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O-LevelLiterature in EnglishDrama2010/11 · May/June 2011 · Q1025 Marks

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Richard III 10 Read the following extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Buckingham: You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord, Too ceremonious and traditional. Weigh it but with the grossness of this age, You break not sanctuary in seizing him. The benefit thereof is always granted To those whose dealings have deserv'd the place 5 And those who have the wit to claim the place. This Prince hath neither claim'd it nor deserv'd it, And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it. Then, taking him from thence that is not there, You break no privilege nor charter there. 10 Oft have I heard of sanctuary men; Cardinal: But sanctuary children never till now. My lord, you shall overrule my mind for once. Come on, Lord Hastings, will you go with me? 15 Hastings: Prince: I go, my lord. Good lords, make all the speedy haste you may. [Exeunt Cardinal and Hastings. Say, uncle Gloucester, if our brother come, Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? 20 Gloucester: Where it seems best unto your royal self. If I may counsel you, some day or two Your Highness shall repose you at the Tower, Then where you please and shall be thought most fit For your best health and recreation. 25 Prince: I do not like the Tower, of any place. Did Julius Caesar build that place, my lord? Buckingham: He did, my gracious lord, begin that place, Which, since, succeeding ages have reedified. Prince: Is it upon record, or else reported 30 Successively from age to age, he built it? Buckingham: Upon record, my gracious lord. Prince: But say, my lord, it were not regist'red, Methinks the truth should live from age to age, As 'twere retail'd to all posterity, 35 Even to the general all-ending day. Gloucester: [Aside] So wise so young, they say, do never live long. Prince: What say you, uncle? Gloucester: I say, without characters, fame lives long. [Aside] Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity, 40 I moralize two meanings in one word. Prince: That Julius Caesar was a famous man; With what his valour did enrich his wit, His wit set down to make his valour live. Death makes no conquest of this conqueror; For now he lives in fame, though not in life. I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham – 45 Buckingham: What, my gracious lord? Prince: An if I live until I be a man, I'll win our ancient right in France again, Or die a soldier as I liv'd a king. 50 Gloucester: [Aside] Short summers lightly have a forward spring. Explore the ways in which Shakespeare makes this moment in the play so full of irony and dark humour.

  1. Explore the ways in which Shakespeare makes this moment in the play so full of irony and dark humour.[25]

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2011). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

  1. Candidates should explore the use of dramatic irony and dark humour in this extract.
  2. Focus on the audience’s knowledge of Gloucester’s true intentions, contrasted with the innocence of the Prince and the complicity of Buckingham and Cardinal.
  3. The sinister implications of suggesting the Tower as a 'fit' place for 'health and recreation'.
  4. The Prince’s precocious intelligence and historical knowledge ('Did Julius Caesar build that place?'), which Gloucester dismisses with chilling irony ('So wise so young, they say, do never live long').
  5. Gloucester’s asides revealing his manipulative nature and delight in his own villainy ('moralize two meanings in one word').
  6. The Prince’s youthful idealism ('I’ll win our ancient right in France again') tragically juxtaposed with Gloucester’s ominous 'Short summers lightly have a forward spring'.

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About this question

Topic
Drama, O-Level Literature in English (syllabus 2010). Structured question, 25 marks.
Source
O-Level Literature in English, May/June 2011 Paper 1 Variant 1, question 10.

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