Model Questions and Answers PDF

ENGLISH WORKBOOK 3–7 ANSWERS
Shakespeare practice tasks:

Shakespeare’s language
Pages 82–83
1
The Tempest: 1B, 2C, 3A
Richard III: 1C, 2B, 3A
Much Ado About Nothing: 1B, 2C, 3A
2
Quotation Technique Effect

The Tempest
‘the wild waters’ Alliteration of ‘w’ Reflects the movement
of the water
‘The King’s son, Ferdinand Simile comparing Makes him seem like
With hair up-staring – then like reeds, not hair – his hair to reeds part of the sea - his
Was the first man that leaped’ hair is already seaweed
and he is drowning
‘The rarer action is Alliteration of 'v' Links these two ideas to
In virtue than in vengeance.’ make them stand out
strongly and so we can
Richard III see they are related
‘I pray you all, tell me what they deserve Alliteration of 'd' Links these words and
That do conspire my death with devilish plots gives them a strong,
Of damned witchcraft’ hard feeling
‘Tut, tut, thou art all ice’ Metaphor - saying Makes us think this
he is ice person is unfeeling
Much Ado About Nothing and cold
‘doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion’ Alliteration of 'f' Links these ideas so we
compare them
‘being worthy to be whipped’ Alliteration of 'w' Links these ideas and
makes them sound
harsh - the words have
to be spat out.
1
Shakespeare practice tasks: The Tempest
Pages 84–85
What impression do you get of Caliban in these scenes?
LEVEL 4 (mid)
Caliban just wants to get his island back from Prospero in these scenes and is happy to be a
‘foot-licker’ if that’s what it takes. He tells Stephano he is valiant and calls him lord in order to
get Stephano to attack Prospero for him. He knows the island really well and believes it belongs
to him: ‘A sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island’.
I think Caliban is prepared to do whatever it takes to get the island back and doesn’t mind being
a slave to Stephano but the way he acts makes me laugh at him because he acts a bit over the
top, licking shoes and all that.
He can’t be as stupid as I thought at first, because he knows Prospero’s books are important:
‘First to possess his books’. He also knows the island really well and knows where to find fresh
water and that there are often strange noises. I felt a bit sorry for him when he said he cried
when he woke up from his nice dreams because it was his island at first and now he is just a
slave for Prospero and Ariel is horrid to him. ‘When I waked, I cried to dream again.’
When the plan starts to go wrong Caliban keeps trying to make it work, promising to be ‘For aye
thy foot-licker’. He is actually more intelligent than Stephano and Trinculo as he knows the
clothes are a trap: ‘It is but trash’. But he can’t get them to listen.
At the end I feel quite sorry for him as it wasn’t his fault the plan went wrong.
This is level 4 because:
• It shows a good general understanding of Caliban and his situation.
• It covers both scenes and focuses on the question.
• It is too narrative – it tells the story rather than analysing the characters.
• It uses quotations but these are not explained fully.
To raise the level the student needs to:
• Provide more explanation of the quotations and what they show us of the character.
• Provide some comment and explanation of the language and its effects.
• Make sure the question is answered fully – it asks ‘what impression’, not ‘what do you
think about’.
2
Pages 84–85 continued
What impression do you get of Caliban in these scenes?
LEVEL 6 (high)
These scenes give us a different impression of Caliban. He is not just the savage monster who
tried to rape Miranda but is also a creature who wants his own island back. We see that he
knows the island really well and knows about Prospero’s magic books and he is also good at
manipulating Stephano to get rid of Prospero for him.
He is very submissive when he talks with Stephano, trying to flatter and persuade him to
overthrow Prospero: ‘Let me lick thy shoe’ and ‘thy Caliban, For aye thy foot-licker’ show us he
doesn’t mind what he has to do to regain his island – if bowing and scraping do the trick that’s
fine by him. However, these moments are also funny, and we laugh at Caliban when he does this
over-the-top persuasion. So our impression is that he is to be pitied and laughed at because he is
so desperate.
Caliban is quite good at manipulating Stephano into doing what he wants, with compliments
such as ‘my noble lord’ and ‘thy greatness’. Using language such as ‘noble’ is meant to raise
Stephano’s status, and we laugh because we know he is far from noble. Being noble was seen as
a really good thing; it was seen as being something in you rather than anything you could learn.
By reminding us of this we are reminded that none of these characters are at all noble, and just
want what they will benefit from: we are meant to laugh at them: they are clowns.
Caliban’s knowledge of Prospero and his magic books does change our impression of him slightly;
he is more than a clown because he has a real passion and purpose: to destroy Prospero’s books
and also Prospero himself. He knows that without his books Prospero’s ‘but a sot, as I am’. My
impression of Caliban changes with the fact that he clearly regards himself as ‘but a sot’; sot
means nothing, lacking knowledge, but also has implications of drunkenness – someone who has
lost even what they could have in terms of knowledge and understanding. Even the sound of the
word tells us it’s insignificant. At this point my impression of Caliban changes from laughing at
him to feeling sorry for him again.
When Caliban sees his plan going wrong he does all he can to rescue it: he understands
Prospero’s magic and realises the garments are a trick, ‘trash’. We see him begging Stephano to
leave them alone and we laugh at him and feel sorry for him as he knows it’s all going wrong.
These scenes show Caliban to be a much more complex character than you at first think, and
your impressions of him are complex as well. He is a clown, a monster, a manipulator and a
character to be pitied, often at the same time.
• It has a clear focus on the question and provides reference to it throughout the answer.
• It shows a clear understanding of character and of some of the language.
• It uses references clearly, choosing them to support and illustrate the answer.
• Plan the answer more carefully so it is more balanced and doesn’t run out of time to discuss the
second scene.
• Include more analysis of the language, especially the effects of specific words and phrases.
• Refine the use of quotations to ensure they are selected to illustrate an idea precisely.
3
Pages 86–87
How is the idea of power and authority explored in these scenes?
LEVEL 4 (mid)
In Act 3 scene 2 Stephano has all the power and authority although it comes from the wine
bottle. Caliban gives him power by saying he’ll serve him: ‘How does thy honour? Let me lick
thy shoe. I’ll not serve him. He is not valiant.’ and by calling him ‘my lord’. In fact, Caliban gives
Stephano his power as he says he will be lord of it: ‘Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee.’
Even though Caliban is the one with the plan and the desire to kill Prospero, he has to get
Stephano to do it for him and Stephano has to be the one to decide they need to take action.
This is because Stephano has been given the power and authority. But this is all shown to be
stupid when he sees the clothes in Act 4 scene 1 and gets sidetracked by them, caring more
about what he looks like than about his cause. This shows us that power and authority is only
worth something if you care about what you are going to do.
Ariel has power in both scenes but he has to act on Prospero’s authority and do what Prospero
wants him to do. However, he does have the power to influence how Caliban, Stephano and
Trinculo behave, with his whispers and music.
In Act 4 scene 1 Prospero has all the power and authority (although Ariel has some power) and it
comes from his books and knowledge. He is not so power-crazed, maybe it’s because he’s learnt
his lesson, and knows ‘we are such stuff as dreams are made on’, meaning they don’t really
matter in the bigger picture of things. But he’s got lots of power from his magic and can make
everyone else do what he wants. Prospero’s power is stronger because it’s real, not just from
a bottle.
• It provides quotations to support the ideas and sometimes tries to explain them.
• It covers both scenes and lots of ideas.
• It focuses on the question.
• Make sure the quotations aren’t too long – they need to be as short as possible, a few words
can often be enough.
• Make sure the quotations are fully explained, including how they make us respond.
• Provide more commentary and analysis of the language and its effects.
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How is the idea of power and authority explored in these scenes?
