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AQA AS english lit help

so basically for the as coursework (unit 2: dramatic genre) i have to write 2 different pieces each consisting of 1200-1500 words but i have to make up the question myself?!

i'm studying two plays for this unit: much ado about nothing by shakespeare and lady windermere's fan by oscar wilde.

they've given me some example questions but if anyone knows what i'm on about could you help me with the questions please

Reply 1

l'insegnante

I did this unit last year for my AS.
I found it easier to take up the option of doing one creative piece then the other a 'normal' question.
For my creative piece, I created a news paper article posing the issue of whether 'The School for Scandal' was still relevant for a modern audience.
Like you I also used Much Ado About Nothing for my second piece. My question was something along the lines of 'How far would you agree that Much Ado About Nothing offers the blue print for the comedy of manners?' thats not the exact question but it was like that. I chose it because there was a lot of information on it, which made my task easier. I included some literary critics opinions on it too which my teacher loved. When choosing your question try to pick a theme or something about the play you know a lot about and are confident writing about. A lot of people in my class last year made the mistake of picking questions that 'sounded good' but they didn't have a clue about so they ended up doing badly.

Ii would highly advise you to do one as a creative piece, as it will stand out to moderators as not many people chose the option. My teacher informed me that the moderator loved my creative piece because it stood out from the rest.

Reply 2

Pandora.

Original post by tarnishedflower

Look up some reviews/critical analysis of each text, and try and find a quote/statement that you think you can argue for/against. Then set your question out like "STATEMENT." How far / To what extent do you agree with this statement?

If you need help finding critical quotes I can help you find some. Alternatively, you can just make a statement up yourself. It might be something like: "Much Ado About Nothing breaks the tradition of the passive female" or "Much Ado About Nothing is not a romance, but a critique of gender roles in society". I don't know what themes/characters you want to look at, so these are just examples. I haven't read Lady Windermere's Fan but I can help you as best as I can with that too.

:smile: