ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE
GRADE 12
PAPER 2
NSC PAST PAPERS AND MEMOS
SEPTEMBER 2017
INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION
- Please read this page carefully before you begin to answer questions.
- Do not attempt to read the entire question paper. Consult the table of contents on the next page and mark the numbers of the questions set on texts you have studied this year. Thereafter, read these questions and choose the ones you wish to answer.
- This question paper consists of THREE sections.
SECTION A: POETRY (30)
SECTION B: NOVEL (25)
SECTION C: DRAMA (25) - Follow the instructions at the beginning of each section carefully.
- Answer FIVE QUESTIONS in all: THREE in SECTION A, ONE in SECTION B and ONE in SECTION C. Use the checklist to assist you.
- Number the answers exactly as the questions have been numbered in the question paper.
- Start each section on a NEW page.
- Write neatly and legibly.
- Suggested time management:
SECTION A: approximately 40 minutes
SECTION B: approximately 55 minutes
SECTION C: approximately 55 minutes - LENGTH OF ANSWERS:
- Essay questions on poetry should be answered in 250–300 words.
- Essay questions on the Novel and Drama sections should be answered in 400–450 words.
- The length of answers to contextual questions should be determined by the mark allocation. Candidates should aim for conciseness and relevance.
- CHOICE OF ANSWERS FOR SECTIONS B (NOVEL) AND C (DRAMA):
- Answer ONLY questions on the novel and the drama you have studied.
- Answer ONE ESSAY QUESTION and ONE CONTEXTUAL QUESTION. If you answer the essay question in SECTION B, you must answer the contextual question in SECTION C. If you answer the contextual question in SECTION B, you must answer the essay question in SECTION C.
SECTION A: POETRY
PRESCRIBED POETRY
ANSWER ANY TWO QUESTIONS. |
QUESTION 1
An African Thunderstorm | Essay question | 10 marks | Page 5 |
QUESTION 2
Remember | Contextual question | 10 marks | Page 6 |
QUESTION 3
A Hard Frost | Contextual question | 10 marks | Page 7 |
QUESTION 4
An African Elegy | Contextual question | 10 marks | Page 8 |
AND |
UNSEEN POETRY
COMPULSORY QUESTION. |
QUESTION 5
I Threw It All Away | Contextual question | 10 marks | Page 9 |
NOTE:
In sections B and C, answer ONE ESSAY QUESTION and ONE CONTEXTUAL question. If you answer an essay question from SECTION B, you must answer a contextual question from SECTION C. If you answer a contextual question from SECTION B, you must answer an essay question from SECTION C.
SECTION B: NOVEL
ANSWER ONLY ON THE NOVEL YOU HAVE STUDIED.
ANSWER ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING FOUR QUESTIONS. |
QUESTION 6
The Picture of Dorian Gray | Essay question | 25 marks | Page 10 |
OR |
QUESTION 7
The Picture of Dorian Gray | Contextual question | 25 marks | Page 11 |
OR |
QUESTION 8
Life of Pi | Essay question | 25 marks | Page 13 |
OR |
QUESTION 9
Life of Pi | Contextual question | 25 marks | Page 14 |
| | | | |
ANSWER ONLY ON THE DRAMA YOU HAVE STUDIED.
ANSWER ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SIX QUESTIONS. |
QUESTION 10
Othello | Essay question | 25 marks | Page 16 |
OR |
QUESTION 11
Othello | Contextual question | 25 marks | Page 17 |
OR |
QUESTION 12
The Crucible | Essay question | 25 marks | Page 19 |
OR |
QUESTION 13
The Crucible | Contextual question | 25 marks | Page 20 |
OR | | | |
QUESTION 14
Hamlet | Essay question | 25 marks | Page 23 |
OR | | | |
QUESTION 15
Hamlet | Contextual question | 25 marks | Page 24 |
CHECKLIST
Use this checklist to ensure that you have answered the correct number of questions.
SECTION | QUESTION NUMBERS | NO. OF QUESTIONS TO ANSWER | TICK |
A: POETRY
(Prescribed Poetry) | 1–4 | 2 | |
A: Poetry
(Unseen Poem) | 5 | 1 | |
B: NOVEL
(Essay or Contextual) | 6–9 | 1 | |
C: DRAMA
(Essay or Contextual) | 10–15 | 1 | |
NOTE:
In SECTIONS B and C, answer ONE ESSAY and ONE CONTEXTUAL question. |
QUESTIONS
SECTION A: POETRY
PRESCRIBED POETRY:
Answer ANY TWO of the following questions.
