Sample question commentary

This resource explains how a question taken from the sample assessment material addresses the assessment objectives, with some suggestions of how the task might be approached. Different combinations of texts will be considered. This explanation does not include all possible combinations, neither are the suggested ideas that might be included exhaustive, but the explanation will provide a workable way into the question and the intention is to offer some support for teachers preparing students for the exam.

Paper 1B, Section C

Question 7

This type of question from Section C of Paper 1 Aspects of comedy invites students to write about the extent to which they agree with a view about an aspect of comedy across two texts. As with the Section C questions on Paper 2, the two texts do not need to be written about equally but each must receive substantial coverage in terms of depth. One hour is recommended for this question. There does not need to be explicit comparison but there will be connection through the aspect of comedy set up in the question (here that aspect is audiences and readers being left with 'a final sense of joy'). This is a closed book paper and so students will need to know their texts well and use their knowledge and memories for relevant details. References at times might be general.

Sample Question

'Comedies leave readers and audiences with a final sense of joy.'

To what extent do you agree with this view in relation to two texts you have studied?

Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on the ways the writers have shaped meanings.

How the question meets the Assessment Objectives

In this question, as throughout the paper, the assessment objectives are all assessed. The application of the AOs in relation to the task is similar here to the application in Section C questions on Paper 2, though here AO2 is signalled by 'the ways writers have shaped meanings'. The invitation to debate and explore meanings and to consider relevant contextual factors (AO5 and AO3) is signalled by 'To what extent do you agree with the view'. In terms of AO3, as students engage with the final sense of joy in each of their texts, different relevant contextual material will emerge in relation to the comedy genre depending on the chosen texts, when they were produced, how they have been received and whether they are prose, poetry or drama. As with Paper 2, AO4 is explicit in that two texts must be connected in the debate as to whether comedies do leave readers and audiences with a final sense of joy. The 'final sense of joy' also connects the chosen texts with the wider comedy genre.

Possible content

The possible content of the mark scheme provides some ideas that students might write about. However, there are clearly many others and if students are reading their texts through the lens of comedy they will be able to identify many ideas themselves. The texts the students use could well be different types (although one has to be drama, the other can be prose or poetry) and, almost certainly, the writers will not have approached their texts' endings and the moods they hope to create in the same ways. Therefore, students do not have to treat the discussion of the final sense of joy in the same way in relation to their two texts. If students were using, for example, the eighteenth century play She Stoops to Conquer and the post modern novel Small Island, they might be writing about how the final sense of joy is or is not created in different ways in a dramatic comedy of manners, where human frailty and folly are ridiculed, where misunderstandings are resolved and where love is finally celebrated in marriage from the ways they are created in a post colonial narrative, where joy may be seen as questionable given the prevailing racist attitudes in Britain in 1948. In Section C questions, students will need to think carefully about exactly how the given quotation applies to their two texts.

Students will also have to understand how to effectively use their knowledge in the closed book examination. Of course it is expected that students will know their texts well and that they learn quotations. However, it may be that some references that students make will be general rather than specific. What is important is that material chosen for illustration is relevant and not shoehorned in because it has been learnt.

The possible content from the mark scheme, outlined below, offers some ideas related to all the texts. For each text there are different possibilities of how the question could be answered.  Depending on their specific pair of texts, centres can build up further relevant details. Students might, for example, include some of the following ideas about the final sense of joy:

