OCR A Level English Literature Drama and poetry pre-1900 November 2020 question paper H472/01

Coriolanus

Answer both parts (a) and (b).

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

its dramatic effects.

Enter COMINIUS.

VOLUMNIA   Here is Cominius.
COMINIUS I have been i’ th’ market-place; and, sir, ’tis fit
You make strong party, or defend yourself
By calmness or by absence; all’s in anger.
MENENIUS Only fair speech.
COMINIUS   I think ’twill serve, if he
Can thereto frame his spirit.
VOLUMNIA   He must and will.
Prithee now, say you will, and go about it.
CORIOLANUS Must I go show them my unbarb’d sconce? Must I
With my base tongue give to my noble heart
A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do’t;
Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,
This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it,
And throw’t against the wind. To th’ market-place!
You have put me now to such a part which never
I shall discharge to th’ life.
COMINIUS   Come, come, we’ll prompt you.
VOLUMNIA I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast said
My praises made thee first a soldier, so,
To have my praise for this, perform a part
Thou hast not done before.
CORIOLANUS Well, I must do’t.
Away, my disposition, and possess me
Some harlot’s spirit! My throat of war be turn’d,
Which quier’d with my drum, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch or the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep! The smiles of knaves
Tent in my cheeks, and schoolboys’ tears take up
The glasses of my sight! A beggar’s tongue
Make motion through my lips, and my arm’d knees,
Who bow’d but in my stirrup, bend like his
That hath receiv’d an alms! I will not do’t,
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth,

And by my body’s action teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.
VOLUMNIA   At thy choice, then.
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin. Let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness; for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck’dst it from me;
But owe thy pride thyself.
CORIOLANUS Pray be content.
Mother, I am going to the market-place;
Chide me no more. I’ll mountebank their loves,
Cog their hearts from them, and come home belov’d
Of all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going.
Commend me to my wife. I’ll return consul,
Or never trust to what my tongue can do
I’ th’ way of flattery further.
VOLUMNIA   Do your will.   [Exit.

COMINIUS Away! The tribunes do attend you. Arm yourself
To answer mildly; for they are prepar’d
With accusations, as I hear, more strong
Than are upon you yet.
CORIOLANUS The word is ‘mildly’. Pray you let us go.
Let them accuse me by invention; I
Will answer in mine honour.
MENENIUS   Ay, but mildly.
CORIOLANUS Well, mildly be it then – mildly.   [Exeunt.

And

‘Coriolanus is unable to adjust to the demands of Roman politics.’

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

its dramatic effects.

HAMLET   O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of
infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
GUILDENSTERN Which dreams indeed are ambition; for the very substance of the
ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.
HAMLET   A dream itself is but a shadow.
ROSENCRANTZ Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a quality that it is but a
shadow’s shadow.
HAMLET   Then are our beggars bodies, and our monarchs and outstretch’d
heroes the beggars’ shadows. Shall we to th’ court? for, by my fay, I
cannot reason.
BOTH   We’ll wait upon you.
HAMLET   No such matter. I will not sort you with the rest of my servants; for, to
speak to you like an honest man, I am most dreadfully attended. But,
in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?
ROSENCRANTZ To visit you, my lord; no other occasion.
HAMLET   Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks; but I thank you; and sure,
dear friends, my thanks are too dear a half-penny. Were you not sent
for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation? Come, come, deal
justly with me. Come, come; nay, speak.
GUILDENSTERN What should we say, my lord?
HAMLET   Why any thing. But to th’ purpose: you were sent for; and there is a
kind of confession in your looks, which your modesties have not craft
enough to colour; I know the good King and Queen have sent for you.
ROSENCRANTZ To what end, my lord?
HAMLET   That you must teach me. But let me conjure you by the rights of our
fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the obligation of our
ever-preserved love, and by what more dear a better proposer can
charge you withal, be even and direct with me, whether you were sent
for or no?
ROSENCRANTZ [Aside to Guildenstern] What say you?
HAMLET   [Aside] Nay, then, I have an eye of you. – If you love me, hold not off.
GUILDENSTERN My lord, we were sent for.
HAMLET   I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and
your secrecy to the King and Queen moult no feather. I have of late
– but wherefore I know not – lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of
exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this
goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most
excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o’er-hanging firmament,
this majestical roof fretted with golden fire – why, it appeareth no other
thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a
piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties!
in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like
an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of
dust? Man delights not me – no, nor woman neither, though by your
smiling you seem to say so.
ROSENCRANTZ My lord, there was no such stuff in my thoughts.

And

‘It is hard to be loyal in the world of Hamlet – even to one’s friends.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of loyalty in 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 5 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

Re-enter PROVOST, with BARNADINE, CLAUDIO [ muffled ] and JULIET.