QUESTION 1: PRESCRIBED POETRY – ESSAY QUESTION
AN AFRICAN THUNDERSTORM – David Rubadiri From the west
Clouds come hurrying with the wind
Turning
Sharply
Here and there 5
Like a plague of locusts
Whirling
Tossing up things on its tail
Like a madman chasing nothing. Pregnant clouds 10
Ride stately on its back
Gathering to perch on hills
Like dark sinister wings;
The Wind whistles by
And trees bend to let it pass. 15 In the village
Screams of delighted children
Toss and turn
In the din of whirling wind,
Women – 20
Babies clinging on their backs –
Dart about
In and out
Madly
The Wind whistles by 25
Whilst trees bend to let it pass
Clothes wave like tattered flags
Flying off
To expose dangling breasts
As jaggered blinding flashes 30
Rumble, tremble, and crack
Amidst the smell of fired smoke
and the pelting march of the storm. |
In a carefully planned essay, critically discuss how the poet uses structure, imagery and sound devices to indicate the fierceness of the oncoming storm. Your essay must be 250–300 words (about ONE page) in length. [10]
OR
QUESTION 2: PRESCRIBED POETRY – CONTEXTUAL QUESTION
REMEMBER – Christina Rossetti – Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day 5
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve: 10
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far that you should forget and smile
Than you should remember and be sad. |
2.1 Comment on the repetition of the title in the poem. (2)
2.2 How does the use of pronouns reveal the nature of the speaker’s relationship? (2)
2.3 Discuss critically the poet’s use of format to indicate different tones. (3)
2.4 To what extent do you think that this is a love poem if references are made to ‘silent land’ (line 2) and ‘darkness and corruption’ (line 11)? Refer to the whole poem in support of your answer. (3) [10]
OR
QUESTION 3: PRESCRIBED POETRY – CONTEXTUAL QUESTION
A HARD FROST – Cecil Day Lewis – A frost came in the night and stole my world
And left this changeling for it – a precocious
Image of spring, too brilliant to be true:
White lilac on the windowpane, each grass-blade
Furred like a catkin, maydrift loading the hedge. 5
The elms behind the house are elms no longer
But blossomers in crystal, stems of the mist
That hangs yet in the valley below, amorphous
As the blind tissue whence creation formed.
The sun looks out, and the fields blaze with diamonds. 10 Mockery spring, to lend this bridal gear
For a few hours to a raw country maid,
Then leave her all disconsolate with old fairings
Of aconite and snowdrop! No, not here
Amid this flounce and filigree of death 15
Is the real transformation scene in progress
But deep below where frost
Worrying the stiff clods unclenches their
Grip on the seed and lets our future breathe. |
3.1 Explain the metaphor in line 1. (2)
3.2 Describe how the unusual word ‘blossomers’ in line 7 helps create an unusual image in the same line. (2)
3.3 The speaker suggests that the appearance of the frost is fleeting and misleading. How does he convey this in lines 10–13? (3)
3.4 Comment on the poet’s use of diction in the last four lines to create the final tone. (3) [10]
OR
QUESTION 4: PRESCRIBED POETRY – CONTEXTUAL QUESTION
AN AFRICAN ELEGY – Ben Okri – We are the miracles that God made
To taste the bitter fruit of Time.
We are precious.
And one day our suffering
Will turn into the wonders of the earth. 5 There are things that burn me now
Which turn golden when I am happy.
Do you see the mystery of our pain?
That we bear poverty
And are able to sing and dream sweet things 10 And that we never curse the air when it is
warm
Or the fruit when it tastes so good
Or the lights that bounce gently on the
waters? 15
We bless things even in our pain.
We bless them in silence. That is why our music is so sweet.
It makes the air remember.
There are secret miracles at work 20
That only Time will bring forth.
I too have heard the dead singing. And they tell me that
This life is good
They tell me to live it gently 25
With fire, and always with hope.
There is wonder here And there is surprise
In everything the unseen moves.
