AQA A-level English Literature B new 7717/1B & 7717/2B - 15 & 22 Jun 2017

READ THIS FIRST: These questions are all generic to tragedy. Adaptations to each text will be necessary. All questions end with: "To what extent do you agree?" The questions in Section A here (Q1-11), are tailored to the A Level Aspects of Tragedy paper section C. The term tragedy, will usually have to be replaced with 'the tragedy of *enter text here*'. The questions in Section B (Q12-16) are specifically for Tess.
SECTION A:
1.) "As tragic endings are always inevitable, the genre has become predictable and formulaic."
2.) "The desire to be happy is the ultimate cause of tragic circumstance"
3.) "The tragic protagonist is always the victim of their own conscience, rather than of a suppressive society."
4.) "The tragic protagonist is responsible for their own downfall."
5.) "In tragedy, the destruction of the hero, is necessary, and is upholding of the essential rights and institutions of ethical life."
6.) "The incentive moment in tragedy must be primarily a violation of moral law, whether human or divine."
7.) "Tragedy reaches its greatest depth: when the opposition between the particular, and universal, makes itself felt."
8.) "A tragic character, is one estranged from his complete self, who feels the pangs of isolation and the insufficiency of a divided nature."
9.) "Tragedy, is the consequence of a man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly."
10.) "In the tragic view, the need of man to wholly realise himself, is the only 'fixed star', and whatever it is that hedges his nature and lowers it, is ripe for attack and examination."
11.) The tragic hero is always presented as the victim of circumstance."
SECTION B
12.) "Tess's future is determined by her history"
13.) "The tragedy of Tess depicts the destruction of the English peasantry through elaborate description of setting."
14.) "Tess's tragedy is fundamentally caused by 'the cruelty of lust and the fragility of love'"
15.) "Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a 'modern tragedy of people uprooted, in perpetual motion, searching for a home'."
16.) "Whatever the character of Alec d'Urberville does, Hardy never succeeds in presenting him as anything but a stage villain."

Hey, I didn't really revise for English in Gcse but kinda struggling on how to revise for AS (apart from learning quotes!) I'm doing Othello, Death of a salesman, Great Gatsby and Thomas Hardy poetry.
Has anyone been given/have any revision tips?

Hey, I didn't really revise for English in Gcse but kinda struggling on how to revise for AS (apart from learning quotes!) I'm doing Othello, Death of a salesman, Great Gatsby and Thomas Hardy poetry.
Has anyone been given/have any revision tips?

thank you, this is really helpful

I've also found AQA past paper questions on Death of a Salesman (attached). They are from the old specification and haven't got much to with tragedy, but these are the types of things they might ask about in relation to tragedy, like "How important are dreams?" which means you can formulate some questions in you exam's style from these.

I have some notes and my teacher suggested Keatsian.co.uk which has helped me a lot it goes into symbols and themes and gives you some points for AO5

If anyone has any resources on Keats' poetry, please share and message me. THANK YOUUU

heya, I'm doing the same but the great gatsby rather than tess of the d'urbervilles which is ashamed because it is such a brilliant book !! what do you think about Hardys poetry the ballads are just heartbreaking.

Heyy I'm doing exactly the same as you this year!! But I can't find any potential questions except one.. Have you been able to find any?? Also would you mind clarifying what AO4 is?? I'm so stuck

AO4 is exploring connections across texts, so for example talking about features of tragedy in a poem/novel/play would do this as you are linking it to other texts in the genre.

Ahh thank you so much!! So would you quote the name of the novel??

How did Fridays exam go?? I personally thought the othello extract was alright but Death of a salesman was a push for time !!