CLARIFICATION OF THE LANGUAGES A: LITERATURE PAPER 2 MARKING NOTES
MAY 2013 ONWARDS
The marking of Language A: Literature examination papers is based primarily on the assessment criteria that are applicable to all languages offered in the course. In addition, marking notes are written for subjects with large examining teams. Their purpose is to assist examiners in the application of the assessment criteria in relation to a specific task or question.
The paper 2 marking notes for the English, French and Spanish A: Literature specimen papers were produced as one document, addressing both standard and higher level.
However, criterion B at higher level is different at the 4 and 5 mark range, with the additional demand for “evaluation”. In addition to making a comparison between at least two works, higher level candidates are required to show which of the writers, in their view, and based on evidence from the works, has made the most effective use of the convention(s) identified in the question. Arriving at this judgment (evaluation), candidates will demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the works and a critical appreciation of the way a particular literary convention can give further resonance to a text. Such evaluation is not required at standard level, where candidates must make “an effective comparison”.
To address this difference, from the May 2013 examination session, senior examiners will produce two separate sets of marking notes at standard and higher level, the wording of which will be the same, except for the additional mention of the evaluation requirement for higher level. This separation of marking notes will enable higher level examiners to reward appropriately the evidence of evaluation in response to the question.
HOME WORK BASED ON PAPER 2: Write at least 2 answers in the blog itself.
Points to remember:
- Remember to devote 2 hours completely for each one.
- Each answer will extend to atleast 900 words.
- In paper 2, you devote the only first 15 minutes for deciding and making mind map....rest must be spent in furious writing :)
- Though the questions will talk about " two or three plays" please confine yourself to TWO as your points will get diluted otherwise.
- Some of these options will be very vague or may not apply to your Drama options---I am expecting you to make very PERCEPTIVE and INTELLIGENT choices here!
Choose any two ( This will be part of internal evaluation in MOCKS):
DUE DATE 06 JANUARY, 2013
1.Comparing the opening scenes of at least two plays, discuss what audience expectations are aroused and how.
2..“Drama explains individuals, not relationships.” Paying close attention to how individuals and relationships are presented in two or three plays you have studied, say how far you find this statement to be true.
3.In what ways and to what effect have your writers focused on either the darker or lighter side of life in two or three works you have studied?
4.There are many ways of achieving a memorable ending to a work of literature. In two or three of the works you have studied, how have your chosen authors made endings memorable?
5.“A literary work is not a mere play of the imagination, but a reflection of contemporary manners and customs.” Discuss the validity of this statement in relation to two or three works you have studied.
3.“There is no literature without conflict.”
How and to what effect is conflict used in two or three works you have studied?
COPY DOWN THE QUESTION AND WRITE THE ANSWER AS A PART OF COMMENT FOLLOWING THIS POST.
GREAT HELP: http://mrhoyesibwebsite.com/
from Rashmika:
1.Comparing the opening scenes of
at least two plays, discuss what audience expectations are aroused and how.
Opening scenes are one of the
most important parts in drama. They often give us an insight about the events
that will unfold in the future. The two plays, which I will compare, are both
from the same genre, tragedy: Macbeth and Agamemnon. In both the plays, the
opening scenes give us an introduction about the main characters of the play.
Firstly, The opening scene of Macbeth and the two scenes in which Macbeth
meets with the witches are of great importance to the play. Shakespeare’s genius can
be identified in the way he writes his beginning scenes. This can be largely
seen in act 1 scene 1 of Macbeth, which is also known, as the scene of
exposition. The desert, the storm, the appearance of the witches all helps us
prepare for a drama in which a human soul succumbs to the supernatural
suggestions of the evil. This scene takes place at an open heath where the
three witches are talking to each other. The witches immediately transport us
to the presence of evil with their queer rhyming couplets and incantations. The
sense of negativity instantly elicits an air of forbiddance on Macbeth’s
character and the theme of disaster is promptly set. The witches are heard
talking about battles, that are being fought and their victory. Shakespeare
uses these three “weird sisters” to provide authenticity for the plays original
audience and also stay faithful to the contemporary Elizabethan beliefs.
Secondly in the play
Agamemnon, the play takes place in a place Argos. The action begins by the
capture of troy by the Greeks. But we get to know this, in the opening scene.
The opening scene in the play Agamemnon is also knows as the watchmen scene.
The watchmen on the roof of the Agamemnon palace sees a signal fire in a very
far distance that tells him that Troy has been captured. The importance of this opening scene is that
it reminds us that we are not with Agamemnon, but still reminding us about
Agamemnon who is the protagonist of the play. At the opening scene the play is
set back on the home front, where things have taken a very different turn
during his ten year absence, mainly because Clytemnestra is in control and on
his return Agamemnon will have to confront these changes.
As we can see in both the
plays the opening scenes have given us quite a lot of information about what is
the current situation and what is going to happen. Also something, which one
can notice while reading both, the opening scenes are that both are set in a
destructive setting and are finally something related to victory.
The audiences reaction to
these opening scenes in some or the other way relate to their opinion on the
play as a whole. Another reason it upholds the anxiety of the audiences is
because in both the plays the opening scenes arise a sense of mystery and
tragedy. The opening scenes usually give the audiences small details of the
further happenings that will lead to the obvious anxiousness of them wanting to
watch the complete play.
For example in the opening
scene of Macbeth the witches chant a verse “ fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air”. The couplet with which the witches take their
departure is a confession of their creed. All that is good, "fair,"
to others is evil, "foul," to them, and vice versa. This applies to
both the physical and the moral world; they revel in the "fog and filthy
air," and in every sort of mischief and evil doing from killing swine to
entrapping human souls. Similarly in
Agamemnon the victory of Troy in the beginning of the play that creates a
positive filled environment and thus encourages the audiences to watch furthers
and also make assumptions about the play. Another incident is when the three
witches are talking in the opening scene the audiences will quickly relate to
the bad omen and also the use of words like paddock calling. By this at that
point of time the audiences are sure of the negativity which is filled in the
environment and also foreshadow the bad that is going to happen further.
In
both the plays the sense of anxiousness is obvious and it will thus keep the
audience to watch sit and watch the play so thus arouses their senses.
The
audience usually expects a very good beginning because it will give them a
clear view of the whole play. If the beginning interests them, they will
automatically be keen on watching the whole play. Both the plays have a
extraordinary, in which all kinds of elements are present and which can make a
play successful.
Therefore
I would like to conclude by saying that it may be that the primary
influence upon the conception and creation of a play is that of the audience.
An audience allows a play to have only the emotion and meaning it chooses, or
else it defends itself either by protest or by a closed mind.
So the better the beginning the better the response of the play.
