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O-LevelLiterature in EnglishDrama2010/22 · May/June 2023 · Q425 Marks

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Twelfth Night Remember to support your ideas with details from the text.

  1. (a)Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it: [The sea-coast.] [Enter VIOLA, a CAPTAIN, and SAILORS.] Viola: What country, friends, is this? Captain: This is Illyria, lady. Viola: And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium. 5 Perchance he is not drown'd – what think you, sailors? Captain: It is perchance that you yourself were saved. Viola: O my poor brother! and so perchance may he be. 10 Captain: True, madam, and, to comfort you with chance, Assure yourself, after our ship did split, When you, and those poor number saved with you, Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother, Most provident in peril, bind himself 15 Courage and hope both teaching him the practice To a strong mast that liv'd upon the sea; Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back, I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves So long as I could see. 20 Viola: For saying so, there's gold. Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope, Whereto thy speech serves for authority, The like of him. Know'st thou this country? Captain: Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and born Not three hours' travel from this very place. 25 Viola: Who governs here? Captain: A noble duke, in nature as in name. Viola: What is his name? Captain: Orsino. Viola: Orsino! I have heard my father name him. He was a bachelor then. 30 Captain: And so is now, or was so very late; For but a month ago I went from hence, And then 'twas fresh in murmur as, you know, What great ones do the less will prattle of – That he did seek the love of fair Olivia. 35 Viola: What's she? Captain: A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count That died some twelvemonth since, then leaving her In the protection of his son, her brother, 40 Who shortly also died; for whose dear love, They say, she hath abjur'd the company And sight of men. Viola: O that I serv'd that lady, And might not be delivered to the world, Till I had made mine own occasion mellow, What my estate is! 45 Captain: That were hard to compass, Because she will admit no kind of suit No, not the Duke's. 50 Viola: There is a fair behaviour in thee, Captain; And though that nature with a beauteous wall Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee I will believe thou hast a mind that suits With this thy fair and outward character. I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously, Conceal me what I am, be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke. [from Act 1, Scene 2] How does Shakespeare make this introduction to Viola so striking?[25]
  2. (b)Explore how Shakespeare uses mistaken identity to create dramatic impact.[25]

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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 2023 Paper 2 Variant 2, question 4.

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