LEVEL 7 (mid)
These scenes show different sorts of power and authority, in the form of Prospero, Ariel, Caliban
and Stephano. Prospero’s power is from his knowledge and his books; Ariel’s is from Prospero and
his natural abilities; Caliban’s is from his knowledge of Prospero and the island; and Stephano’s
comes from the wine bottle and Caliban. The scenes show that power and authority are a
responsibility, and that when misused, they are lost (as with Stephano and Caliban).
Stephano’s power is from his wine bottle and the wine he gives Caliban, who then sets him as
‘master’ and ‘lord’, calling him ‘valiant’ and licking his shoes. This puts Stephano in the position
of leader, a powerful position, which he uses to command Caliban and Trinculo. He decides to
follow Caliban’s request to overthrow Prospero because he likes the idea of power rather than
because of any specific action Prospero has done (he doesn’t really care about Caliban): ‘I will kill
this man. His daughter and I will be king and queen’. This shows he wants the status and power,
and shows that power can be used purely selfishly. When he loses it all in Act 4 scene 1 it is
because he is taken in by the clothes – a metaphor for his interest in the appearance of power
and authority rather than in the responsibility, perhaps.
However, it might be that Caliban is actually more powerful than Stephano, as it is he who
manipulates Stephano into deciding to kill Prospero: ‘I know thou dar’st’ panders to Stephano’s
pride and ‘Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee’ panders to his greed and ambition. In fact,
Caliban does have a lot of authority, especially about the island. Not only does he know where
the fresh water is, and threatens to withhold this information from Trinculo, he also understands
its magic and mystery. When he speaks about the ‘noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight
and hurt not’ the sibilance in his language makes it lighter and reflects the magic he is describing.
This shows how deeply he understands and knows what he sees as his island – this knowledge
gives him power and authority of a different sort to Stephano. However, it still amounts to
nothing in the end.
Ariel’s power is natural but his authority to manipulate Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo comes
from Prospero. His actions are humorous and simple but very effective, and he manages to create
more chaos with the drunkards. The way he describes how he lead them ‘through Toothed briers,
sharp furzes, pricking gorse, and thorns’ shows how much power he really has, and how much
he enjoys it. However, he is still Prospero’s slave and will not have authority until he is free. This
shows that power without authority isn’t so strong.
Prospero is obviously the most powerful character, and the one with the authority. Not only has
he created and masterminded the shipwreck, but he controls all the other characters and events,
from making Miranda fall in love with Ferdinand to using Ariel to do his bidding. Furthermore,
he understands his power and the responsibilities it brings, having made his mistakes earlier.
He knows ‘we are such stuff as dreams are made on’ and what is important to him will not be
important when he is dead (asleep). He uses his power with intent – to get Miranda married
and get off the island – and then he gives it up as he doesn’t need the magic once he has
the authority.
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• It provides a thorough and detailed answer to the question.
• It shows a clear understanding of the different types of power and authority in the scenes.
• It provides quotations to support the ideas. Some of these are very well integrated and
analysed effectively.
• It covers many ideas and provides comparison.
To be even better the student needs to:
• Make sure all narrative is turned into analysis (see paragraph 2 for a good example of this).
• Watch the time so that the end can include as much detail and quotation as the middle.
• Provide more analysis of language.
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Pages 88–89
The language in these scenes is used to create the personalities of the characters.
Explain how the language is used to create the personality of at least one character.
LEVEL 4 (low)
In Act 3 scene 2 the language creates the comedy and makes the characters seem funny.
Stephano and Trinculo don’t know what to make of Caliban and call him lots of different names:
‘servant-monster’, ‘man-monster’, ‘Moon-calf’. This shows they call him lots of different names,
probably because they don’t know what he is. It shows he is a strange creature.
Trinculo gets angry and speaks in short sentences with exclamations: ‘I did not give you the lie!
Out o’your wits, and hearing too? A pox o’your bottle! This can sack and drinking do. A murrain
on your monster, and the devil take your fingers!’ This shows he is angry. He uses short sentences
which show he is angry. The exclamations make him seem an angry personality.
Caliban gets a long speech which makes his personality seem different. It makes it seem like he
knows what he is talking about. He repeats ‘burn his books’ which shows this is really important
to him. This makes him seem like he is certain and determined this has to be done. It is important
to him.
In Act 4 scene 1 Prospero gets loads of words because he is the most important. This makes him
seem important. He also knows and controls what’s going on: ‘shortly shall all my labours end’
which shows he is a character who is in control and knows what’s going on. His personality is
of someone who is in charge.
• It shows a fair general understanding of the characters in these scenes.
• It covers both scenes and tries to focus on the question.
• It tries to do too much (four characters) and so doesn’t do any in enough detail.
• It uses quotations, but one in particular is too long and is not analysed.
• Cut down the number of characters analysed – it would be much better to do one or two
really well.
• Provide more explanation and analysis of the language used. The quotations should be
shorter and the student needs to comment on specific words and phrases.
• Provide some explanation and analysis of language techniques, such as metaphor, simile
and alliteration.
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The language in these scenes is used to create the personalities of the characters.
Explain how the language is used to create the personality of at least one character.
LEVEL 6 (mid)
The banter between Stephano and Trinculo creates comedy and sets their personalities as clowns
so that we laugh at them and don’t take their eventual fate of being abandoned on the island
too seriously.
They often speak in exclamations, creating drama and interest on the stage: ‘Tell not me!’ and
‘The folly of this island!’ are just two examples of this. They are drunk in Act 3 scene 2, and these
exclamations help to create the sense of drunk people talking rubbish, which is funny and a good
break from the serious stuff going on in the rest of the play. (In the previous scene we’ve just had
Miranda and Ferdinand falling in love, so this is a good diversion.)
The language and terms they use are also quite funny. They keep changing their names for
Caliban, calling him things like ‘Monsieur Monster’, ‘Moon-calf’ and ‘debauched fish’, suggesting
they don’t really know what to make of him (not that they’ve bothered to ask his name).
Trinculo uses funny expressions such as ‘I am in case to jostle a constable’, reminding us he’s
drunk enough to do something foolish (such as push around a police officer). Stephano uses a
funny metaphor when he threatens to make a ‘stockfish’ of Trinculo (this is a fish that was bashed
to make it tender). He is threatening to make Trinculo nicer by hitting him (but this would also
make him a bit more like Caliban, which is funny).
Alliteration is used to give their words more humour as well, as it bounces along in phrases such
as ‘a murrain on your monster’. This sounds so much better than ‘a plague on your monster’
because the alliterated ‘m’ sounds push it along (and make it sound like a nursery rhyme or
something silly).
The words of their song also show us the sort of people they are: ‘Flout ’em and scout ’em’ is
about mocking and jeering at people, sort of in the way they have mocked and jeered at Caliban
whilst pretending to agree to his plan.
In Act 4 scene 1 Stephano and Trinculo have followed Ariel’s tune through bogs etc and are
quick to use crude language to tell us ‘I do smell all horse-piss’. Once again this reflects their
personalities and creates humour and a break in the serious action for the audience. They even
tell us they have been made fools of by Ariel: ‘played the Jack with us’. They have lost their
‘bottles in the pool’, which literally refers to their wine bottles but might also mean their
determination or courage if taken metaphorically. (They probably only had courage when
they were drunk anyway.)
The glee with which they try on the clothes shows us they are people who are only really
interested in appearance and surface level things. They even say ‘We know what belongs to
a frippery’, meaning they know what’s good (frippery = second-hand shop), but the audience
can see that they don’t really. This scene really does show their personalities.
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• It has a clear focus on the question and refers to it throughout the answer.
• It shows a clear understanding of how the language shows character.
• It uses quotations clearly, and sometimes explains them well.
• It covers a lot of different ideas.
• Make sure all quotations are analysed fully, especially in terms of the language used.
• Avoid putting ideas in brackets – if they are valuable ideas they should be put into the
main answer.
• Write a proper conclusion that sums up the points made – this answer just stops.
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Pages 90–91
Much of the comedy in this play comes from the sections with Stephano, Trinculo
and Caliban. Imagine you are directing this play and explain how you want the
actor playing Caliban to show his thoughts and emotions in these scenes.