DUKE   Which is that Barnadine?
PROVOST This, my lord.
DUKE   There was a friar told me of this man.
Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul,
That apprehends no further than this world,
And squar’st thy life according. Thou’rt condemn’d;
But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all,
And pray thee take this mercy to provide
For better times to come. Friar, advise him;
I leave him to your hand. What muffl’d fellow’s that?
PROVOST This is another prisoner that I sav’d,
Who should have died when Claudio lost his head;
As like almost to Claudio as himself. [Unmuffles Claudio.
DUKE   [To Isabella] If he be like your brother, for his sake
Is he pardon’d; and for your lovely sake,
Give me your hand and say you will be mine,
He is my brother too. But fitter time for that.
By this Lord Angelo perceives he’s safe;
Methinks I see a quick’ning in his eye.
Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well.
Look that you love your wife; her worth worth yours.
I find an apt remission in myself;
And yet here’s one in place I cannot pardon.
[To Lucio] You, sirrah, that knew me for a fool, a coward,
One all of luxury, an ass, a madman!
Wherein have I so deserv’d of you
That you extol me thus?
LUCIO   Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you will hang me for it,
you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipt.
DUKE   Whipt first, sir, and hang’d after.
Proclaim it, Provost, round about the city,
If any woman wrong’d by this lewd fellow –
As I have heard him swear himself there’s one
Whom he begot with child, let her appear,
And he shall marry her. The nuptial finish’d,
Let him be whipt and hang’d.
LUCIO   I beseech your Highness, do not marry me to a whore. Your Highness said
even now I made you a duke; good my lord, do not recompense me in
making me a cuckold.
DUKE   Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her.
Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal
Remit thy other forfeits. Take him to prison;
And see our pleasure herein executed.
LUCIO   Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging.
DUKE   Slandering a prince deserves it.
[Exeunt Officers with Lucio.

She, Claudio, that you wrong’d, look you restore.
Joy to you, Mariana! Love her, Angelo;
I have confess’d her, and I know her virtue.
Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness;
There’s more behind that is more gratulate.
Thanks, Provost, for thy care and secrecy;
We shall employ thee in a worthier place.
Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragozine for Claudio’s:
Th’ offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel,
I have a motion much imports your good;
Whereto if you’ll a willing ear incline,
What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.
So, bring us to our palace, where we’ll show
What’s yet behind that’s meet you all should know.
[Exeunt.

And

‘The conclusion of the play – like the rest of it – is full of uncomfortable moral choices.’

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 3 Scene 5, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

Enter GLOUCESTER and BUCKINGHAM in rotten armour, marvellous ill-favoured.

GLOUCESTER Come, cousin, canst thou quake and change thy colour,
Murder thy breath in middle of a word,
And then again begin, and stop again,
As if thou were distraught and mad with terror?
BUCKINGHAM Tut, I can counterfeit the deep tragedian;
Speak and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion. Ghastly looks
Are at my service, like enforced smiles;
And both are ready in their offices
At any time to grace my stratagems.
But what, is Catesby gone?
GLOUCESTER He is; and, see, he brings the mayor along.

Enter the Lord Mayor and CATESBY.

BUCKINGHAM Lord Mayor –
GLOUCESTER Look to the drawbridge there!
BUCKINGHAM Hark! a drum.
GLOUCESTER Catesby, o’erlook the walls.
BUCKINGHAM Lord Mayor, the reason we have sent–
GLOUCESTER Look back, defend thee; here are enemies.
BUCKINGHAM God and our innocence defend and guard us!

Enter LOVELL and RATCLIFF, with Hastings’ head.

GLOUCESTER Be patient; they are friends – Ratcliff and Lovell.
LOVELL   Here is the head of that ignoble traitor,
The dangerous and unsuspected Hastings.
GLOUCESTER So dear I lov’d the man that I must weep.
I took him for the plainest harmless creature
That breath’d upon the earth a Christian;
Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded
The history of all her secret thoughts.
So smooth he daub’d his vice with show of virtue
That, his apparent open guilt omitted,
I mean his conversation with Shore’s wife –
He liv’d from all attainder of suspects.
BUCKINGHAM Well, well, he was the covert’st shelt’red traitor
That ever liv’d.
Would you imagine, or almost believe –
Were’t not that by great preservation
We live to tell it – that the subtle traitor
This day had plotted, in the council-house,
To murder me and my good Lord of Gloucester.
MAYOR   Had he done so?

GLOUCESTER What! think you we are Turks or Infidels?
Or that we would, against the form of law,
Proceed thus rashly in the villain’s death
But that the extreme peril of the case,
The peace of England and our persons’ safety,
Enforc’d us to this execution?
MAYOR   Now, fair befall you! He deserv’d his death;
And your good Graces both have well proceeded
To warn false traitors from the like attempts.
I never look’d for better at his hands
After he once fell in with Mistress Shore.

And

‘Lies and deception drive the action of the play from beginning to end.’

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).

