AS
ENGLISH LITERATURE B
AQA AS English Literature B Paper 1A Literary
genres: Drama: Aspects of tragedy (7716/1A) 2026
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 12-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7716/1A.
• Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
• You must answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B.
Information
• The maximum mark for this paper is 50.
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
• In your response you need to:
– analyse carefully the writers’ methods
– explore the contexts of the texts you are writing about
– explore the connections across the texts you have studied
– explore different interpretations of your texts.
7716/1A
, 2
Section A
Answer one question from this section.
Either
0 1 Othello – William Shakespeare
Explore the significance of aspects of dramatic tragedy in the following passage in
relation to the play as a whole.
You should consider the following in your answer:
• the presentation of Iago’s villainy
• the interaction between Othello and Desdemona
• other relevant aspects of dramatic tragedy.
[25 marks]
IAGO (aside) He takes her by the palm. Ay, well said,
whisper. With as little a web as this will I ensnare as
great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do. I will
gyve thee in thine own courtship. You say true, ’tis so
indeed. If such tricks as these strip you out of your
lieutenantry, it had been better you had not kissed your
three fingers so oft, which now again you are most apt
to play the sir in. Very good: well kissed, an excellent
courtesy! ’Tis so indeed. Yet again your fingers to your
lips? Would they were clyster-pipes for your sake!
Trumpet
(Aloud) The Moor! I know his trumpet.
CASSIO ’Tis truly so.
DESDEMONA
Let’s meet him and receive him.
CASSIO Lo, where he comes!
Enter Othello and attendants
OTHELLO
O, my fair warrior!
DESDEMONA My dear Othello!
OTHELLO
It gives me wonder great as my content
To see you here before me. O, my soul’s joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have wakened death,
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas,
Olympus-high, and duck again as low
As hell’s from heaven. If it were now to die,
’Twere now to be most happy; for I fear
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.
ENGLISH LITERATURE B
AQA AS English Literature B Paper 1A Literary
genres: Drama: Aspects of tragedy (7716/1A) 2026
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 12-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7716/1A.
• Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
• You must answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B.
Information
• The maximum mark for this paper is 50.
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
• In your response you need to:
– analyse carefully the writers’ methods
– explore the contexts of the texts you are writing about
– explore the connections across the texts you have studied
– explore different interpretations of your texts.
7716/1A
, 2
Section A
Answer one question from this section.
Either
0 1 Othello – William Shakespeare
Explore the significance of aspects of dramatic tragedy in the following passage in
relation to the play as a whole.
You should consider the following in your answer:
• the presentation of Iago’s villainy
• the interaction between Othello and Desdemona
• other relevant aspects of dramatic tragedy.
[25 marks]
IAGO (aside) He takes her by the palm. Ay, well said,
whisper. With as little a web as this will I ensnare as
great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do. I will
gyve thee in thine own courtship. You say true, ’tis so
indeed. If such tricks as these strip you out of your
lieutenantry, it had been better you had not kissed your
three fingers so oft, which now again you are most apt
to play the sir in. Very good: well kissed, an excellent
courtesy! ’Tis so indeed. Yet again your fingers to your
lips? Would they were clyster-pipes for your sake!
Trumpet
(Aloud) The Moor! I know his trumpet.
CASSIO ’Tis truly so.
DESDEMONA
Let’s meet him and receive him.
CASSIO Lo, where he comes!
Enter Othello and attendants
OTHELLO
O, my fair warrior!
DESDEMONA My dear Othello!
OTHELLO
It gives me wonder great as my content
To see you here before me. O, my soul’s joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have wakened death,
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas,
Olympus-high, and duck again as low
As hell’s from heaven. If it were now to die,
’Twere now to be most happy; for I fear
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.