LEVEL 4 (mid)
When Caliban first speaks in Act 3 scene 2 he is drunk and so he should slur his words and rock
around all over the stage, acting really drunk and to get the laughs. He should get down to lick
Stephano’s feet and it should be really slurpy to be really funny. He should really emphasise the
word ‘valiant’ and make it strong to make it funny that he is deciding who is and isn’t valiant –
because he isn’t in the position to make this decision.
When he comes to line 40 he’s got to make sure he makes his lines really clear and forceful
because this is what he really wants and he believes that Stephano could change his life for the
better. He should be really over the top with ‘I thank my noble lord’ and really emphasise the
word ‘noble’ to show he thinks Stephano is noble and of much higher status. He should pause
before asking ‘Wilt thou be pleased to hearken once again to the suit I made thee?’ and should
say this line in a softer, pleading way. It is really important that he manages to get Stephano to
say yes.
When he is telling Stephano about Prospero he should emphasise the word ‘tyrant’ to show that
Prospero is awful as far as he is concerned. Maybe he could sob and look really sad to show that
he is scared of him. He should emphasise the words ‘cunning’ and ‘cheated’ to make Prospero
seem really bad. He might get a bit wound-up and emotional at this point.
When he responds to Ariel saying ‘thou liest’, he should be really angry and emotional. He should
spit out the words ‘jesting monkey’ with contempt and the words ‘valiant master’ with passion
and sounding really solid and trusting in Stephano. This will show that he trusts and believes in
Stephano and thinks he will kill Prospero for him.
When he reminds Stephano to ‘first to possess his books’ he must sound really anxious and
certain about this being important, because it is really important and he knows it. Although
he started the scene drunk he should stop being so drunk as it gets more important for him.
In Act 4 scene 1 he isn’t drunk but is just as focused on his plan and determined to get Stephano
to kill Prospero. He should be pleading and leading Stephano and Trinculo on, trying to get them
to Prospero before it’s too late. We should see that he knows the likely outcome but Stephano
and Trinculo don’t. He should be desperate and excited as he is on the verge of getting his island
back from Prospero. The actor should make sure the pace of the words is good so that everyone
can hear them. I might cut some to make the important ones stand out.
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• It provides a good general understanding of Caliban and the way the actor should play him.
• It makes some good points about the direction of the character but rushes the end where it is
too general – maybe the student ran out of time?
• It uses quotation to support and focus the ideas but these could sometimes be shorter.
• Plan the answer to allow equal time for both sections of the play – a good idea is to try and
make three detailed comments about each section.
• Make sure the directions are specific and detailed.
• Make some comment about the language – for example Caliban might want to emphasise the
alliterated ‘b’ sounds in ‘brave brood’.
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Much of the comedy in this play comes from the sections with Stephano, Trinculo and
Caliban. Imagine you are directing this play and explain how you want the actor
playing Caliban to show his thoughts and emotions in these scenes.
LEVEL 6 (mid)
In these extracts Caliban goes from drunk to excited to defeated. He manages to persuade
Stephano of the need to kill Prospero and actually believes this might happen, and is then defeated
by Prospero once more. The actor playing Caliban needs to show us this wide variety of emotions –
and make us feel sorry for Caliban, despite our knowledge that he once tried to rape Miranda.
At the beginning of Act 3 scene 2 he is overwhelmed by the alcohol he has never encountered
before and there is lots of scope for the actor to create comedy and be a funny drunken monster.
When Caliban is trying to lick Stephano’s shoe and declare Trinculo ‘is not valiant’ the actor should
make it really funny that a drunken monster is deciding who is and isn’t valiant.
As Caliban tells Stephano about Prospero the actor needs to change from slapstick drunkenness
to focused desperation. He should emphasise ‘cunning’ and ‘cheated’, spitting these words out so
that the audience start to feel his pain at having his island taken over and him made into a slave.
Caliban should become more manipulative as he refers to Stephano’s ‘greatness’, declaring this
word extravagantly and putting lots of emphasis on ‘thou’. This can be turned back into comedy
when he calls Trinculo a ‘thing’, which is funny, as Caliban is rating himself higher than Trinculo.
When Caliban is given his long speech about his plan he should be focused and excited as he
believes this might actually happen. He could get a bit carried away when he has his list of the
violence that could be performed – he could also act out these actions, emphasising these
interesting verbs: ‘brain him’, ‘batter his skull’, ‘paunch him’, and ‘cut’. This could be done to
create humour before he gets to the really serious point: ‘Remember first to possess his books’,
showing that there is a really serious point here, and that he knows the source of Prospero’s power.
When he is talking about Miranda he should be really repulsive and relish the alliterated ‘b’ sounds
when he says ‘bring thee forth brave brood’.
Caliban’s speech in lines 132-140 is a chance for the actor to get real sympathy for Caliban from
the audience and he can really slow it down to get the emotion out of it. He can make the island
sound magical and Caliban sound like a victim as he cried, as sleep was better than life: ‘I cried to
dream again’.
In Act 4 scene 1 Caliban sees the end of his dreams and the actor should start with eagerness and
patience, trying to bring Stephano to Prospero. He should show he is anxious but trying to be the
perfect servant so he doesn’t annoy Stephano. However, when Stephano and Trinculo see the
clothes, Caliban realises it’s a trap and should get more and more uptight: ‘Leave it alone, thou
fool! It is but trash.’ He should show his anxiety but become even more animated and active,
to help make this scene funny.
He should emphasise the alliteration of the ‘d’s in ‘The dropsy drown this fool’ and we should see
the humour in the fact that he is the most sensible and knowledgeable of this trio. The actor should
emphasise his horror at the situation and the audience will feel quite sad for him as well as laughing
at the scene. His last words, about being ‘turned to barnacles, or to apes With foreheads villainous
low’ are truer than he knows, as he is already treated as sub-human. This will leave us thinking
about the way he has been treated by Prospero, and we will have mixed emotions about him.
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• It uses references clearly, choosing them to support and focus the answer.
• It provides some analysis of language techniques and effects.
• Provide more analysis of the language of the play, with special focus on its effects.
• Ensure each idea is supported with a precisely selected quotation.
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Shakespeare practice paper: The Tempest
Pages 94–95
What impression do you get of Stephano and Trinculo in these scenes?
LEVEL 4 (low)
Stephano and Trinculo are the clowns and I get the impression of them being silly and funny in
these scenes. They are drunk and first of all find Caliban really strange and go on about what he
looks like and then they argue as Caliban decides Stephano is in charge, which Trinculo doesn’t
like. When they have their argument they seem even more stupid, but that is what Shakespeare
intended because they are the clowns and are meant to provide the audience with light relief
between the serious scenes (like the love story and the plot to kill the king).
Stephano loves being king to Caliban and when he makes him kneel to tell his story again:
‘Kneel and repeat it’, it shows how much he likes being king. Trinculo is jealous and doesn’t
want Caliban to get the attention or Stephano to be made into Caliban’s king.
They will act this scene really funnily and it will be a good bit of comedy. We will get the
impression of them being clowns. They are not that important to the overall plot of the play
but their plot to overthrow Prospero does remind us that Caliban was the original inhabitant
of the island. It changes how we feel about Caliban.
Stephano and Trinculo are a traditional double act and they make us laugh.
In Act 4 scene 1 they are funny again and get distracted by the clothes, which means Caliban’s
plot fails. They are really funny when they first come on because they smell horrible and call it
‘horse-piss’ which is funny.
Trinculo is the one who sees the wardrobe and he is really excited about it, and then Stephano
is as well. It shows us they are just interested in appearances and don’t really care about Caliban
or his problems. They just want to seem important. It is probably the first time they’ve had
this chance.
• It shows a good general understanding of these characters and their functions in the play.
• It gets side-tracked when discussing Caliban.
• It uses some quotations but these are not explained fully.
