WJEC English lit -Dr Faustus, anyone? Please?

baa123

Someone PLEASE tell me they're doing this on monday? :frown:

There is absolutely no one who is doing this, I feel so lost.. help! :eek:

Reply 1

JosherCR

I am! I can't believe it, haven't revised at all. Best thing to do now is cram loads of quotes and make sure you know the plot details and the contextual and literary influences. :frown:

Reply 2

KathyL

I'm doing it too! I've had nothing but Faustus to revise for the last week. Can't wait till its over cause its my last exam!

Reply 3

space hopper

Yeah I have that too, currently reading through my York Notes :biggrin:

If anyone has anyone good websites ~ do share! xxx Good luck everyone! Hope they pick us a nice extract!!!

Reply 4

baa123

Wow, people actually doing it!
Yeh I had about 5 days to revise for Faustus but I don't really know how to revise for it :s-smilie:

, hmm I'm kind of worried because I know I won't do as well on that.
Anyone think it will be a poem again? I have a feeling it will be a text but theres not a specific pattern, argh!

Reply 5

space hopper

Does anyone know if we have to include critics, like for the poetry?!?
baa123~ I'm hoping for the extract to be a poem because it is less to read in the stress of it all.
I'm glad it is in the afternoon, out of all my exams it is the only afternoon session where I haven't had one in the morning!!
Is this everyone's last exam? It's mine so less than 48 hours to go until freedom! mwahaha

Reply 6

mollten

I'm doing this exam too.

Need it to be an A as well :frown:

Reply 7

JosherCR

Something I put together for Contextual Influences. May be useful. :smile:

Oh yeah, for critics there's some good quotes hidden among the extra stuff in the Longman edition. It's always good to have critics but I don't think they mark you down if you don't include them.

Contextual Influences.doc72.2KB

Reply 8

baa123

JosherCR

Something I put together for Contextual Influences. May be useful. :smile:

Oh yeah, for critics there's some good quotes hidden among the extra stuff in the Longman edition. It's always good to have critics but I don't think they mark you down if you don't include them.

Yeh that was really helpful thank you!
We were never told to learn any critics or to use them for that matter. Usually my teacher would tell us. :smile:

I hope its a poem, theres more to talk about in terms of analysing it but then I hope its a text because I seem to understand it better.. ah well.
Woo yes my last exam! I actually hate the fact its in the afternoon, because I'd rather get it over and done with in the morning.. 2 and a half hours..!

How long would you reccomend spending on analysing the poem/text?

Reply 9

space hopper

Thank you JosherCR, that is brilliant! :smile:

Reply 10

JosherCR

Dim problem. :smile:

I'm less worried about whether it will be poetry or prose but what they'll actually ask. In the past papers there have been two character comparisons to do with degeneration/downfall, one or two on attitudes to God and one on death. It's getting Faustus quotes into this bit that worries me most.
My teacher said spend half the time on the essay question and the other half on the comparison. So you get fifteen minutes to read the text and make notes and an hour to write the answer.

Reply 11

baa123

JosherCR

Dim problem. :smile:

My teacher said spend half the time on the essay question and the other half on the comparison.

But is't the question to compare and contrast? So the for the whole essay you would have to compare back to Faustus.
I read on another thread that you were supposed to start off writing about what you've analysed and then compare your contextual ideas.
My teacher was kind of rubbish and he didn't really tell us how to structure our essays.

Reply 12

JosherCR

There are the A and B questions (choice between the two) which are related only to Faustus and are mostly about contextual influences, and then there is the c) question which is an extract from another work with a comparison question.
For example, in the 2005 paper part a) asks if it is a tragedy or a morality play, part c) is an Emily Dickinson poem with a comparison question about attitudes to death.

Reply 13

lentilsandsoup

I'm mega worried about this exam fair play :smile:

JosherCR - thank you SO much for that document, it really helped. I found there was a lot that I was familiar with, and yet because I've had it from so many different sources (largely the Internet, ha!) it's all been a bit muddled up :frown:

. There's only so much you can gain from Wikipedia!

I was wondering, does anyone have any examples of previous questions for the first part of the paper? I've had last year's, (but from reading JosherCR's post above, it probably wasn't last year's after all) with one which asked to discuss whether Dr. Faustus was a tragedy or a morality play and another which spoke about the audience's reactions... I can't recall the exact wording.

Other than that, I've seen no other examples at all, which is really getting to me. I'm feeling very badly prepared for this exam, and though I don't need to get an A, I will be thoroughly disappointed if I don't.

Reply 14

baa123

I've got a few, fortunatley my teacher did give us these questions..
2003
a) Explore Marlowe's presentation of master-servant relationships in Dr Faustus.
b)To what extent is comedy an effective element in Dr Faustus? In your answer you should consider the tastes and expectations of Marlowe's contempory audience.
2004
a)Do you agree that it is impossible to appreciate Dr Faustus without a thorough knowledge of the religious beliefs that underpin it?
b)How successfully does Marlowe's presentation of Faustus reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the Elizabethan age?
2005
a)"To an Elizabethan audience, we can be sure that Faustus' rebellion would have been exhilarating and terrifying in almost equal measure"
Explore this statement, drawing upon your understanding of the relevant literary, cultural and religious values of Marlowe's day.
b)Tragedy or morality play? Through a close consideration of the relevant literary, cultural and religious contexts of Marlowe's day, examine the case for placing Doctor Faustus in one or other of these categories.
2006
a)How far do you feel that Marlowe, in his presentation of Dr Faustus, has captured the spirit and ideals of the Renaissance?
b)Investigate Marlowe's exploration of power and control in this play in the context of Elizabethan beliefs and values.

OK.. that should do it..

Reply 15

JosherCR

Summed up they're mostly about similar things. There's only so much they can ask and if you're certain you know enough about all that contextual blah you should be fine. If they pull a really random horrible one out of the bag there's always the second option to fall back on.

Reply 16

KathyL

Really not looking forward to this tomorrow. My teachers reckon the comparison question is gonna be prose so I hope they're right! If it is poetry I hope its not too hard! My last exam tho which is something to be happy about! I think I've done all I can but anyone got any last minute tips?

Good luck tomorrow everyone.

Reply 17

lentilsandsoup

Woooah - the master-servant thing is something I only know from the notes that I got from here. Hurrah - it appears that we were only given two of these questions in a mock. This is quite irritating to be fair :P I'm gutted that the Renaissance ideals one came up last year, I would have loved to do that one.

Reply 18

TheAlchemistress

Original post by JosherCR

Something I put together for Contextual Influences. May be useful. :smile:

Oh yeah, for critics there's some good quotes hidden among the extra stuff in the Longman edition. It's always good to have critics but I don't think they mark you down if you don't include them.