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

Yoooo, Im doin english at uni, got an A* last year and the only revision i did was write a song with some critical quotes in it to help memorize!
No need to stress, if you know your quotes you can argue any point!..
We recorded it so check it out, it might help.. wouldve posted sooner but forgot all about it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksvbd6JVBBU

I'm doing Othello, Duchess of Malfi and Paradise Lost.

Paradise Lost is the most ridiculous and stupid poem that I have ever read. How is anyone who is revising Paradise Lost learning quotes if the majority of the poem consists of only a few major things that actually happen?

Plus how is everyone managing to learn so many quotes and what type of quotes are you learning?

I need a B however I could get an A if I got more than 105/120 in the paper, which with 2 exams next week will be unlikely.

Good luck to all.

I think you should reference the conventions of a tragedy, especially Shakespearian tragedies, then link it to Othello's fatal flaw

Maybe a question on Iago and Cassio?

The first and last lines/sentences of each poem are always good, and I've just gone through each poem and found a quotation that sums up the main ideas/themes in the poem, as well as the themes you're studying - are you doing Malfi too? Which poems are you doing? I can send you some of my quotations if we're doing the same poems.

On both together? How would they ask that?

What's his fatal flaw? his jealousy?

I'm not sure but after re-reading the book today, Iago's ability to manipulate both Cassio and Othello is very intriguing, and I think a question could definitely be asked it.

Hi... probably no one will reply but i was looking at the past papers of january 2010.. and I saw the question: about dramatic effects and how they showed an agonising sense of inevitability.

Does anyone have any idea how you would approach this question? I tried to look up some model answers but there was one which pretty bland.

. Thanks for your time... and good luck to everyone for wednesday.

I was planning that one today. There're a lot of ways you can do it--you can talk about how, actually, there is a certain improvisatory quality to everything Iago does that means that a lot of what happens isn't actually inevitable and is just down to Iago's own cunning. Or you can suggest that the characters have certain qualities that mean that what happens is inevitable and that Iago is just a sort of catalyst, using his excellent knowledge of others' character to put them into situations that lead to their downfall. You can talk also about race and stereotypes--maybe you think (or maybe a contemporary audience would think) that a marriage between a Moor and Venetian aristcracy would inevitably end in disaster. Maybe it's inevitable for a Moor's base instincts to break through his veneer of Christian respectability. You can maybe wangle in a point about Calvinism and religion--Calvinists thought that everybody's fate was decreed from birth by God, so it was inevitable that you would go to hell or heaven and there was nothing anyone could do to change it. Maybe link that in with Othello's religious language and tendency to self-dramatise but I think that's a bit dodgy.

Oh wow that's really good.. I never thought of that stuff before.. .

Hmm interesting points.. I was going to include some points about stereotypes of women but I'm not sure if that's really the case. I said that Desdemona is a symbol of stereotypical woman who at the time people percieved to be inferior (got some sheet about how women were percieved in the renaissance era) Therefore it is inevitable that she does die or befalls some pain.. her character portrays that of inferior women and her acceptance of othello's killing shows possible power but also innocence and obligation.. her love for a cruel man.. makes a good target for iago and othello to kill off.. -- but i dunno as bianca still survives.. despite her status.

but about the heaven and hell thing.. yeah I did see Desdemona defiantly stating she was to go to heaven.. thanks for your help!

Could someone please tell me and Malfi and the -Pardoner's Tale link ?!

What's his fatal flaw? his jealousy?