Aspects of comedy: example student response

Here's an example student response to a Section A question in the sample assessment materials, followed by an examiner commentary on the response. This resource is designed to support you in teaching the 'Aspects of comedy' component of A-level English Literature B.

Paper 1B, Section A

Question

Read the extract below and then answer the question.

Explore the significance of this extract in relation to the comedy of the play as a whole.

Remember to include in your answer relevant analysis of Shakespeare's dramatic methods.

Band 3 response

In this scene, Viola has a discussion with Orsino in his palace and he reveals that he is serious about loving Olivia 'the passion of my love', who doesn't want to return his love, which he sees as his 'woe'. Viola does not want to go on Orsino's errand as she says that Olivia 'never will admit me' – though really, as we see at the end of the scene, it is because she loves Orsino herself. However, Orsino only thinks of himself and he believes the 'beauty' of Cesario will 'become thee well to act my woes'.

This scene has several comic features and it would really depend on how this scene was staged as to whether or not it was actually funny. Personally, I think it is one of the more serious scenes unlike others which are more humorous such as when Malvolio is wearing yellow stockings and is made to look a fool by Sir Toby Belch. Moments like when Maria and Andrew and Toby are all drunk and singing and making fun of Malvolio are more significant in terms of humour than this one. However, love is an aspect of comedy and there are different examples of love here. Orsino is over the top in the way he expresses his love for Olivia and this is ridiculous. He uses religious language, 'I have unclasped to thee the book of my secret soul'. There is also the love of Viola which is expressed in an aside at the end and this is much simpler and more honest, 'Yet a barful strife! Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife'. When she tells of her love it is a surprise and a bit hard to believe. However, she is very serious and comedies are always about the seriousness of love as well as how daft it is. At the end of the play Viola is rewarded for her serious and genuine feelings of love for Orsino as he takes her as his wife.

Another aspect of comedy is Viola's disguise and no one knows that she is a woman. She is pretending to be Cesario, but even though the Duke doesn't know she is a woman he refers to Cesario's female qualities which is ironic– 'Diana's lip', her 'small pipe' (voice). This could be performed humorously on stage. Cross dressing and mistaken identities are always funny. It would have been especially funny for the Elizabethans to see Viola dressed as a man and pretending to be a man when the actor playing Viola was actually a man. Another aspect of disguise is that Viola is playing the part of a servant and here the job of the servant is strange. Orsino is sending someone of a lower social class to tell a high class woman that he loves her, 'unfold the passion of my love; surprise her with discourse of my dear faith'. Later in the play a different servant – Malvolio – is made to believe that Olivia loves him and he thinks that he can marry her and be her master. In this play many things are topsy turvy. This is because it is about the twelfth night festivities.

There is another comic aspect which is being prepared for here. Earlier in the play Valentine went to Olivia on Orsino's behalf and he was turned away. The audience will wonder if Viola will also be unsuccessful but in fact she is not and Olivia, believes in her disguise and thinks she is a man, and falls in love with her. This is about the complications in love which is part of comedy. There are further complications later in the play when Olivia thinks that Sebastian is Cesario and they suddenly get married.

Examiner commentary

This response is relatively brief but it does reveal the candidate's understanding in a straightforward and relevant way. The answer is a little list like and points are not developed very thoroughly but there are relevant quotations to support ideas. The candidate makes some references to other parts of the play but they are not very well integrated.

AO1

The ideas are sensibly ordered though not put together in a coherent way. There is some use of literary critical concepts and terminology ('comedy of Viola's disguise', 'cross dressing and mistaken identities', irony, religious imagery) and the expression is mainly appropriate though sometimes it is a little informal and sometimes a little clumsy.

AO2

There is a straightforward understanding of the play as a drama and the candidate is aware that Shakespeare has constructed the play for the stage. There is some relevant comment on how meanings are shaped by the methods used.

AO3

The candidate makes some straightforward points about the dramatic and comedic contexts and there is some comment on Elizabethan staging.

AO4

The candidate connects in a straightforward way with other literary texts through the points made about the comedic genre. There is some sense of how this extract and Twelfth Night connect with the wider genre of comedy.

AO5

There is a straightforward engagement with 'significance' in which the candidate is able to explore some meanings. However these points are not developed very fully.

Overall

This answer seems to be operating in Band 3.

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