The ocean is full of songs. 30
The sky is not an enemy.
Destiny is our friend. |
4.1 Refer to lines 6–7. Comment on the use of ‘burn’ and ‘golden’ to indicate a change in feelings. (2)
4.2 Refer to lines 11–15. Describe, in your own words, what gives Africans the ability to ‘bless things’. (2)
4.3 Discuss critically the poet’s ironic choice of ‘elegy’ in the title. (3)
4.4 How does the speaker suggest Africans manage to deal with hardship? Refer to the last two stanzas in support of your answer. (3) [10]
AND
UNSEEN POETRY: The following question is compulsory.
QUESTION 5: UNSEEN POETRY – CONTEXTUAL QUESTION
I THREW IT ALL AWAY – Bob Dylan – I once held her in my arms
She said she would always stay
But I was cruel
I treated her like a fool
I threw it all away 5 Once I had mountains in the palm of my hand
And rivers that ran through every day
I must have been mad
I never knew what I had
Until I threw it all away 10 Love is all there is, it makes the world go ̓round
Love and only love, it can’t be denied
No matter what you think about it
You just won’t be able to do without it
Take a tip from one who’s tried 15 So if you find someone that gives you all of her love
Take it to your heart, don’t let it stray
For one thing that’s certain
You will surely be a-hurtin’
If you throw it all away 20
If you throw it all away |
5.1 How do the words ‘cruel’ and ‘fool’ add to the speaker’s opinion of himself in stanza 1? (2)
5.2 Refer to lines 6–7. Explain how the metaphors indicate the speaker’s love that he had thrown away. (3)
5.3 The poet is a well-known composer and singer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. Identify two musical characteristics in the poem. (2)
5.4 Refer to the last two stanzas. Identify the tone by close reference to the speaker’s instructions in support of your answer. (3) [10]
TOTAL SECTION A: 30
SECTION B: NOVEL
Answer ONLY on the novel you have studied.
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY – OSCAR WILDE
Answer EITHER QUESTION 6 (essay question) OR QUESTION 7
(contextual question).
QUESTION 6: ESSAY QUESTION – THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
In a carefully planned essay of 400–450 words (2–2½ pages) in length, critically discuss to what extent Dorian Gray’s character is shaped by his association with Lord Henry. [25]
OR
QUESTION 7: CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS – THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
Read the extracts below and then answer the questions that follow.
EXTRACT A
‘I know that look. It depresses me,’ murmured Lord Henry, examining his rings.
‘The Jew wanted to tell me her history, but I said it did not interest me.’
‘You were quite right. There is always something infinitely mean about other people’s tragedies.’
‘Sibyl is the only thing I care about. What is it to me where she came from? 5
From her little head to her little feet, she is absolutely and entirely divine.
Every night of my life I go to see her act, and every night she is more marvelous.’
‘That is the reason, I suppose, that you never dine with me now. I thought you must have some curious romance on hand.
You have; but it is not quite what I expected.’ 10
‘My dear Harry, we either lunch or sup together every day, and I have been to the Opera with you several times,’ said Dorian, opening his blue eyes in wonder.
‘You always come dreadfully late.’
‘Well, I can’t help going to see Sibyl play,’ he cried, ‘even if it is only for a single act.
I get hungry for her presence; and when I think of the wonderful soul that is hidden 15 away in that little ivory body,
I am filled with awe.’
‘You can dine with me to-night, Dorian, can’t you?’
He shook his head. ‘To-night she is Imogen,’ he answered, ‘and to-morrow night she will be Juliet.’
‘When is she Sibyl Vane?’ 20 ‘Never.’
‘I congratulate you.’
‘How horrid you are! She is all the great heroines of the world in one.
She is more than an individual.
You laugh, but I tell you she has genius. I love her, and I must make her love me.
You, who know all the secrets of life, tell me how to charm 25 Sibyl Vane to love me!
I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad.’
Lord Henry watched him with a subtle sense of pleasure.