(a) Discuss the following passage from Act 4 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

PROSPERO Say again, where didst thou leave these varlets?
ARIEL   I told you, sir they were red-hot with drinking;
So full of valour that they smote the air
For breathing in their faces; beat the ground
For kissing of their feet; yet always bending
Towards their project. Then I beat my tabor,
At which like unback’d colts they prick’d their ears,
Advanc’d their eyelids, lifted up their noses
As they smelt music, so I charm’d their ears,
That calf-like they my lowing follow’d through
Tooth’d briers, sharp furzes, pricking goss, and thorns,
Which ent’red their frail shins. At last I left them
I’ th’ filthy mantled pool beyond your cell,
There dancing up to th’ chins, that the foul lake
O’erstunk their feet.
PROSPERO   This was well done, my bird.
Thy shape invisible retain thou still.
The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither
For stale to catch these thieves.
ARIEL   I go, I go.   [Exit.
PROSPERO A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;
And as with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers. I will plague them all,
Even to roaring.

Re-enter ARIEL, loaden, with glistering apparel, etc.

Come, hang them on this line.

Prospero and Ariel remain, invisible. Enter CALIBAN, STEPHANO, and TRINCULO, all wet.

CALIBAN   Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not
Hear a foot fall; we now are near his cell.
STEPHANO Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better
than play’d the Jack with us.
TRINCULO Monster, I do smell all horse-piss at which my nose is in great indignation.
STEPHANO So is mine. Do you hear, monster?
If I should take a displeasure against you, look you –
TRINCULO Thou wert but a lost monster.
CALIBAN   Good my lord, give me thy favour still.
Be patient, for the prize I’ll bring thee to
Shall hoodwink this mischance; therefore speak softly.
All’s hush’d as midnight yet.
TRINCULO Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool!
STEPHANO There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite
loss.

TRINCULO That’s more to me than my wetting; yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.
STEPHANO I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o’er ears for my labour.
CALIBAN   Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here,
This is the mouth o’ th’ cell; no noise, and enter.
Do that good mischief which may make this island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker.
STEPHANO Give me thy hand. I do begin to have bloody thoughts.
TRINCULO O King Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! Look what a wardrobe here
is for thee!
CALIBAN   Let it alone, thou fool; it is but trash.
TRINCULO O, ho, monster; we know what belongs to a frippery. O King Stephano!
STEPHANO Put off that gown, Trinculo; by this hand, I’ll have that gown.
TRINCULO Thy Grace shall have it.
CALIBAN   The dropsy drown this fool! What do you mean
To dote thus on such luggage? Let’t alone,
And do the murder first.

And

‘The play’s magic highlights the weaknesses of its characters.’

Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show how far you agree with this view of the effect of magic in 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 5 Scene 1, exploring Shakespeare’s use of language and

its dramatic effects.

Re-enter FABIAN, with MALVOLIO.

DUKE   Is this the madman?
OLIVIA   Ay, my lord, this same.
How now, Malvolio!
MALVOLIO Madam, you have done me wrong,
Notorious wrong.
OLIVIA   Have I, Malvolio? No.
MALVOLIO Lady, you have. Pray you peruse that letter.
You must not now deny it is your hand;
Write from it if you can, in hand or phrase;
Or say ’tis not your seal, not your invention;
You can say none of this. Well, grant it then,
And tell me, in the modesty of honour,
Why you have given me such clear lights of favour,
Bade me come smiling and cross-garter’d to you,
To put on yellow stockings, and to frown
Upon Sir Toby and the lighter people;
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you suffer’d me to be imprison’d,
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck and gull
That e’er invention play’d on? Tell me why.
OLIVIA   Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confess, much like the character;
But out of question ‘tis Maria’s hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she
First told me – thou wast mad; then cam’st in smiling,
And in such forms which here were pre-suppos’d
Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content;
This practice hath most shrewdly pass’d upon thee,
But, when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own cause.
FABIAN   Good madam, hear me speak,
And let no quarrel nor no brawl to come
Taint the condition of this present hour,
Which I have wond’red at. In hope it shall not,
Most freely I confess myself and Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv’d against him. Maria writ
The letter, at Sir Toby’s great importance,
In recompense whereof he hath married her.
How with a sportful malice it was follow’d
May rather pluck on laughter than revenge,
If that the injuries be justly weigh’d
That have on both sides pass’d.

OLIVIA   Alas, poor fool, how have they baffl’d thee!
CLOWN   Why, ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have
greatness thrown upon them’. I was one, sir, in this interlude – one Sir
Topas, sir; but that’s all one. ‘By the Lord, fool, I am not mad!’ But do you
remember – ‘Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal? An you smile
not, he’s gagg’d’? And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.
MALVOLIO I’ll be reveng’d on the whole pack of you.   [Exit.
OLIVIA   He hath been most notoriously abus’d.

And

‘By the end of the play no one is deceived.’

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 ‘In literature passionate words often accompany foolish behaviour.’

In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore passionate words and the actions that accompany them. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

8 ‘Literature often views wisdom as a very rare virtue.’

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

9 ‘Literature suggests there is little harm in ambition.’

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

‘Differences of opinion are unavoidable in human societies.’

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

‘We all have secrets.’

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

‘When literature confronts a problem, it should raise questions, not provide answers.’

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