3.1 Literary genres
In Literary genres, the texts are connected through a mainstream literary genre: either Aspects of tragedy or Aspects of comedy. Tragedy and comedy have a long tradition in literature, with their origins in the ancient world and with a specific emphasis on drama. Texts have been selected and grouped together because they share some of the common features of traditional tragic and comic drama while also offering some interesting variations. We are, therefore, looking at an older historical form and measuring later texts and their approaches to tragedy or comedy against a literary genre which is long established.
Students will choose one of the following options:
- Option A: Aspects of tragedy
- Option B: Aspects of comedy
Students study four texts: one Shakespeare play, one further drama text, one poetry text and one prose text.
Aspects of tragedy
At the core of all the set texts is a tragic hero or heroine who is flawed in some way, who suffers and causes suffering to others and in all texts there is an interplay between what might be seen as villains and victims. Some tragic features will be more in evidence in some texts than in others and students will need to understand how particular aspects of the tragic genre are used and how they work in the four chosen texts. The absence of an ‘aspect’ can be as significant as its presence. There can be no exhaustive list of the ‘aspects’ of tragedy but areas that can usefully be explored include:
- the type of the tragic text itself, whether it is classical and about public figures, like Lear, or domestic and about representations of ordinary people, like Tess
- the settings for the tragedy, both places and times
- the journey towards death of the protagonists, their flaws, pride and folly, their blindness and insight, their discovery and learning, their being a mix of good and evil
- the role of the tragic villain or opponent, who directly affects the fortune of the hero, who engages in a contest of power and is partly responsible for the hero’s demise
- the presence of fate, how the hero’s end is inevitable
- how the behaviour of the hero affects the world around him, creating chaos and affecting the lives of others
- the significance of violence and revenge, humour and moments of happiness
- the structural pattern of the text as it moves through complication to catastrophe, from order to disorder, through climax to resolution, from the prosperity and happiness of the hero to the tragic end
- the use of plots and sub-plots
- the way that language is used to heighten the tragedy
- ultimately how the tragedy affects the audience, acting as a commentary on the real world, moving the audience through pity and fear to an understanding of the human condition.
Drama
Students study one text from each of the following groups of texts:
Shakespeare
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| William Shakespeare | Othello |
| King Lear |
Drama
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| Arthur Miller | Death of a Salesman |
| William Shakespeare | Richard II |
| Tennessee Williams | A Streetcar Named Desire |
Paper 1 Literary genres: drama is closed book. Students are not permitted to take a copy of their set text(s) into the exam.
Prose and poetry
Students study one text from each of the following groups of texts:
Prose
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| F. Scott Fitzgerald | The Great Gatsby |
| Thomas Hardy | Tess of the D'Urbervilles |
| Kazuo Ishiguro | The Remains of the Day |
Poetry
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| Thomas Hardy | 'A Sunday Morning Tragedy', 'At an Inn', 'Tess's Lament', 'Under the Waterfall', 'Lament', 'Rain on a Grave', 'Your Last Drive', 'The Going', 'The Haunter', 'At Castle Boterel', 'A Trampwoman's Tragedy', 'The Frozen Greenhouse', 'The Forbidden Banns', 'The Mock Wife', 'The Flower's Tragedy', 'After a Journey', 'The Newcomer's Wife' |
| John Keats | ‘Lamia’, ‘Isabella or The Pot of Basil’, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, 'The Eve of St. Agnes' |
| AQA English Literature B Poetry anthology (tragedy) | Extracts from The Prologue of The Monk’s Tale and The Monk’s Tale, ‘Jessie Cameron’, Extract from Paradise Lost, ‘Tithonus’, ‘The Convergence of the Twain’, ‘The Death of Cuchulain’, ‘Out, out-’, 'Death in Leamington', 'Miss Gee' |
Paper 2: Literary genres: prose and poetry is open book. Students may take a copy of their set text(s) into the exam. These texts must not be annotated and must not contain any additional notes or materials.
