[Exit.

And

‘Ideas and images drawn from the theatre are central to the play Hamlet.’

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 2 Scene 4, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

Enter ISABELLA.

ANGELO   How now, fair maid?
ISABELLA I am come to know your pleasure.
ANGELO   That you might know it would much better please me
Than to demand what ’tis. Your brother cannot live.
ISABELLA Even so! Heaven keep your honour!
ANGELO   Yet may he live awhile, and, it may be,
As long as you or I; yet he must die.
ISABELLA Under your sentence?
ANGELO   Yea.
ISABELLA When? I beseech you; that in his reprieve,
Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted
That his soul sicken not.
ANGELO   Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him that hath from nature stol’n
A man already made, as to remit
Their saucy sweetness that do coin heaven’s image
In stamps that are forbid; ’tis all as easy
Falsely to take away a life true made
As to put metal in restrained means
To make a false one.
ISABELLA ’Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.
ANGELO   Say you so? Then I shall pose you quickly.
Which had you rather – that the most just law
Now took your brother’s life; or, to redeem him,
Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness
As she that he hath stain’d?
ISABELLA   Sir, believe this:
I had rather give my body than my soul.
ANGELO   I talk not of your soul; our compell’d sins
Stand more for number than for accompt.
ISABELLA   How say you?
ANGELO   Nay, I’ll not warrant that; for I can speak
Against the thing I say. Answer to this:
I, now the voice of the recorded law,
Pronounce a sentence on your brother’s life;
Might there not be a charity in sin
To save this brother’s life?
ISABELLA   Please you to do’t,
I’ll take it as a peril to my soul
It is no sin at all, but charity.
ANGELO   Pleas’d you to do’t at peril of your soul,
Were equal poise of sin and charity.

ISABELLA That I do beg his life, if it be sin,
Heaven let me bear it! You granting of my suit,
If that be sin, I’ll make it my morn prayer
To have it added to the faults of mine,
And nothing of your answer.
ANGELO   Nay, but hear me;
Your sense pursues not mine; either you are ignorant
Or seem so, craftily; and that’s not good.
ISABELLA Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good
But graciously to know I am no better.
ANGELO   Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright
When it doth tax itself; as these black masks
Proclaim an enshielded beauty ten times louder
Than beauty could, display’d. But mark me:
To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross –
Your brother is to die.

And

‘The effects of sexual behaviour are significant throughout the play.’

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 1 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

Enter RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, solus.

GLOUCESTER Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang’d to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag’d war hath smooth’d his wrinkled front,
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I – that am not shap’d for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass –
I – that am rudely stamp’d, and want love’s majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph –
I – that am curtail’d of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform’d, unfinish’d, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them –
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity.
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the King
In deadly hate the one against the other;
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew’d up –
About a prophecy which says that G
Of Edward’s heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul. Here Clarence comes.

Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY.

Brother, good day. What means this armed guard
That waits upon your Grace?
CLARENCE   His Majesty,
Tend’ring my person’s safety, hath appointed
This conduct to convey me to th’ Tower.
GLOUCESTER Upon what cause?
CLARENCE   Because my name is George.
GLOUCESTER Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours:
He should, for that, commit your godfathers.
O, belike his Majesty hath some intent
That you should be new-christ’ned in the Tower.
But what’s the matter, Clarence? May I know?
CLARENCE Yea, Richard, when I know; for I protest
As yet I do not.

And

‘Richard’s great talent is to make villainy attractive.’

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

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 4 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

They sing.

JUNO   Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you.
CERES   Earth’s increase, foison plenty,
Barns and garners never empty;
Vines with clust’ring bunches growing,
Plants with goodly burden bowing;
Spring come to you at the farthest,
In the very end of harvest!
Scarcity and want shall shun you,
Ceres’ blessing so is on you.
FERDINAND This is a most majestic vision, and
Harmonious charmingly. May I be bold
To think these spirits?
PROSPERO   Spirits, which by mine art
I have from their confines call’d to enact
My present fancies.
FERDINAND   Let me live here ever;
So rare a wond’red father and a wise
Makes this place Paradise.

[ Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment.

