OCR A Level English Literature Drama and poetry pre-1900 June 2025 question paper H472/01

CORIOLANUS

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

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

and dramatic effects.

CORIOLANUS   Think upon me? Hang ’em!
I would they would forget me, like the virtues
Which our divines lose by ’em.

MENENIUS AGRIPPA   You’ll mar all:
I’ll leave you. Pray you, speak to ’em, I pray you,
In wholesome manner.   [Exit.

Re-enter three of the Citizens.

CORIOLANUS   Bid them wash their faces
And keep their teeth clean. So, here comes a brace.
You know the cause, sir, of my standing here.

3 CITIZEN   We do, sir; tell us what hath brought you to’t.

CORIOLANUS   Mine own desert.

2 CITIZEN   Your own desert!

CORIOLANUS   Ay, but not mine own desire.

3 CITIZEN   How, not your own desire?

CORIOLANUS   No, sir, ’twas never my desire yet to trouble the poor with begging.

3 CITIZEN   You must think, if we give you anything, we hope to gain by you.

CORIOLANUS   Well then, I pray, your price o’ th’ consulship?

1 CITIZEN   The price is to ask it kindly.

CORIOLANUS   Kindly, sir, I pray, let me ha’t: I have wounds to show you, which shall
be yours in private. Your good voice, sir; what say you?

2 CITIZEN   You shall ha’ it, worthy sir.

CORIOLANUS   A match, sir. There’s in all two worthy voices begged. I have your
alms. Adieu.

3 CITIZEN   But this is something odd.

2 CITIZEN   An ’twere to give again—but ’tis no matter. [Exeunt the three
Citizens.

Re-enter two other Citizens.

CORIOLANUS   Pray you now, if it may stand with the tune of your voices that I may
be consul, I have here the customary gown.

4 CITIZEN   You have deserved nobly of your country, and you have not
deserved nobly.

CORIOLANUS   Your enigma?

4 CITIZEN   You have been a scourge to her enemies; you have been a rod to
her friends. You have not indeed loved the common people.

CORIOLANUS   You should account me the more virtuous that I have not been
common in my love. I will, sir, flatter my sworn brother, the people,
to earn a dearer estimation of them; ’tis a condition they account
gentle; and since the wisdom of their choice is rather to have my hat
than my heart, I will practise the insinuating nod and be off to them
most counterfeitly. That is, sir, I will counterfeit the bewitchment of
some popular man and give it bountiful to the desirers. Therefore,
beseech you, I may be consul.

5 CITIZEN   We hope to find you our friend; and therefore give you our voices
heartily.

4 CITIZEN   You have received many wounds for your country.

CORIOLANUS   I will not seal your knowledge with showing them. I will make much
of your voices, and so trouble you no farther.

BOTH CITIZENS   The gods give you joy, sir, heartily!   [Exeunt Citizens.

CORIOLANUS   Most sweet voices!
Better it is to die, better to starve,
Than crave the hire which first we do deserve.
Why in this wolvish toge should I stand here,
To beg of Hob and Dick, that do appear
Their needless vouches? Custom calls me to’t:
What custom wills, in all things should we do’t,
The dust on antique time would lie unswept,
And mountainous error be too highly heap’d
For truth to o’erpeer. Rather than fool it so,
Let the high office and the honour go
To one that would do thus. I am half through:
The one part suffer’d, the other will I do.

Re-enter three Citizens more.

Here come moe voices. Your voices. For your voices I have fought; Watch’d for your voices; for your voices bear Of wounds two dozen odd; battles thrice six I have seen and heard of; for your voices have Done many things, some less, some more. Your voices? Indeed, I would be consul.

And

‘The behaviour of Coriolanus inspires both admiration and contempt.’

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).

Discuss the following passage from Act 5, Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language

and dramatic effects.

[ March afar off, and shot within.

HAMLET   What warlike noise is this?

OSRIC   Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,
To th’ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

HAMLET   O, I die, Horatio!
The potent poison quite o’er-crows my spirit.
I cannot live to hear the news from England,
But I do prophesy th’election lights
On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice.
So tell him, with th’occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited—the rest is silence.

[ Dies.

HORATIO   Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

[ March within.

Why does the drum come hither?

