General Certificate of Education
Advanced Level
LITERATURE IN ENGLISH 6039/4
3 hours
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST
Answer one question from each Section A, B and C
At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.
All questions carry equal marks.
You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.
Section A
Answer one question from this section.
WILLIAM BLAKE: Songs of Innocence and Experience
1 .Either (a) Discuss how Blake demonstrates his dislike of social institutions which restrain
humankind, either physically or mentally. You should refer to two or three poems.
Or (b) Paying particular attention to the presentation of a London scene in the following poem, say
how far it reflects Blake’s concerns and methods in Songs of Innocence and Experience.
Holy Thursday
’Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean
The children walking two & two in red & blue & green
Grey headed beadles walked before with wands as white as snow
Till into the high dome of Paul’s they like Thames’ waters flow
O what a multitude they seemd these flowers of London town
Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own
The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs
Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands
Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among.
Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor
Then cherish pity; lest you drive an angel from your door.
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Section B
2. (a) ‘Twelfth Night’ – William Shakespeare
‘Sir Toby Belch is a riotous festive figure who delights audiences.’
To what extent do you agree with this view? Remember to include in your answer relevant
Comment on Shakespeare’s dramatic methods.
OR
(b) . ‘Twelfth Night’ – William Shakespeare ‘In ‘Twelfth Night’, the adopting of disguise results in
painful rather than positive outcomes. ’To what extent do you agree with this view?
Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on Shakespeare’s dramatic methods. [25
marks]
(c). Explore the significance and dramatic impact of the following extract in relation to the comedy of
the play as a whole.
Enter Malvolio and Fabian
ORSINO
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, nor 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-gartered 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 suffered me to be imprisoned,
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck and gull
That e’er invention played on? Tell me why?
OLIVIA
Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confess, much like the character.
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But out of question ’tis Maria’s hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she
First told me thou wast mad; then, camest in smiling,
And in such forms which here were presupposed
Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content.
This practice hath most shrewdly passed 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 wondered 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 conceived against him. Maria writ
The letter at Sir Toby’s great importance,
In recompense whereof, he hath married her.
[Tu rn over]
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How with a sportful malice it was followed
May rather pluck on laughter than revenge,
If that the injuries be justly weighed
That have on both sides passed.
OLIVIA
Alas, poor fool! How have they baffled thee!
FESTE 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 gagged’? And
thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.
MALVOLIO
I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you!
Exit
OLIVIA
He hath been most notoriously abused.
(Act 5, Scene 1)
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THOMAS HARDY: The Mayor of Casterbridge
6 Either (a) ‘Hardy’s characterisation in the novel presents humanity as lacking in morals and
simple human decency.’ How far do you agree with this comment on The Mayor of Casterbridge?
Or (b) Discuss the methods and effects of Hardy’s writing in the following passage,
commenting on its significance to the novel as a whole.
Lucetta started to her feet; and almost at the instant the door of the room was
quickly and softly opened. Elizabeth-Jane advanced into the firelight.
‘I have come to see you,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I did not stop to knock – forgive
me! I see you have not shut your shutters, and the window is open.’
Without waiting for Lucetta’s reply she crossed quickly to the window and
pulled out one of the shutters. Lucetta glided to her side. ‘Let it be – hush!’ she said
peremptorily, in a dry voice, while she seized Elizabeth-Jane by the hand, and held
up her finger. Their intercourse had been so low and hurried that not a word had
been lost of the conversation without; which had thus proceeded: –
‘Her neck is uncovered, and her hair in bands, and her back-comb in place;
she’s got on a puce silk, and white stockings, and coloured shoes.’
Again Elizabeth-Jane attempted to close the window, but Lucetta held her by
main force.
‘’Tis me!’ she said, with a face pale as death. ‘A procession – a scandal – an
effigy of me, and him!’
The look of Elizabeth betrayed that the latter knew it already.
‘Let us shut it out,’ coaxed Elizabeth-Jane, noting that the rigid wildness of
Lucetta’s features was growing yet more rigid and wild with the nearing of the noise
and laughter. ‘Let us shut it out!’
‘It is no use!’ she shrieked out. ‘He will see it, won’t he? Donald will see it! He
is just coming home – and it will break his heart – he will never love me any more –
and O, it will kill me – kill me!’
Elizabeth-Jane was frantic now. ‘O, can’t something be done to stop it?’ she
cried. ‘Is there nobody to do it – not one?’
She relinquished Lucetta’s hands, and ran to the door. Lucetta herself, saying
recklessly ‘I will see it!’ turned to the window, threw up the sash, and went out upon
the balcony. Elizabeth immediately followed her, and put her arm round her to pull
her in. Lucetta’s eyes were straight upon the spectacle of the uncanny revel, now
advancing rapidly. The numerous lights around the two effigies threw them up into
lurid distinctness; it was impossible to mistake the pair for other than the intended
victims.
‘Come in, come in,’ implored Elizabeth; ‘and let me shut the window!’
‘She’s me – she’s me – even to the parasol – my green parasol!’ cried Lucetta
with a wild laugh as she stepped in. She stood motionless for one second – then fell
heavily to the floor.
