AQA Literature Spec A - WHITE DEVIL

Okay, so these thread have seemed to help everyone with their WW1 exam and now they have begun for the Wednesday exam.

This particular one is for the White Devil by John Webster.
Add notes, ask questions and add quotations!!

Here are the previous questions in LTA4 for the White Devil. I think, as it hasn't been on the syllabus for long we can pretty much rule out these characters and themes coming up again in our exam.

January 2008
The White Devil John Webster

9. Francisco is a fully developed character in the play. Presented as a strongly motivated, he is central to its events and ideas

Francisco is presented as a small time murderer whom Webster uses for minor details in the plot

How can each of the criticisms be supported by the text?
What do you think is the importance of Francisco in the play?

10 In The White Devil, Webster is interested int he heroism of his female characters

The women in the play are presented unsympathetically as lustful, murderous and distant

What truth is there in each of these opinions?
How do you think Webster presents female characters in the play?

June 2007
The White Devil John Webster

9 Brachiano is the hero of The White Devil. The play is clearly his tragedy.

Webster presents Brachiano as a corrupt and powerful villain.

How can each of these views be justified by the text?
How do you think Webster presents Brachiano in the play?

OR

10 By the end of the play, the audience feels that, despite the number of deaths, justice has been done.

The ending of the play is unsatisfying; the violence and murder carried out in the play seem cruel and unjust.

What evidence is there in the text to support both these views of the play?
How do you see justice in this play?

Jan 2007
The White Devil John Webster

9 By the end of the play, Flamineo appears to be cast in the role of tragic hero.

Flamineo seems suited to a role of cynical and comic manipulator.

How can each of these opinions be supported from the text?
What do you think is Flamineo’s role in the play?

OR

10 The White Devil has all the ingredients of a revenge tragedy, pitting justified revengers against their villainous enemies

The White Devil is a medieval tragedy, concerned only with a fall from greatness caused by fate.

What evidence is there in the text to support both these views of the play?
How do you see the tragedy of this play?

How many quotations are people learning for this exam for TWD?
And are you learning them by character or theme?

REVISE AWAY

x

Reply 1

KatieUni08

I've just found this which is helpful relating t the AO's and what the examiners are looking for

Success in Unit 4 (LTA4)
Outline of a talk by Tom Rank at an A Level Revision Day

The assessment objectives differ for Section A – drama – and Section B – poetry. The outline which
follows shows the different emphasis. Assessment objectives 1, 2 and 3 apply to both sections of the
paper, though the emphasis in AO2 and AO3 will differ slightly because of the different nature of the
texts.

The common Assessment Objectives for Sections A and B:

AO1 Clear communication
Coherence - the importance of planning
Connectives - signposts
Consider the reader
Clear handwriting!
AO2 Knowledge and understanding
What does knowing the text mean?
The story?
The characters?
The ‘themes’?
The ‘meaning’?
Learning quotations?
Actually it means all of these – begin, though, by reading the text thoroughly again before you revise
the approaches you have studied in class.

AO2 – providing evidence of your knowledge and understanding
Examiners will use this rule of thumb when assessing an answer:
Band 1 - little evidence, assertion (this will not be an A Level pass)
Band 2 - general reference
Band 3 - competent knowledge
Band 4 - detailed knowledge (this is what you need for an A grade)
Textual knowledge must, of course, be relevant to the question.

AO3 Form, structure & language
· Important to explore this aspect to reach Band 3 or Band 4
· Show awareness of dramatic aspects (for Section A) or poetic aspects (for Section B)
· Refer to audience, author, effects on stage (for Section A) and/or verse, imagery etc (for Section
B – and verse, etc, may also be relevant to Section A)
· Look at language, verse etc.
It’s not feature-spotting!

LTA4 Section A – Drama

Assessment Objectives for LTA4 Section A
AO4 Independent opinions 45%
AO1 Clear communication 20%
AO2ii Knowledge & understanding 15%
AO3 Form, structure & language 20%
AO4 Independent opinions
· Be used to debating key issues in your play
· Support you own opinions by close reference to the play
· Learn key short quotations
· Be familiar with common critical terms such as:
stereotype
melodramatic
soliloquy
revenge tragedy
· Also be aware of other terms that could be used in discussion of the play you are studying, such
as “degenerate”, “gratuitous”, “coherent”, “barbaric” and so on.
· Critical opinions will be supplied in the questions - you do not need to learn a list of opinions
· You must be able to think on your seat - so practise planning
· The text comes first!