Enter FORTINBRAS and English Ambassadors, with drum, colours and Attendants.

FORTINBRAS   Where is this sight?

HORATIO   What is it you would see?
If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.

FORTINBRAS   This quarry cries on havoc. O proud death,
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell
That thou so many princes at a shot
So bloodily hast struck?

1 AMBASSADOR   The sight is dismal;
And our affairs from England come too late:
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing
To tell him his commandment is fulfill’d,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
Where should we have our thanks?

HORATIO   Not from his mouth,
Had it th’ability of life to thank you:
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arrived, give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak to th’yet unknowing world
How these things came about. So shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning and forc’d cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall’n on th’inventors’ heads—all this can I
Truly deliver.

FORTINBRAS   Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune;
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.

HORATIO   Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more.
But let this same be presently perform’d,
Even while men’s minds are wild, lest more mischance
On plots and errors happen.

FORTINBRAS   Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have prov’d most royal; and, for his passage
The soldier’s music and the rite of war
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies. Such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.

[ Exeunt marching. A peal of ordnance shot off.

And

‘The brutality and confusion of the play’s ending is unsettling.’

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).

Discuss the following passage from Act 5, Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language

and dramatic effects.

LUCIO   This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of.

ESCALUS   Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar,
Is’t not enough thou hast suborn’d these women
To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth,
And in the witness of his proper ear,
To call him villain; and then to glance from him
To th’ Duke himself, to tax him with injustice?
Take him hence; to th’ rack with him! We’ll touze you
Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose.
What ‘unjust’!

DUKE   Be not so hot; the Duke
Dare no more stretch this finger of mine than he
Dare rack his own; his subject am I not,
Nor here provincial. My business in this state
Made me a looker-on here in Vienna,
Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble
Till it o’errun the stew: laws for all faults,
But faults so countenanc’d that the strong statutes
Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop,
As much in mock as mark.

ESCALUS   Slander to th’ state! Away with him to prison!

ANGELO   What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio?
Is this the man that you did tell us of?

LUCIO   ’Tis he, my lord. Come hither, good-man bald-pate. Do you know
me?

DUKE   I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice. I met you at the
prison, in the absence of the Duke.

LUCIO   O did you so? And do you remember what you said of the Duke?

DUKE   Most notedly, sir.

LUCIO   Do you so, sir? And was the duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a
coward, as you then reported him to be?

DUKE   You must, sir, change persons with me, ere you make that my report;
you, indeed, spoke so of him; and much more, much worse.

LUCIO   O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy
speeches?

DUKE   I protest I love the duke as I love myself.

ANGELO   Hark, how the villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses!

ESCALUS   Such a fellow is not to be talk’d withal. Away with him to prison!
Where is the Provost? Away with him to prison! Lay bolts enough
upon him; let him speak no more. Away with those giglets too, and
with the other confederate companion!

[ The Provost lays hands on the Duke.

DUKE   Stay, sir; stay awhile.

ANGELO   What, resists he? Help him, Lucio.

LUCIO   Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh, sir! Why, you bald-pated lying
rascal, you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave’s visage,
with a pox to you! show your sheep-biting face, and be hang’d an
hour! Will’t not off?

[ Pulls off the friar’s hood, and discovers the Duke.

DUKE   Thou art the first knave that e’er mad’st a duke.
First, provost, let me bail these gentle three.

[ To LUCIO ] Sneak not away, sir; for the friar and you Must have a word anon. Lay hold on him.

LUCIO   This may prove worse than hanging.

DUKE   [To ESCALUS] What you have spoke I pardon; sit you down.
We’ll borrow place of him. [To ANGELO] Sir, by your leave.
Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence,
That yet can do thee office? If thou hast,
Rely upon it till my tale be heard,
And hold no longer out.

ANGELO   O my dread lord,
I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,
To think I can be undiscernible,
When I perceive your grace, like pow’r divine,
Hath look’d upon my passes.

And

‘The characters in the play are intent on deceiving others in order to protect themselves.’

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).

Discuss the following passage from Act 1, Scene 3, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language

and dramatic effects.

Enter BUCKINGHAM and DERBY.

GREY   Here come the lords of Buckingham and Derby.

