Aspects of comedy: sample question commentary, Paper 1B, Section B

This resource explains how a question taken from the sample assessment material addresses the assessment objectives, and there are some suggestions of how the task might be approached. Section B questions are similar in construction to Section B questions on Paper 2. Here though the exam is closed book so students will be dependent on their memories for selecting relevant material.

Paper 1B, Section B

The questions in section B will focus on a critical viewpoint about an aspect of comedy in the Shakespeare play studied. Students should spend about 50 minutes on this question. There will be a choice of two questions. Students will then be asked to what extent they agree with the given view. They will be reminded to include relevant comment on Shakespeare's dramatic methods. In their response, students can show how their text can be interpreted in different ways and they can also offer a strong personal view which is rooted in the text and question.

Sample question

'If the audience find the ending of The Taming of the Shrew funny then they are the intellectual equivalent of the drunken tinker, Christopher Sly.'

To what extent do you agree with this view?

Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on Shakespeare's dramatic methods.

How the question addresses 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 to the way it works in Section B questions on Paper 2, though here students are asked to make relevant comment for AO2 as opposed to relevant detailed exploration which is the requirement for Paper 2; this is to reflect the differences in demand for closed and open book exams. It is important that students engage with 'dramatic methods' here showing that they know they are writing about a play. AO3 will be addressed through the students thinking about the dramatic context, given that Christopher Sly is himself watching a play, and gender and social contexts since the ending of the play is specifically about gender and social issues. Comment here should address when the texts were written and how they have been received. Students will address AO4 when they engage with the wider generic aspect of humour and AO5 will be addressed when the students engage with the argument about whether audiences who find the ending of The Taming of the Shrew funny are the intellectual equivalent of Christopher Sly. AO1 will be tested through the way students construct their arguments and the way they express their  ideas.

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 The Taming of the Shrew through the lens of dramatic comedy, they will be able to identify many ideas themselves. It is likely that students who agree with the proposition will focus on the horrible abasement of Kate and the ignorance of those who see the suppression of women as funny. There might also be comment on Petruchio's treatment of Kate at the end and at other parts of the play. If students disagree with the given view, then the focus might be on the nature of comedy and how comedy invites audiences to laugh at many aspects of human behaviour and not just at women. It could be suggested that men are as much a target for ridicule as women.

Students might focus on the nature of drama and the Christopher Sly frame to show how the ending of the inner play is at a distance from audiences and therefore should not be taken too seriously. In terms of relevant contexts, students might well focus on gender issues and particularly marriage. Discussion might be on Kate, Bianca and the widow and their apparent views on the responsibilities of wives; it might also be on the silliness of males and their wagering. Much could be said about the nature of dramatic comedy and how it draws attention to its own artifice - here specifically through the play within the play. As the students write about comedy itself and what might be funny, students will connect with other comedic texts. In this play the layers of comedy might be discussed as a focus of humour. There might also be discussion of the marriages at the end and the possible sense of harmony. Since comedy does embrace some dark issues, students might discuss what is uncomfortable about the ending of the play - the possibility that Kate is a suppressed and broken woman.

Students will also have to understand how to effectively respond in the closed book exam. To do this they will need to have been specifically taught how to do so. They need to know their texts very well so that they can closely refer to different parts of the text and to have learned quotations which they can relevantly use here. When students refer closely to the play or use quotations they will have ample opportunity to comment on Shakespeare's dramatic methods. Students need to embed comments on method into their arguments. Relevant discussion might be on the play's structure, the narrative frame, Kate's speech and the significance of her stage audience, soliloquies, dialogue, entrances and exits, dramatic irony or its language.

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