• Provide more explanation of the quotations and what they show us of the characters.
• Keep the focus on the question.
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What impression do you get of Stephano and Trinculo in these scenes?
LEVEL 6 (low)
Stephano and Trinculo are the clowns and function to provide relief from the more serious
elements of the play, such as the love story and the plot to overthrow Alonso. They are a classic
double comedy act and create comedy and reveal more about Caliban, making us feel sorry for
him despite the fact that he tried to rape Miranda.
When they enter in Act 3 scene 2 they are drunk and lots of bawdy humour comes from their
drunken behaviour and comments about Caliban. Trinculo is aware that they are not in a fit state
to do anything, as he comments that ‘the state totters’ if the other two people on the island are
like them. This makes it clear to the audience that they are not rulers, which is important as
Caliban then goes on to treat them as rulers.
Stephano comes across as someone really enjoying the power and status Caliban gives him:
‘Kneel and repeat it’ shows he is relishing the status and even makes it physical. Trinculo comes
across as someone who is jealous of this status Stephano has been given and would like it for
himself. They are both obviously not the noble and ‘valiant’ people Caliban makes them out to
be, and this creates the humour.
The language they use helps to create the humour with slang such as ‘stockfish’ and ‘a pox o’
your bottle’. This reminds us that they are not the noble people they are trying to be and
enjoying, which is funny. I get the impression of two people who are just jumping at the chance
to enjoy the sort of life they have always watched other people have.
When Stephano declares he will kill Prospero and marry Miranda it is such a huge declaration it is
funny, because he doesn’t put any thought into how to do it or what it actually means – he just
likes the idea of marrying this girl and being king. He appears to be what he is: a drunken fool.
In Act 4 scene 1 they have lost their high spirits thanks to Ariel dragging them into the bog and
they now ‘smell all horse-piss’ which reminds us they are base characters and we are allowed to –
and meant to – laugh at them. Stephano is really annoyed, and the alliterated ‘d’s in ‘disgrace
and dishonour’ emphasise this. They have lost their bottles of alcohol, but this could also be a
metaphor for their courage to kill Prospero, which could be why they are so keen to look at the
clothes rather than attack Prospero.
When they see the clothes they confirm all we think about them as they are just interested in
appearances and ‘dote on such luggage’. The fact that Caliban can see that it is worthless and
probably a trick also shows us that he knows more than they do, which makes them seem even
more useless and stupid.
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• It shows a clear understanding of character and some of the language.
• It sometimes uses references clearly and can use them to support and illustrate the answer.
• There is some analysis of language, but this needs to be developed throughout the answer.
• Plan the answer more carefully to ensure it is balanced and flows clearly. Some of this is
too narrative.
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Shakespeare practice tasks: Richard III
Pages 84–85
How does Richard change in these scenes?
LEVEL 4 (low)
Richard changes because he goes from being able to persuade a woman to marry him (even
though he has just killed her husband) to not being able to persuade someone to marry him.
In Act 1 scene 2 he is full of confidence and manages the amazing which is getting Anne to
marry him, and she agrees to do this with the body of her dead husband there. To be honest,
I don’t see how he manages to do it as he’s just killed her husband and the body’s there! But it
shows that he must have something special. She goes to kill him and he says she has to kill him
or marry him and she doesn’t kill him so she marries him. ‘Take up the sword again, or take up
me’ – this means use the sword to kill me or marry me. And she says ‘I will not be thy
executioner’. And the next thing you know they are married.
In Act 4 scene 4 he basically tries the same trick except this time he is talking to Elizabeth and
persuading her that her daughter Elizabeth should marry him and then they will be king and
queen together: ‘I mean that with my soul I love thy daughter And do intend to make her
Queen of England’. She just laughs at him so it goes really differently to the way it went with
Anne and she points out that he killed her brothers and uncles and that Elizabeth hates him so
won’t marry him.
So in Act 4 Richard has changed because he has lost his power and ability to make women marry
him. He’s lost his touch.
• It shows understanding of what happens in the scenes.
• It is too narrative – it tells the story rather than analysing it.
• It uses some quotations but these are not explained.
• Use more quotations to support the ideas.
17
How does Richard change in these scenes?
LEVEL 6 (mid)
Richard is in control and powerful in the first selected scene but has lost this power in the second.
In Act 1 scene 2 he manipulates Anne into agreeing to marry him. In Act 4 scene 4 he tries the
same trick, this time to persuade Elizabeth into agreeing her daughter will marry him, but fails
miserably. He uses language as his main weapon, but Elizabeth is able to turn his words back
on him.
Richard speaks with authority and power in Act 1. From the moment he manages to make the
coffin bearers put down ‘the corpse’ it is clear that there is some form of charisma about him.
He starts to manipulate Anne by catching her off-guard and being honest: ‘I know none, and
therefore am no beast’, and twists her words whilst creating pity for himself (he says that he has
never experienced pity). He just ignores her words and continues to be really nice to her, calling
her an angel and ‘divine perfection’. He denies killing her husband but explains he’s better off in
heaven and even says he did it because he loved Anne: ‘Your beauty was the cause of that effect’.
This totally throws her and shows he understands how to manipulate people and is really good
at it.
He is so in control that he doesn’t even flinch when she spits at him – he just questions it and
once again turns it round to make it good: ‘Never came poison from so sweet a place’ and ‘Thine
eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine’. Both show how he just flips her ideas round. He then goes
for the sympathy vote and tells of all the bad things he’s known. After this clever speech he’s
really clever again and says his words are clumsy: ‘My tongue could never learn sweet smoothing
word.’ The sibilance here makes the phrase ‘sweet smoothing’ softer but slightly snake-like and
dangerous. Maybe Shakespeare wants us to remember how dangerous he is?
By begging her to kill him: ‘And humbly beg the death upon my knee’, he stops her from doing
so and really confuses her so she doesn’t know what she is doing.
He tries to use the same tactics in Act 4 scene 4 but he has changed and it doesn’t work.
Now, rather than having nothing to lose, he’s got everything to lose and there’s an element of
desperation and maybe over-confidence that adds to it not working. Maybe he’s got too power-
hungry now that he’s experienced it. He’s also talking to a woman who has had time to think
about all the evil he’s done, rather than one who has just lost her husband.
He tries the same language tricks, saying she’s great: ‘Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious’, and
then denies some of his murders: ‘You speak as if that I had slain my cousins’ but Elizabeth has
the power and is really the one in control of this conversation. He moves on to proclaim his love
for Elizabeth (the daughter): ‘from my soul I love thy daughter’ and Elizabeth picks up on the idea
of a soul and plays around with his words. She manipulates what he says to make him seem bad,
which he is, and he gets annoyed that she has ‘confound my meaning’.
This really shows how he has changed: he was in control in the first scene but isn’t in this one.
He was an expert manipulator in the first scene, but she is more than a match for him in this one.
And he was successful in the first, but isn’t in this one.
18
• It has a clear focus on the question and provides a generally clear answer to it.
• It uses references and comments on some specific language techniques.
• Plan the answer more carefully to get into the detailed analysis earlier, avoiding narrative.
19
Pages 86–87
How is the idea of manipulation explored in these scenes?
LEVEL 4 (low)
In Act 1 scene 2 Richard manipulates Anne into agreeing to marry him. In Act 4 scene 4 he tries
to manipulate Elizabeth into saying he can marry her daughter, but fails.
In Act 1 scene 2 Richard manages to manipulate Anne into saying she will marry him even though
he’s killed her husband, and the dead body is there! He does it by confusing her into not knowing
what is going on. She spits at him and everything: ‘She spits at him’, but he just carries on and is
successful at manipulating her. It shows that people can be manipulated, especially when they are
confused or sad and then they become vulnerable. He says the sort of things she doesn’t expect,
like that he did kill her husband and he loves her and he did it because she is beautiful. His
masterstroke is to ask her to kill him: ‘I lay it naked to the deadly stroke, and humbly beg the
death upon my knee’, but of course she doesn’t want to kill someone, just like that.