BUCKINGHAM   Good time of day unto your royal Grace!

DERBY   God make your majesty joyful as you have been.

QUEEN ELIZABETH The Countess Richmond, good my Lord of Derby, To your good prayers will scarcely say amen. Yet, Derby, notwithstanding she’s your wife And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur’d I hate not you for her proud arrogance.

DERBY   I do beseech you, either not believe
The envious slanders of her false accusers;
Or, if she be accus’d on true report,
Bear with her weakness, which I think proceeds
From wayward sickness and no grounded malice.

QUEEN ELIZABETH Saw you the king to-day, my Lord of Derby?

DERBY   But now the Duke of Buckingham and I
Are come from visiting his Majesty.

QUEEN ELIZABETH What likelihood of his amendment, lords?

BUCKINGHAM   Madam, good hope; his Grace speaks cheerfully.

QUEEN ELIZABETH God grant him health! Did you confer with him?

BUCKINGHAM   Ay, madam; he desires to make atonement
Between the Duke of Gloucester and your brothers,
And between them and my Lord Chamberlain;
And sent to warn them to his royal presence.

QUEEN ELIZABETH Would all were well! But that will never be. I fear our happiness is at the height.

Enter GLOUCESTER, HASTINGS, and DORSET.

GLOUCESTER   They do me wrong, and I will not endure it.
Who is it that complains unto the King
That I, forsooth, am stern, and love them not?
By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly
That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours.
Because I cannot flatter and look fair,
Smile in men’s faces, smooth, deceive and cog,
Duck with French nods and apish courtesy,
I must be held a rancorous enemy.
Cannot a plain man live and think no harm
But thus his simple truth must be abus’d
With silken, sly, insinuating Jacks?

GREY   To who in all this presence speaks your grace?

GLOUCESTER   To thee, that hast nor honesty nor grace.
When have I injur’d thee? when done thee wrong,
Or thee, or thee, or any of your faction?
A plague upon you all! His royal Grace—
Whom God preserve better than you would wish!—
Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing while
But you must trouble him with lewd complaints.

QUEEN ELIZABETH Brother of Gloucester, you mistake the matter. The king, of his own royal disposition And not provok’d by any suitor else— Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred That in your outward actions shows itself Against my kindred, brothers, and myself— Makes him to send that he may learn the ground.

GLOUCESTER   I cannot tell; the world is grown so bad
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.
Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There’s many a gentle person made a Jack.

QUEEN ELIZABETH Come, come, we know your meaning, brother Gloucester: You envy my advancement and my friends’; God grant we never may have need of you! —

GLOUCESTER   Meantime, God grants that I have need of you.
Our brother is imprison’d by your means,
Myself disgrac’d, and the nobility
Held in contempt; while great promotions
Are daily given to ennoble those
That scarce some two days since were worth a noble.

And

‘The royal court is portrayed as a dangerous combination of family troubles.’

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

Remember to support your answer with reference to different interpretations.

The Tempest

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

Discuss the following passage from Act 2, Scene 2, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language

and dramatic effects.

Another part of the island. Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood. A noise of thunder heard.

CALIBAN   All the infections that the sun sucks up
From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him
By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me,
And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’ th’ mire,
Nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid ’em; but
For every trifle are they set upon me;
Sometime like apes that mow and chatter at me,
And after bite me; then like hedgehogs which
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount
Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I
All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues
Do hiss me into madness.

Enter TRINCULO.

Lo, now, lo! Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat; Perchance he will not mind me.

TRINCULO   Here’s neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all, and
another storm brewing; I hear it sing i’ the wind.

Yond same black cloud, yond huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head. Yond same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. What have we here? a man or a fish? dead or alive? A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not-of-the-newest Poor-John. A strange fish! Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man; any strange beast there makes a man: when they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legg’d like a man and his fins like arms! Warm o’ my troth! I do now let loose my opinion; hold it no longer: this is no fish, but an islander, that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt.

[ Thunder ] Alas, the storm is come again! My best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabouts. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past.

Enter STEPHANO, singing; a bottle in his hand.

STEPHANO   I shall no more to sea, to sea,
Here shall I die ashore—
This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man’s
funeral; well, here’s my comfort. [Drinks.

The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, The gunner, and his mate, Lov’d Mall, Meg and Marian, and Margery, But none of us car’d for Kate; For she had a tongue with a tang, Would cry to a sailor, ‘Go hang!’ She lov’d not the savour of tar nor of pitch, Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch. Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!

This is a scurvy tune too; but here’s my comfort. [ Drinks.

CALIBAN   Do not torment me. O!

STEPHANO   What’s the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon’s
with savages and men of Ind? Ha! I have not scap’d drowning to be
afeard now of your four legs; for it hath been said: As proper a man
as ever went on four legs cannot make him give ground; and it shall
be said so again, while Stephano breathes at nostrils.

CALIBAN   The spirit torments me. O!

STEPHANO   This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I
take it, an ague. Where the devil should he learn our language? I
will give him some relief, if it be but for that. If I can recover him and
keep him tame, and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any
emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather.

And

‘Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban provide much more than just comic relief in the play.’

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).

Discuss the following passage from Act 2, Scene 5, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and dramatic effects.

MALVOLIO   M. O. A. I. This simulation is not as the former; and yet, to crush this
a little, it would bow to me, for every one of these letters are in my
name. Soft! here follows prose.

[ Reads ] ‘If this fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em. Thy Fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace them; and, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough and appear fresh. Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants; let thy tongue tang arguments of state; put thyself into the trick of singularity. She thus advises thee that sighs for thee. Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wish’d to see thee ever cross-garter’d. I say, remember. Go to, thou art made, if thou desir’st to be so; if not, let me see thee a steward still, the fellow of servants, and not worthy to touch Fortune’s fingers. Farewell. She that would alter services with thee, THE FORTUNATE-UNHAPPY.’

Daylight and champain discovers not more. This is open. I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point-devise the very man. I do not now fool myself to let imagination jade me; for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross-garter’d; and in this she manifests herself to my love, and with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits of her liking. I thank my stars I am happy. I will be strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-garter’d, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be praised! Here is yet a postscript.

[ Reads ] ‘Thou canst not choose but know who I am. If thou entertain’st my love, let it appear in thy smiling; thy smiles become thee well. Therefore in my presence still smile, dear my sweet, I prithee.’

Jove, I thank thee. I will smile; I will do everything that thou wilt have me.   [Exit.

FABIAN   I will not give my part of this sport for a pension of thousands to be
paid from the Sophy.

SIR TOBY BELCH I could marry this wench for this device.

SIR ANDREW   So could I too.

SIR TOBY BELCH And ask no other dowry with her but such another jest.

Enter MARIA.

SIR ANDREW   Nor I neither.

FABIAN   Here comes my noble gull-catcher.

SIR TOBY BELCH Wilt thou set thy foot o’ my neck?

SIR ANDREW   Or o’ mine either?

SIR TOBY BELCH Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip, and become thy bond-slave?

SIR ANDREW   I’ faith, or I either?

SIR TOBY BELCH Why, thou hast put him in such a dream that when the image of it leaves him he must run mad.

MARIA   Nay, but say true; does it work upon him?

SIR TOBY BELCH Like aqua-vitae with a midwife.

MARIA   If you will then see the fruits of the sport, mark his first approach
before my lady. He will come to her in yellow stockings, and ’tis
a colour she abhors, and cross-garter’d, a fashion she detests;
and he will smile upon her, which will now be so unsuitable to her
disposition, being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it cannot
but turn him into a notable contempt. If you will see it, follow me.

SIR TOBY BELCH To the gates of Tartar, thou most excellent devil of wit!

SIR ANDREW   I’ll make one too.   [Exeunt.

And

‘A comedy driven by a series of misunderstandings.’

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 often depicts states of uncertainty and suspense.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers present the tensions arising from a lack of certainty. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

8 ‘Characters in these texts usually conform to traditional perceptions of gender roles.’

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

9 ‘The refusal of characters to compromise makes for interesting literature.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore characters’ attitudes to negotiation and cooperation. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

‘Literature is often about seeking rewards, earthly or heavenly.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore the hunt for rewards, whether material or spiritual. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

‘Some very effective writing deals with unhappy situations.’

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

‘Literary texts are rarely straightforward.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers present complex situations. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the lists opposite.