How to answer Section A
· Write cogently - make each sentence develop your argument
· Always keep the question in mind
· Use frequent brief quotations and/or accurate references to the play
· Interrogate the text - why this word/incident?
· Consider each part of the question fully
Do not …
· Tell the story
· Make general unsupported assertions
· Ignore the text or insert long extracts
· Spend too much time on one aspect of the question
· Learn and recite quotations from critics
· Off-load irrelevant background material, summaries of critical opinions, etc.
· Write on a different question

Summary

Examiners’ pet hates
These may seem trivial to you – but they are also easy to avoid, so why not remember them and make
your marker a little bit happier? If your writing is hard to read, work at it – ask for help (don’t be
proud: it’s too important), make it larger, use alternate lines, use a better pen – anything to avoid your
carefully chosen words being wasted because nobody can read them!
· Not putting the question number on the cover (or even beside the answer)
· Bad handwriting – it really matters if the examiner can’t make sense of your work!
· Careless expression, slang
· ‘Negative/positive’ and other simplifications
· Treating literature as soap opera (for example, this comment on Othello: ‘Bianca shouted at
Cassio for him not ringing her.&#8217 :wink:

It’s as easy as A B C!
Answer the question
Base it on the text
Clear, coherent and cogent in your writing

Reply 2

helz_belz

Hey, I'm learning quotes by characters. Thanks for the above help :smile:

Here are some ideas of quotes so far (I haven't yet learnt all of these off by heart though ... :wink:

):

Lodovico - 'banished? ... ha' (start of play)
'Fortune's a right whore'
'Here's my rest - / I limbed this night-piece and it was my best' (end of play)

Brachiano - 'fie, fie, the woman's mad' (about Cornelia)
'excellent, then she's dead' (about Isabella)
'Remove the boy away' (to his guards for his son, on his pain/death)
'Do not kiss me, for I shall posion thee'
'How miserable a thing it is to die, / 'Mongst women howling'

Cornelia - 'misery of miseries'
'O my horror', 'Help - O he's murdered', 'O you abuse me, you abuse me, you abuse me' (On her son Marcello's death)
'The God of heaven forgive thee'.

Isabella - 'I'll never lie with you, by this / This wedding-ring' (to Brach)

Vittoria - 'so entangled in a cursed accusation'
'[Wailing] I am lost forever' (on Brach's pain)
'O me! This place is hell' (on Brach's death)
'My servant / shall never go before me' (on their deaths)
'Yes, I shall welcome death'
'O happy they that never saw the court / Nor ever knew great men but by report ... Dies'

English Ambassador - 'she hath a brave spirit' (to Vittoria at her arraingment)

Monticelso - 'my black book ... The names of many devils'
'Shall I expound whore to you? ... They are the true material fire of hell'
'You know what whore is; next the devil, Adult'ry, / Enters the devil, Murder'
'Fie, she's mad' (to Vit)

Francisco - 'Like the wild Irish I'll ne'er think thee dead / Till I can play at football with thy head' (plots revenge ...)
'This shall his passage to the black lake further, / The last good deed he did, he pardoned murder'.

Flamineo - 'But this allows my varying of shapes, / 'Knaves do grow great by being great men's apes'
'O the rare tricks of a Machiavellian!'
'He tickles you to death'
'I have this strange thing in me, to th'which / I cannot give a name' (guilt)
'If he could not be safe in his own court / Being a great Duke, what hope then for us?'
'O cunning devils! Now I have tried your love / And doubled all your reaches.
Riseth' (on tricking Vit and Zanche that they have killed him, when the pistols were blanks).
'Th'art a noble sister - / I love thee now' (to Vit)
'Let no harsh flattering bells resound my knell, / Strike thunder and strike loud to my farewell ... Dies'

Zanche - 'I would reveal a secret' (to Francisco on how Camillo and Isabella died)

Giovanni - 'Away with them to prison and to torture'
'Let guilty men remember their black deeds / Do lean on crutches, made of slender reeds' (to end the whole play)

Hope this helps anyone a bit stuck - sorry if they are a bit random and all over the place :smile:

Reply 3

LouiseH89

What are the key themes in this play would you say? I really dislike the White Devil, so boring! Would much rather have done shakespeare!