Chapter 39
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General Certificate of Education
Advanced Level Lower Sixth Mock Examination 6039/1
LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
3 hours
ANSWER TWO QUESTIONS ONLY
ANDREW MARVELL: Selected Poems (from The Metaphysical Poets ed. Gardner
1. Paying close attention to language, tone and imagery, write a critical appreciation of
the following extract from ‘To his Coy Mistress’.
To his Coy Mistress
Had we but World enough, and Time,
This coyness Lady were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long Loves Day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges side
Should’st Rubies find: I by the Tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood:
And you should if you please refuse
Till the Conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable Love should grow
Vaster than Empires, and more slow.
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze.
Two hundred to adore each Breast:
But thirty thousand to the rest.
An Age at least to every part,
And the last Age should show your Heart.
For Lady you deserve this State;
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I alwaies hear
Times winged Charriot hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lye
Desarts of vast Eternity.
Thy Beauty shall no more be found;
Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall sound
My ecchoing Song: then Worms shall try
That long preserv’d Virginity:
And your quaint Honour turn to dust;
And into ashes all my Lust.
The Grave’s a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.
`
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2. CHINUA ACHEBE: Things Fall Apart
Either (a) Discuss the effects of Achebe’s narrative use of traditional myth and legend in
Things Fall Apart.
Or (b) Comment in detail on the following passage, saying how it reflects the conflict
between the Ibo religion and the newly-arrived Christianity.
That night a bell-man went through the length and breadth of Mbanta
proclaiming that the adherents of the new faith were thenceforth excluded from the
life and privileges of the clan.
The Christians had grown in number and were now a small community of men,
women and children, self-assured and confident. Mr Brown, the white missionary,
paid regular visits to them. ‘When I think that it is only eighteen months since the
Seed was first sown among you,’ he said, ‘I marvel at what the Lord hath wrought.’
It was Wednesday in Holy week and Mr Kiaga had asked the women to bring
red earth and white chalk and water to scrub the church for Easter, and the women
had formed themselves into three groups for this purpose. They set out early that
morning, some of them with their water-pots to the stream, another group with hoes
and baskets to the village red-earth pit, and the others to the chalk quarry.
Mr Kiaga was praying in the church when he heard the women talking
excitedly. He rounded off his prayer and went to see what it was all about. The
women had come to the church with empty water-pots. They said that some young
men had chased them away from the stream with whips. Soon after, the women
who had gone for red earth returned with empty baskets. Some of them had been
heavily whipped. The chalk women also returned to tell a similar story.
‘What does it all mean?’ asked Mr Kiaga, who was greatly perplexed.
‘The village has outlawed us,’ said one of the women. ‘The bell-man
announced it last night. But it is not our custom to debar anyone from the stream or
the quarry.’
Another woman said, ‘They want to ruin us. They will not allow us into the
markets. They have said so.’
Mr Kiaga was going to send into the village for his men-converts when he saw
them coming on their own. Of course they had all heard the bell-man, but they had
never in all their lives heard of women being debarred from the stream.
‘Come along,’ they said to the women. ‘We will go with you to meet those
cowards.’ Some of them had big sticks and some even matchets.
But Mr Kiaga restrained them. He wanted first to know why they had been
outlawed.
‘They say that Okoli killed the sacred python,’ said one man.
‘It is false,’ said another. ‘Okoli told me himself that it was false.’
Okoli was not there to answer. He had fallen ill on the previous night. Before
the day was over he was dead. His death showed that the gods were still able to
fight their own battles. The clan saw no reason then for molesting the Christians.
Chapter Eighteen
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MARKING GUIDE
Question 02
Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare
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.
[25 marks]
Some possible content is given below. It suggests some of the ways the Assessment Objectives
might be addressed, but as ‘significance’ relates to contextual, structural, linguistic and interpretative
issues, some ideas will inevitably address more than one AO. In their answer students should refer to
the significance that can be seen in the extract and how some of this significance may pertain to the
tragedy of the play as a whole.
Examiners must also remember that because students have read and studied Twelfth Night through the
lens of comedy, the AOs must necessarily be connected to that genre through the task.
The students are given an extract so when working on that they should quote directly to support their
ideas. This is a closed book exam, so while it is expected that students will use quotations when
writing about other parts of the play it is also legitimate to make more general reference.
Please refer to pages 3 – 6.
AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations
With respect to the interpretative significances that can be found, there will be a variety of
interpretations here in relation to readers and audiences. Some students might comment on the choices
made by directors.
Some possible ideas:
• what constitutes wisdom and foolishness in the light of Olivia’s mourning and Feste’s wit
• the role of Feste as fool and commentator on the actions of those in power, his seemingly playful
relationship with Olivia, his subversiveness, his contribution to the celebrations
• the behaviour of Olivia as a character, which might be read as self-indulgent, playful or perhaps
cruel in her dismissal of Orsino’s suits
• the position of darker elements such as death in comedy and its suitability as a subject for laughter
• the authority figure of Malvolio and how he is set up as an antagonist of Feste, his anti-festivity
attitude, how his pomposity is mocked and checked later in the play
• etc
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