PROSPERO   Sweet now, silence;
Juno and Ceres whisper seriously.
There’s something else to do; hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr’d.
IRIS   You nymphs, call’d Naiads, of the wind’ring brooks,
With your sedg’d crowns and ever harmless looks,
Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land
Answer your summons; Juno does command.
Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate
A contract of true love; be not too late.

Enter certain Nymphs.

You sun-burnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow, and be merry;
Make holiday; your rye-straw hats put on,
And these fresh nymphs encounter every one
In country footing.

Enter certain Reapers, properly habited; they join with the Nymphs in a graceful dance;
towards the end whereof Prospero starts suddenly, and speaks; after which, to a strange,
hollow, and confused noise, they heavily vanish.

PROSPERO [Aside] I had forgot that foul conspiracy
Of the beast Caliban and his confederates
Against my life; the minute of their plot
Is almost come. [To the Spirits] Well done; avoid; no more!
FERDINAND This is strange; your father’s in some passion
That works him strongly.
MIRANDA   Never till this day
Saw I him touch’d with anger so distemper’d.
PROSPERO You do look, my son, in a mov’d sort,
As if you were dismay’d; be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex’d;
Bear with my weakness; my old brain is troubled;
Be not disturb’d with my infirmity.
If you be pleas’d, retire into my cell
And there repose; a turn or two I’ll walk
To still my beating mind.

And

‘A play about theatrical illusion and the power of performance.’

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 2 Scene 4, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

Enter DUKE, VIOLA, CURIO, and Others.

DUKE   Give me some music. Now, good morrow, friends.
Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song,
That old and antique song we heard last night;
Methought it did relieve my passion much,
More than light airs and recollected terms
Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times.
Come, but one verse.
CURIO   He is not here, so please your lordship, that should sing it.
DUKE   Who was it?
CURIO   Feste, the jester, my lord; a fool that the Lady Olivia’s father took much
delight in. He is about the house.
DUKE   Seek him out, and play the tune the while.
[Exit Curio. Music plays.

Come hither, boy. If ever thou shalt love,
In the sweet pangs of it remember me;
For such as I am all true lovers are,
Unstaid and skittish in all motions else
Save in the constant image of the creature
That is belov’d. How dost thou like this tune?
VIOLA   It gives a very echo to the seat
Where Love is thron’d.
DUKE   Thou dost speak masterly.
My life upon’t, young though thou art, thine eye
Hath stay’d upon some favour that it loves;
Hath it not, boy?
VIOLA   A little, by your favour.
DUKE   What kind of woman is’t?
VIOLA   Of your complexion.
DUKE   She is not worth thee, then. What years, i’ faith?
VIOLA   About your years, my lord.
DUKE   Too old, by heaven! Let still the woman take
An elder than herself; so wears she to him,
So sways she level in her husband’s heart.
For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and won,
Than women’s are.
VIOLA   I think it well, my lord.
DUKE   Then let thy love be younger than thyself,
Or thy affection cannot hold the bent;
For women are as roses, whose fair flow’r
Being once display’d doth fall that very hour.
VIOLA   And so they are; alas, that they are so!
To die, even when they to perfection grow!

Re-enter CURIO and Clown.

DUKE   O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.
Mark it, Cesario; it is old and plain;
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun,
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones,
Do use to chant it; it is silly sooth,
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age.
CLOWN   Are you ready, sir?
DUKE   Ay; prithee, sing.   [Music.

Feste’s Song.
Come away, come away, death;
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath,
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O, prepare it!
My part of death no one so true
Did share it.

Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse where my bones shall be thrown;
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
Lay me, O, where
Sad true lover never find my grave,
To weep there!

And

‘The lovers in Twelfth Night must learn the importance of constancy in love.’

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.

You should use one drama text from the list and one poetry text from the list in your answer:

7 ‘Literature suggests that strong desire is always difficult to control.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers present behaviour motivated by desire. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

8 ‘The modern interest in inclusivity is rarely satisfied in literature from earlier periods.’

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

9 ‘A cautious attitude to life is often a wise one.’

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

‘It is important to be true to yourself before you are true to other people.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore the need to reconcile one’s own beliefs with the needs of society. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

‘Literature often explores the gulf between the “haves” and the “have nots”.’

In the light of this view, consider how writers explore issues of advantage and disadvantage. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

‘Rules were made to be broken.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers present characters dealing with rules and restrictions. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.