Reply 4

KatieUni08

Violence
Death
Revenge
Family
Madness
Good VS. Evil
Manipulation
Power
Corruption
The Devil

:smile:

Reply 5

hcooper65037

u are all amazing!!!!!
thank u sooo much.
i wish u all the best of luck
xx

Reply 6

helz_belz

I have put together a Word doc which contains information from various sources on the Jacobean period as a whole, in literature, revenge tragedy, a short biography on Webster and a few other stuff. Hope this can prove helpful to those looking for context for our exam. :smile:

Jacobean info.doc49.7KB

Reply 7

LouiseH89

I'm really finding it hard to get quotes for the key themes - the text just gives me a headache!! Are there any key scenes i can look at for certain themes?

Reply 8

helz_belz

Hi all.

I'd say key scenes are:
The first scene (A1S1), A1S2 (the affair), A2S2 (the dumb shows), A3S2 (the arraignment of Vittoria), A4S1 (the black book), A4S2 (Vittoria weeps), A5S2 (Marcello's death and poisoning of Brachiano), A5S3 (Brach's murder), A5S6 (final scene) - I've almost pointed out all of them lol :smile:

I'll use KatieUni08's themes (thanks!) [except madness, as I don't know any quotes for this ...] to come up with some quotes like I did above for character and I've also thought of 'love', 'misogyny' and 'fate' as themes:

Violence
- Antonelli: 'The violent thunder is adored by those/Are pashed in pieces'
- Lodovico: 'They were flea-bitings', 'I'll make Italian cut-works in their guts'
- Francisco: 'Like mistletoe on sere elms spent by weather/Let him cleave to her and both rot together'
- The dumb-shows
- Flamineo: 'I have brought your weapon back, Flamineo runs Marcello through'.
- Lodovico sprinkles Brachiano's beaver with a poison
- Brachiano is strangled
- They strike (leading to the deaths of Vittoria and Flamineo 'Dies').

Death
- The Dumb-shows
- The deaths above, with their epigrams:
Especially Brachiano (his last words are 'Vittoria! Vittoria!'), Vittoria ('O happy they that never saw the court,/Nor ever knew great man but by report'), Flamineo ('Let no harsh flattering bells resound my knell,/Strike thunder and strike loud to my farewell'), Lodovico ('Here's my rest -/I limbed this night-piece and it was my best').

Revenge
- Lodovico: 'Sir I did love Brachiano's Duchess dearly ... I have sworn/T'avenge her murder'.
- Francisco: 'He that unjustly caused it first proceed/Shall find it in his grave and in his seed', 'Like the wild Irish I'll ne'er think thee dead/Till I can play at football with thy head').

Family
- Vittoria: '[Wailing] I am lost forever'
- Brachiano: 'I'll never lie with thee, by this,/This wedding ring', 'remove the boy away', 'do not kiss me, fo I shall poison thee', 'you shall to me at once/Be Dukedom, health, wife, children, friends and all'.
- Giovanni: 'My sweet mother', 'O my most loved father'.
- Francisco: (Giovanni asks 'what do the dead do?) 'No coz; they sleep'.
- Marcello: 'O my unfortunate sister!'
- Cornelia: 'You never look thus pale,/But when you are angry', 'my son the pander', 'help - O he's murdered', 'O that I ne'er had borne thee'.
- Isabella: 'I'll never lie with thee, by this,/This wedding ring', 'your wretched wife and hopeful son'.
- Flamineo: 'Th'art a noble sister/I love thee now', 'I have brought your weapon back, Flamineo runs Marcello through'.