How different he was now from the shy, frightened boy he had met in Basil Hallward’s studio! [Chapter 4] |
7.1 Lord Henry and Dorian Gray are discussing Sibyl Vane’s mother. What are Sibyl’s circumstances? (3)
7.2 Mention two things evident about Lord Henry’s character in lines 1–4. (3)
7.3 Refer to lines 8–13. Explain how Lord Henry tries to manipulate Dorian. (3)
7.4 What impression is created of Dorian’s relationship with Sibyl in this extract? (3)
7.5 What are the reasons for Lord Henry’s ‘subtle sense of pleasure’ (line 28)? (3)
AND
EXTRACT B
‘We are very proud to-night,’ she sneered.
‘For God’s sake don’t talk to me,’ cried Dorian, stamping his foot on the ground. ‘What do you want? Money? Here it is. Don’t ever talk to me again.’
Two red sparks flashed for a moment in the woman’s sodden eyes, then flickered out, and left them dull and glazed.
She tossed her head, and raked the 5 coins off the counter with greedy fingers. Her companion watched her enviously.
‘It’s no use,’ sighed Adrian Singleton. ‘I don’t care to go back. What does it matter? I’m quite happy here.’
‘You will write to me if you want anything, won’t you?’ said Dorian, after a pause. ‘Perhaps.’ 10
‘Good-night, then.’
‘Good-night,’ answered the young man, passing up the steps, and wiping his parched mouth with a handkerchief.
Dorian walked to the door with a look of pain in his face.
As he drew the curtain aside a hideous laugh broke from the painted lips of the woman who had taken 15 his money. ‘
There goes the devil’s bargain!’ she hiccoughed in a hoarse voice. [Chapter 16] |
7.6 Place the extract in context. (3)
7.7 Critically discuss the relationship between Dorian and Adrian Singleton. (3)
7.8 Account for the change in Dorian Gray’s character from the enthusiastic lover in Extract A to the world-weary opium den visitor in Extract B. (4)
[25]
OR
LIFE OF PI – YANN MARTEL
Answer EITHER QUESTION 8 (essay question) OR QUESTION 9 (contextual question).
QUESTION 8: ESSAY QUESTION – LIFE OF PI
In a carefully planned essay of 400–450 words (2–2½ pages) in length, discuss to what extent Pi’s determination to survive is shaped by external circumstances. [25]
OR
QUESTION 9: CONTEXTUAL QUESTIONS – LIFE OF PI
Read the extracts below and then answer the questions that follow.
EXTRACT C
It was with pride that I waved the ticket collector’s hand away and showed Mr Kumar into the zoo.
He marvelled at everything, at how to tall trees came tall giraffes, how carnivores were supplied with herbivores and herbivores with grass, how some creatures crowded the day and others the night, how some that needed sharp beaks had 5 sharp beaks and others that needed limber limbs had limber limbs.
It made me happy that he was so impressed.
He quoted from the Holy Qur’an: ‘In all this there are messages indeed for a people who use their reason.’
We came to the zebras. Mr Kumar had never heard of such creatures, let alone 10 seen one. He was dumbfounded.
‘They’re called zebras,’ I said.
‘Have they been painted with a brush?’
‘No. no. They look like that naturally.’
‘What happens when it rains?’ 15
‘Nothing.’
‘The stripes don’t melt?’
‘No.’
I had brought some carrots. There was one left, a large and sturdy specimen. I took it out of the bag. At that moment I heard a slight scraping of gravel to my 20 right.
It was Mr Kumar, coming up to the railing in his usual rolling and limping gait.
‘Hello, sir.’
‘Hello, Pi.’
The baker, a shy but dignified man, nodded at the teacher, who nodded back.
An alert zebra had noticed my carrot and had come up to the low fence. It twitched 25 its ears and stamped the ground softly.I broke the carrot in two and gave one half to Mr Kumar and one half to Mr Kumar. ‘Thank you, Piscine,’ said one; ‘Thank you, Pi’ said the other. Mr Kumar went first, dipping his hand over the fence. The zebra’s thick, strong, black lips grasped the carrot eagerly. [Chapter 31] |
9.1 Pi had invited Mr Kumar to the zoo. Describe their relationship. (3)
9.2 What type of person is Mr Kumar? Refer to lines 3–15 in support of your answer. (3)
9.3 Mr Kumar’s first visit to the zoo indicates a reversal of roles between him and Pi. Discuss. (3)
9.4 Refer to lines 20–24. Discuss the roles of the two Mr Kumars in Pi’s life and provide an explanation for the fact that both men share exactly the same name. (3)
9.5 How does this encounter with the zebra keenly eating the carrot (line 29) compare to a later encounter with a zebra on the boat? (3)
AND
EXTRACT D
He landed upon me heavily. We fell half onto the tarpaulin, half onto the middle bench. His hands reached for my throat.
