OCR A2 English Literature exam. F663. Othello, Duchess of Malfi and The Pardoner's t

Reply 180

LeSacMagique

9

Am I the only one who did passionate language? Brill :smile:

Reply 181

MeGusta

9

Omg its over!! Ive finished all my exams!! Im free baby wooohoooo!!!

Reply 182

snow leopard

1

I'd be fascinated to hear from any brave individual who tackled the Othello question regarding 'stories and storytelling'. It's difficult to imagine anyone not picking what will probably be the most accessible OCR Othello question in history.

Reply 183

Chemzoik

The Passionate language one for Duchess and the one about pity, for Othello. I may have dropped in Leavis one too many times, and then some.

Reply 184

LeSacMagique

9

Original post by snow leopard

I'd be fascinated to hear from any brave individual who tackled the Othello question regarding 'stories and storytelling'. It's difficult to imagine anyone not picking what will probably be the most accessible OCR Othello question in history.

See, I've been thinking about it, and it might not be as hard as everyone's saying. There's obviously the story Othello tells to Desdemona but you can zoom out a bit and talk about him in general being a 'self-dramatising' storyteller, like in the speech in the final scene about the Turk in Aleppo, and also perhaps the speech where he says farewell to war. But then Iago is also in his own way a storyteller: he weaves together narratives to manipulate other people, for instance in the night-time scene in Act V where he comes up with an explanation for the fracas on the spot or the drunken brawl where he does the same, or even the scene where he talks to Cassio about Bianca and makes Othello believe he is talking about Desdemona. There's also Desdemona who herself tells stories, like the one about Barbary/a. It's a subtle question, but I think if you had the right quotations you could write a very good essay on it. I know that there's at least one girl in my year who went for that one. Don't know how she did it though.

Reply 185

username508821

1

DONE! I chose the question about Othello for the first part, and then the 'sinners expect punishment and audiences demand it' for the Pardoner's Tale and Doctor Faustus. Really hoping for an A, but if I get a B I'll still be able to go to my insurance uni so I think I'm safe. Sort of. Hopefully. Eeeeeh. What did you guys think of it?

Reply 186

username508821

1

Original post by snow leopard

I'd be fascinated to hear from any brave individual who tackled the Othello question regarding 'stories and storytelling'. It's difficult to imagine anyone not picking what will probably be the most accessible OCR Othello question in history.

Not a single person in my class chose that one! I looked at it, racked my brain for critics regarding the question and just went LOL NOPE and chose the Othello one instead.

Reply 187

MeGusta

9

When I looked at the Othello question and saw "too hard" did anyone else think of something dirty? Or am I just really childish and dirty-minded? :frown:

Reply 188

juliewho

13

I did the "easy to pity, hard to like" question for Othello - that was okay, went slightly over my hour though and I don't think my arguments were all that solid - and the passionate language question for Donne and Malfi. Went off on a tangent about political statements in that one but overall it went much better than my January attempt which got me a C, and I was aiming for a B in the exam to gain an A overall, so happy times :smile:

Reply 189

Mezzyp

I thought section b was ok but othello was baaad - even though i did the 'easy' one :frown:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 190

hannahchan

13

Who picked the question about reason and emotion for The Duchess of Malfi?

I found it really hard to write a proper essay and only added a few points and crammed in a conclusion. I think I went into much detail and a lot of it was repeating the same thing a dozen times :frown:

.

Reply 191

hvcxxx

2

For some reason I did the story telling question for Othello but i'm starting to regret it! I guess the initial adrenaline rush didn't let me think the other one through properly. As I wrote I struggled with context/critics so I can only hope :frown:

Reply 192

hannahchan

13

Original post by hvcxxx

For some reason I did the story telling question for Othello but i'm starting to regret it! I guess the initial adrenaline rush didn't let me think the other one through properly. As I wrote I struggled with context/critics so I can only hope :frown:

oh man.. well hopefully you wrote about Iago's manipulative story telling..

i only wrote one critics view.. and forgot nearly all quotes.. :frown:

.

Do you think they would deduct points if you didn't get the quote correct?

Reply 193

hvcxxx

2

Original post by hannahchan

oh man.. well hopefully you wrote about Iago's manipulative story telling..

i only wrote one critics view.. and forgot nearly all quotes.. :frown:

.

Do you think they would deduct points if you didn't get the quote correct?

Yeah I spoke about Iago's story telling, how Othello and Desdemona's relationship is based upon Othello's stories and how Desdemona is childlike and more vulnerable to them... and the story of the history of the handkerchief... but I'm regretting it! I'm not going to uni this year though so I suppose there's always a resit if I don't get a B this time... there were other things but it's all a blur now!!
Did you do the other one? Unless it's a famous one like 'motiveless malignity' then I don't think they'll have time to check every quote... don't fret haha!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 194

braiiins

Original post by hvcxxx

For some reason I did the story telling question for Othello but i'm starting to regret it! I guess the initial adrenaline rush didn't let me think the other one through properly. As I wrote I struggled with context/critics so I can only hope :frown:

I started with the other one, but then I switched to the storytelling one, as I just had a block for the other one. I thought it wasn't too bad... Why are you regretting it?

Reply 195

braiiins

Original post by snow leopard

I'd be fascinated to hear from any brave individual who tackled the Othello question regarding 'stories and storytelling'. It's difficult to imagine anyone not picking what will probably be the most accessible OCR Othello question in history.

What's that supposed to mean?? D: You're making me worried now...

Reply 196

juliewho

13

To people worried about quotes, I don't think they expect you to know direct quotes, you just have to paraphrase them to a reasonably accurate degree. We don't have to use the names of critics either to gain those marks, I confess to using the "various critics have stated" "this has also been interpreted as" tactic multiple times during that exam!

Reply 197

LeSacMagique

9

Original post by braiiins

What's that supposed to mean?? D: You're making me worried now...

People have generally got the impression that the storytelling question was hard. (I think they're exaggerating a bit.)

Reply 198

braiiins

Original post by LeSacMagique

People have generally got the impression that the storytelling question was hard. (I think they're exaggerating a bit.)

I found it easier and less restricting... I wrote about Iago's stories of lies and Othello's of truth are what drives the story, then brought in critic quotes about Othello being a self-deceiver, and similarities with Iago, etc etc...

Reply 199

juliewho

13

In my class of sixteen resitters, I was the only person who DIDN'T do the storytelling question, so it can't have looked that difficult! I found the first question relatively simple and it was easy to find four pages worth of content, so overall, I think it was a much better selection than the Jan '12 exam.

I did how Othellos race makes the audience dislike him and how it's manipulated through language, also how perceptions of race at the time could have lead to empathy and pity from the audience and a sense of his actions not being his own fault. The use of Cassio to emphasise how Othello wasn't really all that important in a military role and also argued the opposite to show how the audience might like Othello due to his military importance. I also included how he plays up to his stereotype more and more as the play progresses creating dislike, and also how the inclusion of Iago could have lead us to like Othello more in comparison and forgive him for his actions, then debated what shakespeare intended, before agreeing with their quote and writing a pretty rubbish conclusion.

I'd love to know the general gist of what other people wrote since I have no one at school to compare with :smile:

OCR A2 English Literature exam. F663. Othello, Duchess of Malfi and The Pardoner's t

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