Good VS. Evil
Good
- Giovanni: 'Study your prayers, sir', 'Let guilty men remember their black deeds/Do lean on crutches, made of slender reeds'.
- Cornelia: 'The God of heaven forgive thee', 'What? Because we are poor,/Shall we be vicious?'
Evil
- Quotes for Lodovico, Flamineo, Monticelso. Note Vittoria says to Flamineo: 'You are a villain'.
- Flamineo: 'Shall with Vittoria's bounty turn to good,/Or I will drown this weapon in blood'.

Manipulation
- Flamineo's "double-dealing": 'Thou shalt go to bed to my lord' (to both Brach and Camillo), '[facing him] What me, my lord, am I your dog?' (to Brach), '(Riseth) I am not wounded', 'I will make you friends and you shall go to bed together' (to Cam)
- Vittoria: '[Aside] How shall's rid him hence?' (to Flam)
- Brachiano: 'You have lost too much already' (to Fran)
- Monticelso: 'My black book ... The names of many devils ... I'll fetch it to your lordship'.

Power
- When Flamineo 'Riseth' from tricking Vittoria and Zanche.
- Brachiano's death, 'This is Count Lodovico ... This Gasparo'.
- Francisco's disguised plot
- Monticelso as Pope and his use of the Black Book
- Doctor Julio during the dumb-shows

Corruption
- Monticelso as Pope and his use of the Black Book.
- Vittoria's Arraignment when she was innocent of killing Camillo.
- Flamineo: 'The first bloodshed in the world happened about religion'.

The Devil
- Vittoria: 'O me! this place is hell'
- Monticelso: 'You know what whore is; next to the devil, Adult'ry/Enters the devil, Murder', 'My black book ... The names of many devils', 'Shall I expound whore to you? ... They are the true material fire of hell'.
- Marcello: 'Why doth this devil haunt you?'
- Argument of who is the White Devil - Vittoria. Can also be argued for Brachiano and Flamineo for suggestions and ideas in our essay.

Love
- Vittoria: 'O my loved lord', '[Wailing] I am lost forever'.
- Brachiano: 'Remove the boy away', 'Do not kiss me, for I shall poison thee', '[Brachiano embraces Vittoria]', 'Vittoria?/My dearest happiness? Vittoria? What do you ail my love?'.
- Giovanni: 'My sweet mother', 'O my most loved father'.

Misogyny
- Flamineo: 'Women are like cursed dogs'.
- Marcello: '[Kicks Zanche] I had rather she were pitched upon a stake' (although this is mainly due to Racism).

Fate
- Lodovico: 'Fortune's a right whore'.
- Flamineo: 'Fate's a spaniel'.

I hope this helps a bit - best of luck to all of us taking the exam tomorrow!
:frown:

Reply 9

helz_belz

Best of luck to all of us sitting the exam today! :smile:

Reply 10

KatieUni08

Anyone else think those questions were aweful?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
x

Reply 11

Rudrax

I hated both questions! I'd hardly looked at how he constructed the play/characters! Why couldn't they ask about themes or discuss a specific charac? :mad:

Reply 12

KatieUni08

They were harsh. ALL of other papers had a character Q and then one like the 2 today so I focused on characters for revision. Stupid paper. Apparently Hamlet was harsh too, maybe they just had a stinky year on the plays?

Which Q did you do? I did 9, the one about social inequality vs. corruption.

x

Reply 13

Rudrax

Yeah same. Although I spent slightly too long on my Lyrical Ballads question so I had to quickly rush out an answer for TWD. I could have answered that question if it wasn't phrased so stupidly and if they actually gave you enough time to write a decent answer. 50 mins for planning, writing and conclusion = ****ty answer

Reply 14

Kristenellen

Where was the character question?!!?!?! :frown:

Reply 15

sheepstick

Themeing the quotes is much easier to remember or if you chose to do it by character- which ever suits you personally. My advice would be to remember that you have to cover all of the criteria to meet the desired grade so for example, I am with OCR and to achieve a high grade I have to have an equal range of comparison, historical context, language analysis, and critical comments. Thus, a way to revise would be to practise planning the questions using a grid and selecting quotes which you can easily remember. Try to remember short quotes as they will be easier to remember. Also -as sad as it sounds- try to use some in daily conversation, this really helps to sink in to your head as you become more familiar to the quotes and using them in whatever context you feel necessary. :smile:

hope this helped