In Act 4 scene 4 he tries to manipulate Elizabeth but he doesn’t manage to do it. She is stronger
than him even though she is old and he is the king. He tries all the same stuff that he did with
Anne but she just twists it round and makes it powerless. Even when he is trying to say her
daughter can be queen she uses his words: ‘Th’ advancement’, and suggests he’s just going to
walk them to the scaffold: ‘Up to some scaffold, there to lose their heads’. This shows that he is
not able to manipulate this time, but that manipulation is something that anyone can do – it
depends what you need and want.
• It focuses on the question and tries to answer it.
• It provides quotations to support the ideas but doesn’t really explain them.
• It covers both scenes but is too narrative and just tells the story.
• Move from telling the story to analysing the play.
20
How is the idea of manipulation explored in these scenes?
LEVEL 6 (mid)
These scenes show that manipulation relies on language and is a result of the powerful use of
language. Richard is an expert manipulator in the first scene, perhaps due to the way he’d always
been regarded and as he had nothing to lose. However, he is not so good in the second scene,
despite using pretty much the same techniques, maybe because he had a lot to lose and
Elizabeth was the one who didn’t care what she said and what he thought about her.
Richard’s manipulation in Act 1 scene 2 is really impressive: he manages to turn Anne from
wanting to kill him to agreeing to marry him! He does this through his use of language and
manipulating her emotions and responses until she doesn’t know what to do any more. She
was so strong at first: ‘Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!’, suggesting he works for the devil,
but has crumbled by the end: ‘Arise, dissembler. Though I wish thy death, I will not be thy
executioner.’ She knows he is a ‘dissembler’ (pretender) but can’t bring herself to kill him and
he’s said what the alternative is. He has manipulated her totally, so that she has lost her anger
and ability to think straight.
Richard’s manipulation works because of the language he uses and the chances he takes. He
twists her comments about pity to create sympathy for himself and he bombards her with
compliments: ‘divine perfection of a woman’. This is not what she is expecting and it manipulates
her by throwing her off guard. She tries to fight back but fails as he is just not giving up.
Richard even (finally) admits that he killed Henry and Edward and begs Anne to kill him: ‘humbly
bed the death upon my knee’. This is his masterstroke because he is being truthful and she
doesn’t know what to do because it’s not what normally happens. He’s taking a real risk here,
and maybe that’s why his manipulation is successful – he could have lost everything.
He tries to use the same manipulative tricks in Act 4 scene 4 but fails. Elizabeth is more than
a match for him even though he uses language in the same way. She is not afraid of him and
addresses the issues directly, showing she has nothing to lose: ‘I have no more sons of the royal
blood For thee to slaughter’. This phrase is really direct and the word ‘slaughter’ is really emotive
and shocking.
Richard’s long speech is really balanced and persuasive. He repeats the ‘If I did...’, which makes
him look better, but it isn’t successful, maybe because it’s too well thought out. He tries to make
his plan seem really obvious and a good idea: ‘I cannot make you what amends I would,
Therefore accept such kindness as I can’. But the manipulation doesn’t work.
• It provides quotations to support the ideas but they lack analysis.
• It covers both scenes but needs more detail.
• Add detail.
21
Pages 88–89
Richard’s language is very striking and dramatic in these scenes. Explain how
Shakespeare uses language to reveal Richard’s character and personality in
the scenes.
LEVEL 4 (mid)
Richard’s language is really manipulative and emotive when talking to Anne and Elizabeth.
He uses it to try and manipulate both of them.
When he is talking to Anne he twists her words to try and get pity for himself by saying he’s
never known it: ‘But I know none, and therefore am no beast’.
When he blames her for being beautiful he uses alliterated ‘s’ sounds to slow the pace and sound
more thoughtful: ‘And fall something into a slower method’. It also makes him sound sinister
which is what he is really like.
He uses this ‘s’ sound again in line 169: ‘sweet smoothing word’. And the sound is like the words
are but also sinister.
In Act 4 scene 4 he uses the same sort of language as he is trying to have the same sort of
conversation but he sounds more sophisticated as he refers to the river ‘Lethe’ and uses it as a
metaphor. This shows us he is educated and not stupid.
His language shows he is thoughtful and cunning and slippery.
• It shows a good general understanding of Richard.
• It covers both scenes and focuses on language.
• It uses quotations but does not provide enough analysis that links the language to the answer.
• Provide more explanation and analysis of the language used. Many language techniques are
identified but these need to be explained in more detail and linked to the question.
• The whole answer needs to be developed. There are good ideas but they need to be combined
into a balanced answer.
22
Richard’s language is very striking and dramatic in these scenes. Explain how
Shakespeare uses language to reveal Richard’s character and personality in
the scenes.
LEVEL 6 (mid)
Richard is a striking and dramatic character and the language Shakespeare has given him helps to
emphasise this. The very fact that he is trying to convince these women, the very women he has
bereaved, that he would be a good husband, shows how striking and dramatic he is. In these two
scenes we see him use language to sell himself as a husband but his language also shows us what
he’s really like.
When he first speaks in the first section his lines are all quite short and choppy. This creates the
effect of him spitting the words out and reminds us of his posture and position on the edge of
the royal family – he doesn’t seem confident to string words together but is determined that
they need to put the coffin down. This shows us he has a plan, but seems to act in bursts of
confidence. It is really striking after Anne’s long speech (before the section begins). Maybe it’s
deliberate to make the other characters less wary of him (but they do put the coffin down)?
He uses language to praise and flatter Anne: ‘More wonderful when angels are so angry’, calling
her an angel. This praise shocks her and he continues with it despite her rejection. He calls her
‘divine perfection’ and she responds with ‘diffused infection’ and we are meant to link these two
and see that Richard and Anne are total opposites. This makes it even more impressive when he
manages to persuade her to marry him.
He alliterates ‘h’ sounds in ‘Better for the King of Heaven, that hath him’ and this sounds really
breathy and airy and makes us think that heaven must be a gentle and good place to be, so
maybe being dead isn’t so bad for Edward. This is typical of his tricks – making his language
add to the feeling of his words.
In Act 4 scene 4 he also uses alliteration: ‘doom of destiny’ is really dark and powerful and the ‘d’
sounds link to what he is fearing and facing if his plan doesn’t work. It makes us think that he
might actually be scared about what he is facing in the future.
He uses the metaphor of the river Lethe to describe Elizabeth’s soul and this changes our opinion
of him as it shows he’s not just a soldier but is also educated at a classical level. This is different to
what we thought but fits in because he has managed to work out his grand plan and manipulate
so many people. He also uses really poetic language in his long speech, sounding really focused
and going a bit over the top with his flattery: tears becoming ‘orient pearls’ and calling himself
‘Caesar’. By this point we see that the power really has gone to his head.
23
• It shows a clear understanding of the language and how it illustrates Richard’s character
and personality.
• Make sure all quotations are analysed fully, especially in terms of the language use and
impact on the audience.
• Link all the ideas about language to Richard’s personality and character – that is part of
the question.
24
Pages 90–91
Richard is a very complex character. Imagine you are directing this play and the
actor playing him is having difficulties. Explain how Richard should deliver his lines
in these scenes.
LEVEL 4 (mid)
When Richard enters the scene he should be bursting with importance and should speak to the
coffin bearers with authority, even though people have always ignored him in the past. He needs
to spit out each phrase in his words, so his lines are disjointed and tight. He needs to sound
dangerous so should grab his sword when he says ‘halberd’ and make sure the alliterated ‘h’
sounds are dragged out to make them sound really dangerous. This is to show us and the other
characters he is actually dangerous and they have to obey him.
When he is talking to Anne he needs to smile a lot and move closer to her in a slimy sort of way.
When he says ‘angels’ and ‘divine perfection of a woman’ he should point to her to make it clear
he is talking about her.