‘Brother,’ I gasped through his overeager embrace, ‘my heart is with you, but I must urgently suggest we repair to another part of my humble ship.’
‘You’re damn right your heart is with me!’ he said. ‘And your liver and your flesh!’ 5
I could feel him moving off the tarpaulin onto the middle bench and, fatally, bringing a foot down to the floor of the boat.
‘No, no, my brother! Don’t! We’re not –‘
I tried to hold him back. Alas, it was too late. Before I could say the word alone, I was alone again. I heard the merest clicking of claws against the bottom of the 10 boat, no more than the sound of a pair of spectacles falling to the floor, and the next moment my dearest brother shrieked in my face like I’ve never heard a man shriek before. He let go of me.
This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man’s frame and cracked his 15bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died that has never come back to life. [Chapter 90] |
9.6 At this stage Pi is blind. Discuss Pi’s state of mind when he euphemistically refers to the castaway’s ‘overeager embrace’ (line 3) and calls him ‘brother’ (line 3). (3)
9.7 ‘This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker.’ (line 14) Critically comment on the nature of the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. (3)
9.8 ‘Something in me died that has never come back to life.’ (lines 16–17). Briefly relate how the confident Pi from Extract C has become Pi who carries death in his soul in Extract D. (4)
[25]
TOTAL SECTION B: 25
AND
SECTION C: DRAMA
Answer ONLY on the drama you have studied.
OTHELLO – WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Answer EITHER QUESTION 10 (essay question) OR QUESTION 11 (contextual question).
QUESTION 10: ESSAY QUESTION – OTHELLO
‘A tragic hero is a character who comes to misfortune through a fatal character flaw.’
In a carefully planned essay of 400–450 words (2–2½ pages) in length, discuss to what extent the quotation is true about Othello. [25]
OR
QUESTION 11: CONTEXTUAL QUESTION – OTHELLO
Read the extracts below and answer the questions that follow.
EXTRACT E
OTHELLO Good Michael, look you to the guard tonight.
Let’s teach ourselves that honourable stop,
Not to out-sport discretion. CASSIO Iago hath direction what to do;
But notwithstanding with my personal eye 5
Will I look to’t. OTHELLO Iago is most honest.
Michael, good night; tomorrow with your earliest
Let me have speech with you – Come, my dear love,
The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue; 10
That profit’s yet to come ‘tween me and you.
Good night. [Exeunt Othello, Desdemona, and Attendants
Enter Iago CASSIO Welcome, Iago; we must to the watch. IAGO Not this hour, lieutenant; ‘tis not yet ten o’th’clock.
Our general cast us thus early for the love of his Desdemona; who let us not 15 therefore blame:
he hath not yet made wanton the night with her, and she is sport for Jove. CASSIO She’s most exquisite lady. IAGO And I’ll warrant her full of game. CASSIO Indeed she is a most fresh and delicate creature. 20 IAGO What an eye she has! Methinks it sounds a parley to provocation. CASSIO An inviting eye, and yet methinks right modest. IAGO And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love? CASSIO She is indeed perfection. 25 IAGO Well, happiness to their sheets! [Act 2, Scene 3] |
11.1 Place the extract in context. (3)
11.2 Describe the relationship between Othello and Cassio at this stage. (3)
11.3 Comment critically on the situation where Michael Cassio is in charge of Iago. (3)
11.4 Explain the irony of Othello’s utterance that ‘Iago is most honest.’ (line 7) (3)
11.5 In lines 14–26 Iago and Cassio are discussing Desdemona. With close reference to these lines, point out the different attitudes the men reveal when they talk about Desdemona. (3)
11.6 Cassio eventually agrees to go out drinking with Iago. How does this decision determine his fate in the rest of the play? (3)
AND
EXTRACT F
OTHELLO She turned to folly and she was a whore. EMILIA Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil. OTHELLO She was false as water. EMILIA Thou art rash as fire to say
That she was false. O, she was heavenly true! 5 OTHELLO Cassio did top her: ask thy husband else.