• She Stoops to Conquer - Hardcastle's throwing a party for the poor of the parish, the marriages of Kate and Marlow and Constance and Hastings, Tony Lumpkin making his own choice, the sense of happiness, with all issues resolved, the triumph of the barmaid and Bet Bouncer, the triumph of country attitudes over those of the city, the delightful language/ the rather heavy abrasive tone of the first Epilogue, perhaps a sense that no one can be trusted since all characters set out to deceive, perhaps a hint from Hardcastle that Kate might deceive Marlow when she is his wife, Tony Lumpkin's defiance and disrespect of his mother
• The Importance of Being Earnest - the triumph of good will and cheerfulness, perhaps the silencing of Lady Bracknell, the 'plethora' of marriages at the end, the playful banter, the focus on triviality and Jack's being found in a handbag/ the possible subtext that Earnest is a euphemism for 'homosexual' and, given Wilde's imprisonment, there may be a darker edge, perhaps an undercurrent that men are dishonest (Gwendolyn is cynical of their ability to tell the truth)
• Emma - Emma's understanding and endorsement of Harriet's love for Robert Martin, her beginning to value the lower social classes, the marriages at the end of Emma and Mr Knightley and Harriet and Robert Martin, Emma's growth as a woman, Emma's continued solicitations for her father, Mr Knightley's thoughtful consideration for Emma and her father, the optimistic upbeat narratorial voice/the disturbing issues that snobbery remains which seem to be endorsed by the novel (Emma is appalled that Harriet might marry Mr Knightley because it would be degrading for him), the selfishness of Mr Woodhouse which does not change
• Small Island - Queenie's belief that her child will have a propitious future with Hortense and Gilbert reflecting the beginnings of an integrated society, the birth of the child as a unifying force, the growing love Hortense feels for Gilbert at the end of Small Island, their taking baby Michael as their own, Bernard's development of character and his understanding of Gilbert's worth/ racism still being a potent force, Queenie's giving up her baby, there is also the unhappiness experienced by Bernard who now knows his wife has been unfaithful
• The Nun's Priest's Tale - praise from the Host to the Nun's Priest for such a good tale, the happy moral of the tale since lessons have been learned that flatterers should not be trusted, the happiness of Pertelote and the part she plays in Chauntecleer's rescue, Chauntecleer's own unexpected resourcefulness, the triumph of Chauntecleer and his outwitting of the fox, happiness for the poor widow who has not lost her cockerel/ Chauntecleer's failure to see the suffering he has caused, the fox who must go without his dinner
• The Poetry Selection: Comedy - sense of fun in Swift's satirical stab at the Duke of Marlborough, the moral message that pride will get its comeuppance, satisfaction of the speaker at his own cleverness at ridiculing the aristocratic Duke, Swift's speaking perhaps for the underclass of his day; the survival of Tam who escapes the witches, praise for Maggie from the narrator, delightful moral message that one shouldn't drink too much, delivered with cheerfulness, the sense of fun at the use of Scottish dialect; the joy at the cleverness of the speaker's argument in 'The Flea' – because the lady is not weaker through her squashing of the flea, she should learn there will be no loss of honour if she yields to him; different endings depending on the speaker in 'Not my Best Side', sense of fun at the parody of traditional tale of rescue/ the loss of Maggie's tail and the possibility that when Tam gets home he will be scolded by his wife; from a feminist perspective some disquiet at the arrogance of the speaker in 'The Flea' who thinks he can conquer with his intellectual cleverness; the lack of compassion for the Duke of Marlborough, who despite his shortcomings, is still dead, perhaps something uncomfortable about the speaker's desire to see him damned; the disrespect shown towards women in 'Sunny Prestatyn', the grim picture of modern life and billboard advertising; the divisions between husband and wife in 'Mrs Sisyphus', her contempt for the work he is doing, his entrapment; the final word in 'Not my Best Side' being given to the contemptible knight, who is arrogant, emotionally sterile – perhaps suggesting that such attitudes lead to success in the modern world.

When students are writing about how meanings are shaped focus might be on:

• the structure of the drama text(s) in relation to the task
• the use of dialogue, language, dramatic action, exits and entrances, soliloquies in the drama text(s)
• the possible use of a poetry text or a novel and how methods there shape meaning
• the writers' uses of structure, language, narrative voices and other devices to shape meanings

Text combinations

Clearly there are many combinations of texts which centres can choose, all of which can be justified and lead to interesting investigations by students. Schools and colleges have the responsibility though of satisfying the rubric so it must be realised that not all combinations are possible. Students have to study three texts. One will be a Shakespeare play which they write about in Sections A and B. In Section C, one of the other two texts will be a drama text which will also count as the pre 1900 text. The other text can also be a drama text or a poetry text or a novel.