When Anne spits at him he should look really angry but then overcome it and be really calm
again when he asks why she spits at him: ‘Why dost thou spit at me?’ This is so the audience can
see he is acting and manipulating Anne, but she can’t see that and thinks he really doesn’t
understand why she hates him, since he’s done everything he can because he loves her. When
she goes to kill him he needs to drop to his knees and open his shirt at the top so she can kill him
more easily: ‘I lay it naked to the deadly stroke’.
When he is talking to Elizabeth in Act 4 scene 4 he should act with loads of confidence because
he is king and he thinks he’s making her a really good offer because she will be mother to the
new queen. But as she doesn’t go for his plan he should get more and more stressed and he
should clench his fists to show he’s feeling more and more worried about it.
• It provides a good general understanding of Richard’s character but focuses on movement
rather than bringing out the language.
• Some quotations are used to support ideas but there should be more.
• There are good ideas but they lack detailed explanation.
• Focus the directions on bringing out the meaning of the language.
• Make the answer balanced so the same amount of time is spent on both scenes.
• Try to vary the way paragraphs are started, rather than starting each one with ‘When’.
25
Richard is a very complex character. Imagine you are directing this play and the
actor playing him is having difficulties. Explain how Richard should deliver his lines
in these scenes.
LEVEL 6 (high)
Richard must be a great character to act, as you get to be really powerful and domineering
throughout the play. The only times you are not is when you are doing it to get your own way so it’s
still a sort of power. The actor playing him must focus on the desire for ultimate power: to be king,
and the fact that this will show everyone who has written him off as useless, exactly who he is.
The scene in Act 1 scene 2 is a great one for the actor, but really difficult because on the face of it,
how can the man that murdered her husband really persuade Anne to marry him? This is such an
opportunity for an actor and the actor playing Richard should really enjoy going all out and being
quite outrageous – Richard is going for gold here and essentially has nothing to lose and everything
to gain. He should be really harsh and powerful when he tells the coffin bearers to ‘set it down’ and
very threatening when talking to them. There needs to be a sense of power and desperation coming
from him – he can really emphasise the alliterated ‘h’ sounds of ‘halberd higher’ to slow the lines
down and create a sense of violence coming from an unlikely place. He can add to this through his
actions and grab his sword to threaten the coffin bearer. This sets the scene and our sense of what is
going to happen.
During his conversation with Anne, he needs to appear to soften: he needs to look like the hard
exterior is only put on in order to hide his pain of loving her. Obviously, as the audience we know
this is rubbish and part of his manipulative skill, but it confuses and undermines Anne and her
responses. The exchange about pity is key here – essentially he is trying to make her feel pity for
him by saying ‘But I know none, and therefore am no beast’, so this line should be delivered very
differently to the angry exchanges earlier. The actor can emphasise the apparent softening by
turning away and delivering the line in a self-conscious manner, to make it seem like he is
embarrassed by this and to increase the chances of Anne feeling pity for him.
At the end of this section comes the part where Richard gives Anne the choice of killing him or
marrying him and it has to be breathtakingly dramatic: ‘Take up the sword again, or take up me’ is
key – it is so outrageous – so the actor needs to say the first half of the sentence with loud passion
and the second half with quiet, begging passion. This is to show Anne that he really loves her, but it
also shows the audience what a great manipulator he is.
In the second set section, Act 4 scene 4, Richard is more confident and cocky. He is now king and as
all his plans have gone so well he thinks this one will as well. However, he now has a lot to lose so
there must be an extra air of desperation along with his arrogance. There needs to be something
slimy about his observation ‘You have a daughter called Elizabeth’ and he can trail off on the name
‘Elizabeth’, drawing it out and making it seem really unpleasant and slimy to the audience. This
needs to really turn us against him and his plan; it really would be horrible for him to marry
Elizabeth and so we need to side with her mother, the Elizabeth Richard is talking to.
26
The word games in this scene are a much better match than in the scene with Anne because
Elizabeth is so angry and is more in control of her anger than Anne was. She is able to ‘confound’
his meaning and Richard needs to get angry about this and try to control his anger but we also
need to see him getting anxious.
He tries all the same tricks as he did with Anne, such as saying he did everything ‘for the love of
her’ but it doesn’t work so he has his final long speech where he tries to make it all seem really
logical. During this speech he needs to spell everything out really clearly and make everything
seem clear and logical and he should grow in confidence, as if he is convincing himself until
he gets to the end and calls himself ‘Caesar’ – this is outrageous and shows that the power
really has gone to his head. Maybe the actor could emphasise this point by standing on some
platform/chair and beating his chest and waving to imaginary crowds. This would show us that
Richard really has lost touch with reality and is now just facing defeat.
• It has a clear focus on the question and keeps the answer focused on it throughout.
• It displays a clear understanding of the character of Richard and the language he uses.
• It provides some clear analysis of the character and our response to him.
• Ensure each reference to language is fully developed in terms of its analysis of the language.
• Make sure the answer remains analytical and doesn’t become narrative.
27
Shakespeare practice paper: Richard III
Pages 94–95
Richard uses language to try and get his own way. Explain how he uses language to
try to persuade others in these scenes.
LEVEL 4 (low)
Richard uses strong, violent language to the coffin bearers to show he means business: ‘Villains,
set down the corpse; or, by Saint Paul, I’ll make a corpse of him that disobeys!’ This shows us he
really means it. He calls them ‘villains’ which is an insult and makes them look at him and see he
means business.
Richard uses flattering language to prove to Anne that he loves her: ‘More wonderful when
angels are so angry. Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman, of these supposed crimes to give
me leave By circumstance but to acquit myself’. He calls her ‘angel’ and ‘divine perfection’ and
these words are flattering.
He claims he is living a living death: ‘For now they kill me with a living death’, because he is living
without her love. This is also flattery and is really extreme. It’s called hyperbole.
He uses the same sort of language with Elizabeth: he uses alliteration in ‘doom of destiny’ and the
‘d’ sound is really low and depressing.
He tries to tell her that he loves her daughter: ‘Then know, that from my soul I love thy
daughter’, which is a really strong thing to say, but she just laughs and turns it back at him. He is
starting to lose the battle of words here and he knows it.
He gets annoyed with Elizabeth and says she mocks him: ‘You mock me, madam. This is not the
way To win your daughter.’ But telling her off like this isn’t going to change her mind so he’s not
doing that well.
He then uses a very long speech to make his plan seem really logical and obvious but it still
doesn’t work.
• It shows a general understanding of Richard.
• It uses quotations but these are often too long and lack full explanation.
• Provide a short quotation for each idea.
• Comment on the language used in more detail.
• Try to extend each idea fully.
28
Richard uses language to try and get his own way. Explain how he uses language to
try to persuade others in these scenes.
LEVEL 6 (low)
Richard knows he can’t uses his physical abilities to get his own way so he has to rely on
language but that’s good because he’s pretty good (at first) at getting his own way by using
language. He even manages to persuade Anne to marry him.
He uses language to persuade Anne to marry him by firstly appearing like he really loves her. The
sibilance in ‘sweet saint’ makes his words seem softer and lighter and this implies that his feelings
are softer and lighter when he considers her. He follows this with the harsh sounds in ‘for charity,
be not so curst’, which is much harsher and emphasises how soft he’s been earlier.
Alliteration is a key tool he uses and when he calls her an ‘angel’ he alliterates it with ‘angry’ to
link the words together and drive them forward. It suggests that even angels are allowed to be
angry, therefore excusing her current emotions towards him. This is really clever as it implies that
she is angry now, which is OK, but soon will love him.
He blames her beauty for his actions and uses words to make her take the blame, blame which
she can remove by marrying him. He really does manipulate her in a very clever way: ‘Your
beauty was the cause of that effect’. And ‘’twas I that stabbed young Edward – But ’twas thy
heavenly face that set me on’.