O, I were damn’d beneath all depth in hell
But that I did proceed upon just grounds
To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all. EMILIA My husband? 10 OTHELLO Thy husband. EMILIA That she was false to wedlock? OTHELLO Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite, 15
I’d not have sold her for it. EMILIA My husband? OTHELLO Ay, ‘twas he that told me on her first;
An honest man he is, and hates the slime
That sticks on filthy deeds. 20 EMILIA My husband? OTHELLO What needs this iterance, woman? I say thy husband. [Act 5, Scene 2] |
11.7 How accurate, in your opinion, is the metaphorical language used in lines 1–5 to describe Othello and Desdemona? (3)
11.8 Othello reveals two different approaches towards Desdemona in Extract E and Extract F. How should an actor use his voice to show his attitude in each extract? (4)
[25]
OR
THE CRUCIBLE – ARTHUR MILLER
Answer EITHER QUESTION 12 (essay question) OR QUESTION 13 (contextual question).
QUESTION 12: ESSAY QUESTION – THE CRUCIBLE
‘A tragic hero is a character who comes to misfortune through a fatal character flaw.’
In a carefully planned essay of 400–450 words (2–2½ pages) in length, discuss to what extent the quotation is true about John Proctor. [25]
OR
QUESTION 13: CONTEXTUAL QUESTION – THE CRUCIBLE
Read the extracts below and then answer the questions that follow.
EXTRACT G
He appears loaded down with half a dozen heavy books. HALE Pray you, someone take these!
PARRIS (delighted): Mr Hale! Oh! It’s good to see you again! (Taking some books.) My, they’re heavy!
HALE (setting down his books.) They must be; they are waited with authority. 5
PARRIS (a little scared): Well, you do come prepared!
HALE We shall need hard study if it comes to tracking down the Old Boy. (Noticing Rebecca.) You cannot be Rebecca Nurse?
REBECCA I am, sir. Do you know me?
HALE It’s strange how I knew you, but I suppose you look as such a 10 good soul should. We have all heard of your great charities in Beverly.
PARRIS Do you know this gentleman? Mr Thomas Putnam. And his good wife Ann.
HALE Putnam! I had not expected such distinguished company, 15 sir.
PUTNAM (pleased): It does not seem to help us today, Mr Hale. We look to you to come to our house and save our child
HALE Your child ails too?
MRS PUTNAM Her soul, her soul seems flown away. She sleeps and yet she 20 walks –
PUTNAM She cannot eat.
HALE Cannot eat! (Thinks on it. Then, to Proctor and Giles Corey.) Do you men have afflicted children?
PARRIS No, no, these are farmers. John Proctor – 25
GILES He don’t believe in witches.
PROCTOR (to Hale): I never spoke on witches one way or the other. Will you come, Giles?
GILES No – no, John, I think not. I have some few queer questions of my own to ask this fellow. 30
PROCTOR I’ve heard you to be a sensible man, Mr Hale. I hope you’ll leave some of it in Salem. [Act 1] |
13.1 Relate the circumstances under which Reverend Hale is visiting Salem. (3)
13.2 Comment on the dramatic impact the books would have as part of Hale’s entrance to the stage. (3)
13.3 Refer to lines 7–12. Provide a possible reason for Hale recognising and meeting Rebecca before anybody else. (3)
13.4 From what you know about Parris, what does he imply when he explains ‘No, no, these are farmers.’ (line 25)? (3)
13.5 What does the audience learn from John Proctor’s words in lines 31–32? Mention two things. (3)
AND
EXTRACT H
HATHORNE (astonished): She have robbed you?
PARRIS Thirty-one pound is gone. (He covers his face and sobs.)
DANFORTH Mr Parris, you are a brainless man! (He walks in thought, deeply worried.)
PARRIS Excellency, it profit nothing you should blame me. I cannot think 5 they would run off except they fear to keep in Salem any more.
(He is pleading.) Mark it, sir, Abigail had close knowledge of the town, and since the news of Andover has broken here –
DANFORTH Andover is remedied. The court returns here on Friday, and will resume examinations. 10
PARRIS I am sure of it, sir. But the rumour here speaks rebellion in Andover, and it –
DANFORTH There is no rebellion in Andover!