It might be helpful here to look at two exemplar routes and what these combinations of texts can offer to students. It needs to be said though that these suggestions are in no way recommended models; others might be equally as good or better.

Example 1

Let us imagine that this student has been prepared for the following two texts for Section C of Paper 1B: She Stoops to Conquer and Emma. With these two texts in mind, this question would be a good choice as both texts end with marriages and there is an obvious general sense of well being at the end. There would also be plenty to debate as students might focus on some disturbing issues that lie beneath the surface of one or both texts. The student would therefore be able to decide to what extent they agree with the given viewpoint and construct an interesting argument. The student could show knowledge of the different ways drama and prose fiction work whilst focusing on the dramatisation of celebrations at the end of Goldsmith's play and the account of the apparently pleasing outcome of Emma's marriage to Mr Knightley at the end of Austen's novel. There might also be discussion of the differences in tone between the bawdy drama of Goldsmith and the genteel comic prose romance of Austen.

In She Stoops to Conquer, the student could focus on the marriage of Kate and Marlow which is secured after embarrassment, trickery and uncertainty. The different stages of the relationship and the comedy that arises could be discussed in relation to the structure of the play – Marlow's arrival in the country, his being tricked by Tony Lumpkin, his confession that he finds it difficult talking to sophisticated girls but is able to flirt comfortably with women of the lower social orders, Kate's disguise as a barmaid in her attempt to develop the relationship, the final revelations and marriage that follows. Students might also focus on the contrasting road to marriage of Constance and Hastings and how this is interwoven with the conflicting intentions of Mrs Hardcastle and Tony. In the discussion of Emma, discussion might centre on Emma's union with Mr Knightley after her fear that he might just be interested in Jane Fairfax or worse, Harriet Smith, and 'his' fears that Emma might be in love with Frank Churchill. Comment might be on Emma's and Mr Knightley's joy and Emma's blessing of the marriage between Harriet and Robert Martin. The writers' use of voices might be profitably integrated into the discussion. If students want to consider the ways that the endings are not joyful, then focus could be on Goldsmith's inclusion of the Epilogues which might counteract the joy in the drama and the focus on Mr Woodhouse's needs and self-centredness rather than the happiness of the married couple in Emma.

Example 2

Let us imagine that this student has a different combination of texts. This student has studied The Taming of the Shrew for Section A and B and The Importance of Being Earnest and The Nun's Priest's Tale for Section C.  Given the task, this would also be a good combination for Question 7. Chaucer's poem is of course a multi layered narrative and many different examples of joy at the ending can be discussed. Focus might be on the pilgrims in the outer narrative, the Host who crudely congratulates the Nun's Priest for such a 'murie tale' and the Nun's Priest himself who is upbeat about the moral tale he has delivered and which he hopes will please God. Students might also write about the human characters within the tale, the widow, her daughters and the villagers who chase the fox fearful of the loss of the cockerel. Though not stated, how happy they must be at Chauntecleer's escape given that they feel 'hevene sholde falle' when he is taken. Perhaps most significantly is the potential joy readers might experience at Chauntecleer's quick thinking in saving himself and learning the folly of vanity: henceforward he will never 'truste on flaterye', a moral that human beings too should happily learn.

The Importance of Being Earnest ends differently, in high comedy with the double marriages of Algernon and Cecily, Jack/Ernest and Gwendolen and potentially that also of Miss Prism and Dr Chasuble. All misunderstandings are over, Gwendolen is happy to finally be able to marry an Ernest and Miss Prism is reunited with her lost handbag. As students debate the final sense of joy here, they might well integrate comments on Wilde's sharp wit, extravagant paradoxes and feisty wordplay, examples of which tumble over each other in the building of the climax that Jack, for the first time in his life, realises the vital Importance of Being Earnest.

This resouce is part of the Aspects of comedy resource package.