O-LevelLiterature in EnglishDrama2010/12 · May/June 2010 · Q1025 Marks

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Much Ado About Nothing Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it. Leonato: Come, Friar Francis, be brief; only to the plain form of marriage, and you shall recount their particular duties afterwards. Friar: You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady? Claudio: No. 5 Leonato: To be married to her, friar! You come to marry her. Friar: Lady, you come hither to be married to this count? Hero: I do. Friar: If either of you know any inward impediment why you should not be conjoined, I charge you, on your souls, to 10 utter it. Claudio: Know you any, Hero? Hero: None, my lord. Friar: Know you any, Count? Leonato: I dare make his answer, None. 15 Claudio: O, what men dare do! What men may do! What men daily do, not knowing what they do! Benedick: How now! Interjections? Why, then, some be of laughing, as, ah, ha, he! Claudio: Stand thee by, friar. Father, by thy leave: Will you with free and unconstrained soul 20 Give me this maid, your daughter? Leonato: As freely, son, as God did give her me. Claudio: And what have I to give you back whose worth May counterpoise this rich and precious gift? Don Pedro: Nothing, unless you render her again. 25 Claudio: Sweet Prince, you learn me noble thankfulness. There, Leonato, take her back again; Give not this rotten orange to your friend; She's but the sign and semblance of her honour. 30 Behold how like a maid she blushes here. O, what authority and show of truth Can cunning sin cover itself withal! Comes not that blood as modest evidence To witness simple virtue? Would you not swear, 35 All you that see her, that she were a maid By these exterior shows? But she is none: She knows the heat of a luxurious bed; Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty. Leonato: What do you mean, my lord? 40 Claudio: Not to be married, Not to knit my soul to an approved wanton. Leonato: Dear, my lord, if you, in your own proof, Have vanquish'd the resistance of her youth, And made defeat of her virginity – 45 Claudio: I know what you would say. If I have known her, You will say she did embrace me as a husband, And so extenuate the 'forehand sin. No, Leonato. I never tempted her with word too large 50 But, as a brother to his sister, show'd Bashful sincerity and comely love. Hero: And seem'd I ever otherwise to you? Claudio: Out on thee! Seeming! I will write against it. You seem to me as Dian in her orb, 55 As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown; But you are more intemperate in your blood Than Venus, or those pamp'red animals That rage in savage sensuality. What makes this passage intensely shocking? Support your answer by close reference to Shakespeare's writing.

(a)What makes this passage intensely shocking? Support your answer by close reference to Shakespeare's writing.[25]

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2010). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

The passage (from Act 4 Scene1) is primarily shocking because of the change in Claudio from the romantic and besotted lover to this vengeful and vituperative man.
The audience of course knows of the plot against Hero but cannot have foreseen the violence of Claudio's reaction, though he has sworn to shame her if he finds anything to confirm the allegations.
The calculated quality of Claudio's rejection is very shocking; he plays along with the form of the wedding service until Leonato gives Hero's hand, when he not only returns her to her father but also calls her a 'rotten orange', a deeply unpleasant image and one that the audience knows to be false.
There is something bordering on the pathological on his harping on Hero's sensuality too and answers that do not give close consideration to the manner of his speech will not achieve the highest marks.
This is a turning point in the play and, though they are not required to refer outside the passage, good answers may well be enhanced by some allusion to the way in which tension has been building to this point.

On Oracle Prep you can write or photograph your own answer and have it marked by AI against this mark scheme, with feedback on what you missed.