We do not expect to change texts within the first five years of the specification. However, texts will be reviewed each year starting in September 2017 and we will give at least nine months’ notice of any changes prior to first teaching of a two year course. The criteria for changing texts will be where a text becomes unavailable or where we can no longer use it in a question paper. Notice of any change will be communicated via our exam bulletins and aqa.org.uk/english
Aspects of comedy
At the centre of all set texts are stories which primarily amuse, where the discomfort of characters generally excites laughter rather than concern and where no great disaster occurs. All texts contain a love interest for the protagonist and marriage is a focal point. In all cases society itself (as represented in the texts), and the behaviour of men and women in it, are ridiculed. The texts must be explored in terms of the aspects that are apparent in them. The absence of an aspect might also be of note. There can be no exhaustive list of the 'aspects' of comedy but areas that can usefully be explored include:
- the type of the comedy text itself, whether it is a classic romantic drama, a satire, a comedy of manners
- the settings for the comedy, both places and times
- the journey towards knowledge and happiness for the protagonists, often in relation to their love interest, their mistakes and misunderstandings along their journey, moments of unhappiness and ultimate sense of joy
- the role of the comic villain, or rival, who directly affects the fortune of the hero or heroine, who causes some disruption to the cheerful mood but whose power is finally curtailed
- the sense that all will end well and that fortune smiles
- how the behaviour of the hero or heroine affects primarily themselves and perhaps one or two others rather than countries and states, as in tragedy
- the significance of human folly, trickery and gullibility
- the inclusion of clowns, exaggeration, stereotypes, pompous attitudes and posturing
- the use of disguise, escapes and discovery, elements of the supernatural
- the structural patterning of the text as it moves from disorder to order, incorporating rule and misrule, how competition between characters is set up and resolved, how opposites are contrasted and reconciled, leading to comic resolutions
- the use of complex plotting and sub-plots
- the way that language is used to heighten the comedy, particularly wit and linguistic play
- the way that comedy draws attention to itself
- ultimately how the comedy affects the audience, inviting laughter at the ridiculous behaviour of human beings and a sense of joy that positive resolutions are possible.
Drama
Students study one text from each of the following groups of texts:
Shakespeare
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| William Shakespeare | The Taming of the Shrew |
| Twelfth Night |
Drama
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| Oliver Goldsmith | She Stoops to Conquer |
| Willy Russell | Educating Rita |
| Oscar Wilde | The Importance of Being Earnest |
Paper 1 Literary genres: drama is closed book. Students are not permitted to take a copy of their set text(s) into the exam.
Prose and poetry
Students study one text from each of the following groups of texts:
Prose
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| Jane Austen | Emma |
| Angela Carter | Wise Children |
| Andrea Levy | Small Island |
Poetry
| Author | Text |
|---|---|
| John Betjeman | 'The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel', 'Upper Lambourne', 'In Westminster Abbey', 'A Subaltern's Love Song', 'Christmas', 'The Licorice Fields at Pontefract', 'Senex', 'Diary of a Church Mouse', 'An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill, Sheffield', 'Slough', 'On a Portrait of a Deaf Man', 'Ireland with Emily', 'The Village Inn', 'Hunter Trials', 'Lenten Thoughts of a High Anglican', 'Executive', 'Advertising Pays', 'Late - Flowering Lust' |
| Geoffrey Chaucer | 'The Nun’s Priest’s Tale' including Prologue and Epilogue |
| AQA English Literature B Poetry anthology (comedy) | ‘The Flea’, ‘Tam o' Shanter’, ‘A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General’, ‘Sunny Prestatyn’, ‘Mrs Sisyphus’, ‘Not My Best Side’, ‘My Rival’s House’ |
Paper 2 Literary genres: prose and poetry is open book. Students may take a copy of their set text(s) into the exam. These texts must not be annotated and must not contain any additional notes or materials.
We do not expect to change texts within the first five years of the specification. However, texts will be reviewed each year starting in September 2017 and we will give at least nine months’ notice of any changes prior to first teaching of a two year course. The criteria for changing texts will be where a text becomes unavailable or where we can no longer use it in a question paper. Notice of any change will be communicated via our exam bulletins and aqa.org.uk/english
