Quick questions on The Shakespeare extract question: the Section A two-part response - Eduqas A-Level English Literature

Part (i) prints an extract and asks you to analyse how Shakespeare shapes meaning through dramatic method, usually with a light thematic steer (power, conflict, deception). Register the dramatic situation first (who is present, who knows what), find the shape of the extract, then work through it selecting the moments that carry the steer. Name the method, quote briefly, and read the effect on the audience. Stay inside the extract: ranging across the play here wastes the marks.

Part (ii) shifts to the whole play, normally framing a stated view ("the play offers no clear judgement on its hero"). AO1 now leads (a coherent, developed argument), AO5 is prominent (different interpretations), and AO2 supports. Treat the view as contestable: frame a thesis that engages it, range across the play testing it, bring a credible alternative reading or performance interpretation to bear, and reach a judgement.

"Shakespeare stages power as something performed and withheld. The dominant figure commands the verse, his lines unbroken and end-stopped, while the subordinate is reduced to short interjections and finally to silence, so the rhythm of the exchange enacts the hierarchy the scene is about. The weaker character, left on stage without a line, makes silence itself the clearest sign of powerlessness."

Responding to "the play offers no clear judgement on its hero", a strong answer concedes the play's refusal of easy verdicts, then resists the view: through soliloquy and the patterning of sympathy, Shakespeare guides the audience's judgement even as he complicates it, so the play withholds a simple verdict while clearly steering response. This engages the view, ranges across the play, and reaches a judgement.

What are the two parts of Section A, and which objectives lead each? [2 marks]

What does "in the light of this view" require in part (ii)? [2 marks]

"Deception drives the play." In the light of this view, explore Shakespeare's presentation of deception across your set play. [part ii; marked out of 30]