He uses the same trick of flattery in Act 4 scene 4: ‘You have a daughter called Elizabeth, Virtuous
and fair, royal and gracious’. Saying these qualities in pairs makes them balanced and makes it
seem like he’s thought about it lots because he loves her. He might also be hoping some of these
qualities rub off on him.
He uses the idea of destiny to make his ideas sound more acceptable, and tries to make them
sound like duty: ‘All unavoided is the doom of destiny’. The alliteration of the ‘d’ sounds
emphasises the darkness of this idea of destiny as a bad thing.
He uses metaphor when he talks about ‘the Lethe of thy angry soul’, making it sound as if she will
move on and lose her anger one day. He is actually kidding himself at this point, but it’s a good
idea to try it.
Finally, he tries to make his ideas sound really logical and obvious: ‘If I did take the kingdom from
your sons, To make amends I’ll give it to your daughter. If I have killed the issue of your womb,
To quicken your increase I will beget Mine issue of your blood upon your daughter.’ His ideas are
really balanced and he is careful to use ‘if’ so he is not admitting anything. However, he gets
carried away and calls himself ‘Caesar’, perhaps showing he’s just after the power and the glory.
He managed to persuade Anne, but Elizabeth is more than a match for him.
29
• Develop the analysis of the language, especially the effects of specific words and phrases.
• Refine the use of quotations to ensure they are short and to the point.
• Avoid using colloquial phrases and expressions (e.g. ‘like’).
30
Much Ado About Nothing
Pages 84–85
How does Benedick change in these scenes?
LEVEL 4 (low)
Benedick doesn’t really change in these scenes. He starts by saying he loves Beatrice and ends by
marrying her. In between they both say they don’t love each other but the sonnets prove they do
so they have to be honest with each other and get married.
Benedick does think it’s strange that he loves Beatrice: ‘I do love nothing in the world so well as
you. Is not that strange?’ This shows he thinks it’s strange and perhaps he didn’t want to fall in
love with her or anyone.
He doesn’t want to, but he agrees to kill Claudio for her: ‘I will challenge him’. This means he will
challenge him to a dual. At this point he does change because Claudio was his best friend and
now he is going against him just because Beatrice wants him to. This is the sort of behaviour he
mocked earlier in the play and why he said he’d never get married.
In Act 5 scene 4 he asks Leonato if he can marry Beatrice as he loves her but Leonato’s answer
about them both falling in love because others had made them makes him think and he ends up
changing his mind about it all again when Beatrice says she doesn’t really love him. However,
they’ve both written sonnets which other people claim show they really do love each other and
so they decide they must do and so they get married. This is really strange – why should people
believe what has been written during a time when they didn’t realise they’d been tricked. It
shows Benedick changes his mind really easily and so he keeps changing in these scenes but
ends up marrying Beatrice.
• It shows understanding of Benedick and what happens in the scenes.
• It is too narrative – it tells the story rather than analysing the characters.
• It uses some quotations but these are not explained.
• Use more quotations to support the ideas.
31
How does Benedick change in these scenes?
LEVEL 6 (high)
Benedick keeps changing throughout these scenes. Firstly he thinks he’s being more honest and
truthful by saying he loves Beatrice, but then he admits he doesn’t really love her. Finally, he gives
in to social pressure by agreeing he must love her if he’s written a sonnet saying so and agrees to
marry her. It’s quite confusing and I think the changes are more about how he deals with the
social world rather than great changes in his character – maybe he realises that being married
would be a good thing and Beatrice is his best option. I’m not convinced he really does love her.
His declaration of love suggests he was not expecting to fall in love and can’t quite understand it:
‘I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?’ This seems really honest and
we want to believe in his love because it would make the story better, and it’s what happens in
stories like this.
His first major change comes when he agrees to show his love for Beatrice by challenging Claudio.
He doesn’t want to do this and it marks his movement from his friends to his partnership with
Beatrice. It’s such a major thing to do, it makes his love seem more real and convincing.
In Act 5 scene 4 Benedick is keen to tell Leonato that he and Beatrice love each other and is
confused by Leonato’s reply: ‘Your answer, sir, is enigmatical’ but obviously thinks about it as
he directly asks Beatrice to declare her love for him when he sees her. This is an example of his
change because it shows how he is starting to think for himself again (like he did at the beginning
of the play).
However, he abandons this clear thinking when he lets himself be persuaded that his sonnet must
show that he really does love Beatrice: ‘Here’s our own hands against our hearts’. He forgets that
he wrote the sonnet when he thought Beatrice really loved him and vice versa. He really has
changed from the beginning of the play, when he claimed he would never marry and now wants
to, although he doesn’t love Beatrice and she doesn’t love him. It looks as if he has decided
everyone else is getting married and it’s going to be the easiest thing to do. He even has to dance
to ‘lighten our own hearts’ before getting married – hardly an indication that he is really in love.
• It shows a clear understanding of the character and the ways he changes.
• It uses references clearly, choosing them to support and illustrate the answer.
• It addresses a really complex set of ideas with confidence and insight.
32
Pages 86–87
How is the theme of love explored in these scenes?
LEVEL 4 (low)
Hero shows that love is really strong because it has made her faint when Claudio said he wouldn’t
marry her. Leonato really loves Hero and is really sad that she has been accused, he’s sad for her
and also worried about his name as it’s bad to be seen talking to another man. It’s strange that
Benedick chooses this time to tell Beatrice that he loves her. Maybe he wants to cheer her up? ‘I
do love nothing in the world so well as you.’ This says that he loves her.
Love can make people happy and unhappy and Beatrice uses Benedick’s claim to test his love for
her and says he has to kill Claudio. ‘Kill Claudio.’ This is because it is important to see if the love
is real. She asks him to kill Claudio. He agrees to do it to show he loves her. This shows that love
can make you do things you don’t want to do.
In Act 5 scene 4 Benedick asks Leonato if he can marry Beatrice and doesn’t understand when
he is told that they love each other only because they were set up. ‘The sight whereof I think
you had from me, From Claudio and the Prince.’ Benedick doesn’t understand this answer
because he is in love so it shows love can stop you seeing the truth. This was what happened
to Claudio. If he had really known Hero he would have known it wasn’t her at the window.
Claudio is sorry that he accused Hero and agrees to marry her so-called cousin but it’s really Hero.
He’s really happy when he knows he’s got Hero back. So true love works in plays and things.
Beatrice and Benedick pretend they don’t really love each other but they do really and they
get married and everyone is happy except Don John who has been captured. So love makes
people happy.
• It focuses on the question and tries to answer it.
• It provides quotations to support the ideas but doesn’t really explain them.
• It covers both scenes but is too narrative, just telling the story.
• Move from telling the story to analysing the play.
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How is the theme of love explored in these scenes?
LEVEL 6 (mid)
These scenes show love is really complex and that often people who think they are in love aren’t
really. For example, Hero and Claudio are meant to be romantic lovers but they don’t know each
other properly, so how can they love each other? Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship explores
what love really is.
I think we are meant to see Hero and Claudio as an example of how romantic, idealised love isn’t
really any use and is pretty meaningless. If he knew her he wouldn’t believe she would talk with
another man and he’d know it wasn’t her at the window. The Friar knows this when he says that
Claudio will become more in love with her than ever when he thinks she’s dead: ‘every organ of
her life / Shall come apparelled in more precious habit, / More moving delicate, and full of life, /
Into the eye and prospect of his soul, / Than when she lived indeed.’
The interesting relationship in these scenes, as pretty much in the whole play, is Beatrice and
Benedick. I really like her because she stands up to men – even when he says he loves her she
tests this love and demands he ‘kill Claudio’. This shows that love is something people can use to
make other people do things for them. It also shows that Benedick has to change his love for his
male friends into his love for Beatrice. He has to change his allegiance if he really loves her and
stop being the man who claimed he’d never marry.
There is also Beatrice’s love for Hero. She knows she is innocent, calling her ‘sweet’ and ‘wronged’
because she knows this might as well be the end of Hero’s life if people think she has talked with
a man at a window. This friendship is probably the truest love in the play.
