Edexcel a level english literature question p aper 1 june 2023 + mark scheme

Mark Scheme (Results) Summer 2023 Pearson Edexcel GCE In English Literature (9ET0) PAPER 1: DramaEdexcel and BTEC Qualifications Edexcel and BTEC qualifications are awarded by Pearson, the UK’s largest awarding body. We provide a wide range of qualifications including academic, vocational, occupational and specific programmes for employers. For further information visit our qualifications websites at or . Alternatively, you can get in touch with us using the details on our contact us page at Pearson: helping people progress, everywhere Pearson aspires to be the world’s leading learning company. Our aim is to help everyone progress in their lives through education. We believe in every kind of learning, for all kinds of people, wherever they are in the world. We’ve been involved in education for over 150 years, and by working across 70 countries, in 100 languages, we have built an international reputation for our commitment to high standards and raising achievement through innovation in education. Find out more about how we can help you and your students at: Summer 2023 Question Paper Log Number P72846 Publications Code 9ET0_01_2306_MS All the material in this publication is copyright © Pearson Education Ltd 2023General Marking Guidance • All candidates must receive the same treatment. Examiners must mark the last candidate in exactly the same way as they mark the first. • Mark schemes should be applied positively. Candidates must be rewarded for what they have shown they can do rather than penalised for omissions. • Examiners should mark according to the mark scheme – not according to their perception of where the grade boundaries may lie. • All the marks on the mark scheme are designed to be awarded. Examiners should always award full marks if deserved, i.e. if the answer matches the mark scheme. Examiners should also be prepared to award zero marks if the candidate’s response is not worthy of credit according to the mark scheme. • Where some judgement is required, mark schemes will provide the principles by which marks will be awarded and exemplification/indicative content will not be exhaustive. • When examiners are in doubt regarding the application of the mark scheme to a candidate’s response, a senior examiner must be consulted before a mark is given. • Crossed out work should be marked unless the candidate has replaced it with an alternative response. Marking guidance – specific The marking grids have been designed to assess student work holistically. The grids identify which Assessment Objective is being targeted by each bullet point within the level descriptors. One bullet point is linked to one Assessment Objective, however please note that the number of bullet points in the level descriptor does not directly correlate to the number of marks in the level descriptor. When deciding how to reward an answer, examiners should consult both the indicative content and the associated marking grid(s). When using a levelsbased mark scheme, the ‘best fit’ approach should be used: • examiners should first decide which descriptor most closely matches the answer and place it in that level • the mark awarded within the level will be decided based on the quality of the answer and will be modified according to how securely all bullet points are displayed at that level • in cases of uneven performance, the points above will still apply. Candidates will be placed in the level that best describes their answer according to each of the Assessment Objectives described in the level.Marks will be awarded towards the top or bottom of that level depending on how they have evidenced each of the descriptor bullet points • examiners of Advanced GCE English should remember that all Assessment Objectives within a level are equally weighted. They must consider this when making their judgements • the mark grid identifies which Assessment Objective is being targeted by each bullet point within the level descriptors • indicative content is exactly that – they are factual points that candidates are likely to use to construct their answer. It is possible for an answer to be constructed without mentioning some or all of these points, as long as they provide alternative responses to the indicative content that fulfils the requirements of the question. It is the examiner’s responsibility to apply their professional judgement to the candidate’s response in determining if the answer fulfils the requirements of the question. Placing a mark within a level • Examiners should first decide which descriptor most closely matches the answer and place it in that level. The mark awarded within the level will be decided based on the quality of the answer and will be modified according to how securely all bullet points are displayed at that level. • In cases of uneven performance, the points above will still apply. Candidates will be placed in the level that best describes their answer according to the descriptors in that level. Marks will be awarded towards the top or bottom of that level depending on how they have evidenced each of the descriptor bullet points. • If the candidate’s answer meets the requirements fully, markers should be prepared to award full marks within the level. The top mark in the level is used for work that is as good as can realistically be expected within that level.Paper 1 Mark scheme Question number Indicative content 1 Antony and Cleopatra Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • episodic structure makes for rapid changes of mood, tone and setting • constant shifting of settings suggests a world in a state of flux, reflecting contemporary changes in society in Shakespeare’s England • short scenes allow for multiple perspectives and the development of irony, e.g. in Scene 1, Antony claims to be wholly committed to Cleopatra, but in the next scene he determines to return to Rome • absence of lengthy soliloquies and passages of introspection make this play very different from Shakespeare’s other tragedies • use of messengers to perform a variety of dramatic functions, e.g. exposition; plot continuity; irony; characterisation • switching perspectives allows Shakespeare to develop his theme of oppositions, e.g. those between Rome and Egypt, love and lust, masculinity and femininity. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • Tony Tanner’s point about the play being full of messengers (Anthology) • Emrys Jones’ comment that the practice of clearing the stage every hundred lines or so forbids any very deep emotional engagement on the part of the audience. (Anthology). These are suggestions only. Accept any valid alternative response. 