A-level
ENGLISH LITERATURE A
Paper 1 Love through the ages
Wednesday 14 May 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 3 hours
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 12-page Answer Book
• a copy of each of the set texts you have studied for Section C. These texts must not be
annotated and must not contain additional notes or materials.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7712/1.
• In Section A you will answer one question about a Shakespeare play.
• In Section B you will answer the one question about unseen poetry.
• In Section C you will answer one question about two texts: one poetry text and one prose text,
one of which must be written pre-1900.
• Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 75.
• 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 connections across the texts you have studied
– explore different interpretations of your texts.
IB/G/Jun25/G4009/V4 7712/1
, 2
Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question in this section.
Either
0 1 Othello – William Shakespeare
‘Audiences are more likely to sympathise with Othello as a victim than to condemn him
for his jealous suspicions towards his wife.’
In the light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello in this extract and
elsewhere in the play.
[25 marks]
Enter Othello and Iago
IAGO
Will you think so?
OTHELLO Think so, Iago?
IAGO What!
To kiss in private?
OTHELLO An unauthorized kiss.
IAGO
Or to be naked with her friend in bed
An hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO
Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?
It is hypocrisy against the devil.
They that mean virtuously and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO
So they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.
But if I give my wife a handkerchief –
OTHELLO
What then?
IAGO
Why, then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers,
She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.
OTHELLO
She is protectress of her honour too.
May she give that?
IAGO
Her honour is an essence that’s not seen:
They have it very oft that have it not.
But for the handkerchief –
OTHELLO
By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it!
Thou said’st – O, it comes o’er my memory
As doth the raven o’er the infected house,
Boding to all! – he had my handkerchief.
IAGO
Ay, what of that?
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
ENGLISH LITERATURE A
Paper 1 Love through the ages
Wednesday 14 May 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 3 hours
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 12-page Answer Book
• a copy of each of the set texts you have studied for Section C. These texts must not be
annotated and must not contain additional notes or materials.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7712/1.
• In Section A you will answer one question about a Shakespeare play.
• In Section B you will answer the one question about unseen poetry.
• In Section C you will answer one question about two texts: one poetry text and one prose text,
one of which must be written pre-1900.
• Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 75.
• 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 connections across the texts you have studied
– explore different interpretations of your texts.
IB/G/Jun25/G4009/V4 7712/1
, 2
Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question in this section.
Either
0 1 Othello – William Shakespeare
‘Audiences are more likely to sympathise with Othello as a victim than to condemn him
for his jealous suspicions towards his wife.’
In the light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello in this extract and
elsewhere in the play.
[25 marks]
Enter Othello and Iago
IAGO
Will you think so?
OTHELLO Think so, Iago?
IAGO What!
To kiss in private?
OTHELLO An unauthorized kiss.
IAGO
Or to be naked with her friend in bed
An hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO
Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?
It is hypocrisy against the devil.
They that mean virtuously and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO
So they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.
But if I give my wife a handkerchief –
OTHELLO
What then?
IAGO
Why, then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers,
She may, I think, bestow’t on any man.
OTHELLO
She is protectress of her honour too.
May she give that?
IAGO
Her honour is an essence that’s not seen:
They have it very oft that have it not.
But for the handkerchief –
OTHELLO
By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it!
Thou said’st – O, it comes o’er my memory
As doth the raven o’er the infected house,
Boding to all! – he had my handkerchief.
IAGO
Ay, what of that?
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