PARRIS I tell you what is said here, sir. Andover have thrown out the court, they say, and will have no part of witchcraft.
There be a 15 faction here, feeding on that news, and I tell you true, sir, I fear there will be riot here.
HATHORNE Riot! Why at every execution I have seen naught but high satisfaction in the town.
PARRIS Judge Hathorne – it were another sort that hanged till now. 20
Rebecca Nurse is no Bridget that lived three year with Bishop before she married him.
John Proctor is not Isaac Ward that drank his family to ruin.
(To Danforth) I would to God it were not so, Excellency, but these people have great weight yet in the town.
Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet and send up some 25 righteous prayer, and I fear she’ll wake a vengeance on you.
HATHORNE Excellency, she is condemned a witch. The court have –
DANFORTH (in deep concern, raising a hand to Hathorne): Pray you. (To Parris.) How do you propose, then?
PARRIS Excellency, I would postpone these hangin’s for a time. 30
DANFORTH There will be no postponement. [Act 4] |
13.6 To what extent is Danforth’s accusation that Parris is ‘a brainless man’ (line 3) true? Refer to the whole play in support of your answer. (3)
13.7 Comment critically on Danforth and Hathorne’s responses to the explanation that neighbouring Andover’s court has decided not to continue with prosecuting witchcraft cases. (3)
13.8 Refer to Extracts G and H. How would you instruct an actor playing Parris to use his voice to convey the different moods in each extract? (4)
[25]
OR
HAMLET – WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Answer EITHER QUESTION 14 (essay question) OR QUESTION 15 (contextual question).
QUESTION 14: ESSAY QUESTION – HAMLET
‘A tragic hero is a character who comes to misfortune through a fatal character flaw.’
In a carefully planned essay of 400–450 words (2–2½ pages) in length, discuss to what extent the quotation is true about Hamlet. [25]
OR
QUESTION 15: CONTEXTUAL QUESTION – HAMLET
EXTRACT I
GHOST My hour is almost come,
When I to sulph’rous and tormenting flames
Must render up myself. HAMLET Alas poor ghost! GHOST Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing 5
To what I shall unfold. HAMLET Speak, I am bound to hear. GHOST So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. HAMLET What? GHOST I am thy father’s spirit 10
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But what I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house, 15
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end, 20
Like quills from the fretful porpentine.
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love… HAMLET Oh God! 25 GHOST Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. HAMLET Murder! GHOST Murder most foul, as in the best it is,
But this most foul, strange and unnatural. HAMLET Haste me to know’t, that I with wings as swift 30
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge. Act 1, Scene 5 |
15.1 Place the extract in context. (3)
15.2 Comment on the dramatic effect the ghost would have on an Elizabethan audience. (3)
15.3 Refer to lines 10–24. How does the ghost try to persuade Hamlet to avenge his murder? Mention two things. (3)
15.4 Why does the ghost refer to his murder as ‘strange and unnatural’ (line 29)? (3)
15.5 Explain how Hamlet’s intention he expresses in lines 30–32 is ironic. (3)
AND
EXTRACT J
HAMLET How does the queen? KING She swoons to see them bleed. QUEEN No, no, the drink, the drink – O my dear Hamlet –
The drink, the drink! I am poisoned!
She dies HAMLET O villainy! Ho! let the door be locked! 5
Treachery! seek it out. LAERTES It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain,
No medicine in the world can do thee good.
In thee there is not half an hour of life.
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, 10
Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice
Hath turned itself on me, lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother’s poisoned.
I can no more. The king, the king’s to blame. HAMLET The point envenomed too 15
Then, venom, to thy work.
He stabs the King ALL Treason! treason! KING O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt. 20 HAMLET Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damnéd Dane,
He forces him to drink
Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?
Follow my mother. |
15.6 What do you think Gertrude implies when she calls for her son and not the King just before she dies? Mention two things. (3)
15.7 Suggest how an actor should act and speak Laertes’s words in lines 7–14. (3)
15.8 Refer to lines 19–21. Hamlet is a man of action in this scene. How does he finally avenge his parents’ deaths? (4)
[25]
TOTAL SECTION C: 25
GRAND TOTAL: 80