2 Antony and Cleopatra Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • ambiguity as to how we are to judge the protagonists and their weaknesses • different views of weakness presented between Rome and Egypt, e.g. Caesar’s ascetism v Cleopatra’s lack of decorum • use of hyperbole and bombastic claims to foreground the gap between the celestial and the human, e.g. ’Eternity was in our lips and eyes,/Bliss in our brows’ bent, none our parts so poor/But was a race of heaven’ • protagonists shown to be morally weak from the start and with a distinctly domestic agenda have seen critics question whether the play is a tragedy • presentation of human weakness as a reflection of Shakespeare’s England, e.g. Antony’s conduct triggers multiple identifications with King James, while the excesses of Egypt could be said to reflect his increasingly libertine court • presentation of poor personal choices as having universal impact, e.g. ’The triple pillar of the world transformed.’ Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • David Kastan’s question about the nature of tragedy: ‘Is the tragic motor human error or capricious fate?’ (Anthology) • Anthony Miller’s comment that Shakespeare ‘adds generosity to human weakness’. (‘The Metamorphic Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra’ Sydney Studies in English 18, 1992–93). These are suggestions only. Accept any valid alternative response.Question number Indicative content 3 Hamlet Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • presentation of Hamlet’s grief through hyperbolic descriptions of his deceased father, e.g. ‘So excellent a king, that was to this/Hyperion to a satyr’ • link between grief and vengeance as typical of revenge tragedy • dramatic impact of Hamlet’s listing of the conventional Elizabethan forms of mourning, e.g. ‘These but the trappings and the suits of woe.’ • significance of the soliloquy where Hamlet comments on the actor imitating the grief of Hecuba, e.g. ‘What’s Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba/That he should weep for her? What would he do/Had he the motive and the cue for passion/That I have?’ • dramatic impact of the scene at Ophelia’s grave where Hamlet publicly draws attention to his grief, e.g. ‘What is he whose grief/Bears such an emphasis?’ • mediated representation of female grief in the play as a reflection of Elizabethan patriarchy, e.g. Gertrude’s mourning reported by Hamlet; Hecuba’s grief narrated by an actor; Player Queen’s sorrow rendered mute through the device of the dumb show. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • A D Nuttall’s argument about the pleasure of tragedy: ‘it seems that grief and fear become in their turn matter for enjoyment’. (Anthology) • Stephen Greenblatt’s comment that this play ‘gave birth to a whole new kind of literary subjectivity’. (‘Hamlet.’ In The Norton Shakespeare. Edited by Stephen Greenblatt et al New York, 2008). These are suggestions only. Accept any valid alternative response. 4 Hamlet Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • Laertes’ presentation as a dramatic foil to Hamlet, e.g. both men avenging the death of a father, allowing comparisons and contrasts to be made • as the quintessential revenge hero • his presence lends drama and excitement for audiences, e.g. the man of action who lacks Hamlet’s introspection • his family’s dynamic offers insight into Elizabethan patriarchal attitudes, e.g. the way Polonius treats him differently from his sister • his use of language links him to his father and distinguishes him from Hamlet, e.g. his fondness for hyperbole and lengthy tirade • his performative mourning and perceived lack of genuine grief in the graveyard scene are used as triggers for Hamlet’s final actions. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • Eleanor Prosser’s remark that Laertes’ speech in Act 4 is ‘one of the most dreadful speeches in all of Shakespeare’ (Hamlet and Revenge, Stanford UP, 1967) • Norman Council’s description of Laertes’ reaction to his father’s death as ‘single-minded commitment to honourable revenge’ (When Honour’s at the Stake, Routledge, 1973). These are suggestions only. Accept any valid alternative response.Question Number Indicative content 5 King Lear Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • varieties of language used for dramatic effect in the love-test scene, e.g. the highly formal insincerity of her sisters compared to the simple response of Cordelia • Gloucester’s bawdy speech about Edmund’s conception helps establish the theme of legitimacy and succession, reflecting political anxieties of the Jacobean period • soliloquies by both Edgar and Edmund give insight into their feelings and help establish ironic effects • figurative language and patterns of imagery running throughout reinforce the play’s themes, e.g. sight and seeing; natural and unnatural; fate and the gods • Lear’s language changes from pomposity and extravagance at the beginning of the play, to soft, fragmented speech at the end, e.g. ‘Pray you now, forget/And forgive. I am old and foolish’ • use of dialogue with the Fool to allow Lear to use a more personal and unguarded voice, e.g. ‘O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!’ Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • Carol Rutter’s argument that Goneril and Regan assume the male voice that Lear abandons (Anthology) • Frank Kermode’s comment that ‘the rage of the King confirms that he cannot be temperate in the absence of ceremony’ (Anthology). These are suggestions only. Accept any valid alternative response. 6 King Lear Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • injustice of play’s ending which gives little hope of order and new life as a comment on pagan v Christian society • dramatic use of metaphor to explore Gloucester’s despair in concluding that there is no divine justice, e.g. ‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods’ • Edgar’s view of divine justice set in dramatic contrast to that of his father, e.g. ‘The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices/Make instruments to plague us’ • impact of the set piece in Act 3, Scene 6 where Lear conducts the mock trial of Goneril and Regan • development of a central question as to whether Lear’s suffering outweighs his sins, e.g. a 'man more sinned against than sinning' • the idea of social justice is dramatically foregrounded in the heath