In Act 5 scene 4 Benedick is really in love with love and tells Leonato that he wants to marry
Beatrice. He doesn’t really understand when Leonato laughs and tells him he was tricked into this
love: ‘The sight whereof I think you had from me’. Benedick would once have understood him
immediately but is so wrapped up in the idea of loving Beatrice he finds this answer ‘enigmatical’
and carries on with what he wants. However, he does ask Beatrice again if she loves him.
When Beatrice says she loves him ‘no more than reason’, it at first seems like she doesn’t love
him. But you have to remember that she really loves arguments and ‘reason’ and so this might be
one of her ways of saying she does actually love him. However, they choose to take it as she only
loves him as a friend. This shows that love has many different forms, such as friendship, cousins,
romantic, etc.
When Beatrice and Benedick convince themselves that they must love each other because of the
sonnets they’ve written: ‘Here’s our own hands against our hearts’, it shows that the draw of
being in love is stronger than the knowledge they’re not really in love. Or it could be that they’ve
decided being with each other is better than being alone. It shows that love is really complex and
there are lots of different types of it.
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• It shows a clear understanding of the different types of love.
• It provides quotations to support the ideas, though some are too long and lack analysis.
• It covers many ideas and shows a detailed knowledge of the play.
• Make sure all narrative is turned into analysis.
• Use shorter quotations to show they know the exact point in the text that will support
their ideas.
• Provide analysis of language.
35
Pages 88–89
The language used emphasises the high emotions in the scenes. Explain how
Shakespeare has used language to create this emotion.
LEVEL 4 (low)
Leonato speaks with question marks to show he doesn’t know what to do: ‘What shall become
of this? What will this do?’ This shows he doesn’t know what to do in this situation. He is very
emotional and can’t think straight.
The Friar uses very calm language to make everyone listen to him and follow his plan (to pretend
Hero is dead). He uses lots of long words like ‘supposition’ and ‘reclusive’ to show he is wise and
it is a good plan.
Beatrice uses lots of exclamation marks to show her high emotions: ‘O that I were a man!’ These
show her high emotion and shows she really wants to be a man.
Don Pedro says Benedick has a ‘February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness’. This is a
metaphor and alliteration.
Lots of people use exclamation marks: ‘The former Hero! Hero that is dead!’ and these show high
emotions. They are all really surprised to see Hero as they thought she was dead. They are sure to
be surprised at seeing her alive now.
• It shows a general understanding of the characters in these scenes.
• It uses quotations but does not explain or analyse them.
• Provide more explanation and analysis of the language used. The quotations should be shorter
and the student needs to comment on specific words and phrases.
• Provide some explanation and analysis of the language techniques used, such as metaphor,
simile and alliteration.
36
The language used emphasises the high emotions in the scenes. Explain how
Shakespeare has used language to create this emotion.
LEVEL 6 (mid)
The section starts with the Friar’s calm words and plan. This creates a baseline against which all
the other characters can display high emotion (and do). Whilst the Friar tells them to ‘pause
awhile’, all Leonato can do is ask questions: ‘What shall become of this? What will this do?’
These short utterances contrast with the Friar’s long and balanced phrases and show Leonato’s
high emotions.
The Friar is able to take charge at this point because he is made to seem wise and he is the only
one with a plan. He uses complex language and alliteration such as: ‘strange sores strangely they
strain the cure’ which creates a harsh flowing sound and maybe suggests that they’ve got to go
through a bit more pain to achieve the happy outcome. He also alliterates the ‘p’s: ‘This wedding-
day Perhaps is but prolonged: have patience and endure’, which links the ideas together and
creates a strength the others need to follow.
The exchange between Beatrice and Benedick is fast and their lines are short, in contrast with the
Friar’s section before. This reminds us of their previous witty exchanges and hints at the high
emotions they carry: they cannot develop their words as they are so upset about Hero and love
each other and are scared it’s going to go wrong.
We see Beatrice’s high emotions when she declares she wishes she were a man: ‘O that I were a
man’. This shows her total frustration with the situation – as a woman, society won’t let her act
on what’s happened even though she has the will and strength to do so. It really upsets and
frustrates her – so much that she even repeats herself.
In Act 5 scene 4 Benedick is described as having a ‘February face’, and this metaphor sums up the
bleakness with which he regards his former friend – maybe he’s going over the top because he
knows there’s going to be a happy ending and doesn’t want to give it away. This metaphor is
emphasised with the alliteration of the ‘f’s: ‘full of frost’ and the whole thing is full of emotion.
When Hero is unmasked the emotion runs higher still, as shown by Don Pedro’s exclamations:
‘The former Hero! Hero that is dead!’ and once again the Friar is used to provide a calm contrast,
and emphasise the high emotions all around.
The emotions remain high, but become positive towards the end of the scene, and Benedick is
back to his usual wit and good humour when he declares he has been ‘beaten with brains’, the
alliteration once again pushing this phrase forward and creating humour.
37
• It shows a clear understanding of how the language shows emotion.
• Make sure all quotations are analysed fully, especially in terms of the language use and its
impact on the audience.
• Write a proper conclusion – this answer just stops.
38
Pages 90–91
The relationship between Beatrice and Benedick is very important in this play.
Imagine you are directing the play and explain how the actors playing these
characters should show their thoughts and emotions in these scenes.
LEVEL 4 (mid)
Beatrice has to cry all the time Leonato and the Friar are talking so that when Benedick comes
to talk to her he can ask her if she has cried all the time: ‘Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this
while?’ He should sound concerned and tender because he is about to tell her he loves her:
‘I do love nothing in the world so well as you’. This is different to the way they normally behave
and it will be very calm after the shock of Hero’s non-wedding.
Benedick wants Beatrice to say she loves him and he gets louder when he protests that he loves
her: ‘I protest I love thee’, because he wants her to believe it. When she finally says she loves him:
‘I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest’, they should get louder and
happier. The actors should join hands and swing each other around at this point. When Benedick
offers to do anything for Beatrice: ‘Come, bid me do anything for thee’ he should say it really
loudly and throw his arms open to show he means anything and wants to show his love. When
she asks him to kill Claudio: ‘Kill Claudio’, she must be really stern and serious and show she
means it. It will totally change the mood of the play and Benedick must stop dead in his tracks.
He should wait a bit before deciding to treat it as a joke but she is really serious and wants him
to do it and he should show it’s a really difficult thing to agree to but he does.
By the end of the scene they are serious – they know they love each other but Beatrice is sending
Benedick to kill his best friend.
In Act 5 scene 4 Benedick is lighter as he knows the Claudio and Hero situation is about to
be sorted and he asks Leonato if he can marry Beatrice with eagerness – but he is also a bit
embarrassed. Leonato’s answer makes him think and when he finally talks to Beatrice he wants
her to declare her love first because he’s now embarrassed again and then she’s got to act all cool
and embarrassed and answer in a riddle: ‘no more than reason’ but of course she loves reason,
so she loves Benedick. It should get funny again as they realise how they were tricked and they
should say their lines really quickly, getting louder and faster to make it funnier. When they are
shown the sonnets which prove they love each other they should be really embarrassed again
and Benedick should grab her hands and pull her to him so he can kiss her, which he does.
39
• It provides a good general understanding of Benedick and Beatrice and how they should
be portrayed.
• It makes some good general points about the direction of the characters but needs specific
detail. This can be done by linking the ideas to specific words and phrases in the play.
• It uses some quotations but these tend to just repeat what has already been stated.
• It tends to tell the story rather than explaining and analysing it.
• Try to analyse and direct the characters rather than narrate the story.
• Provide a short quotation to go with each idea and try not to repeat the quotation in their
own words.
• Make some comment about the language and its impact.
40
The relationship between Beatrice and Benedick is very important in this play.
Imagine you are directing the play and explain how the actors playing these
characters should show their thoughts and emotions in these scenes.
LEVEL 6 (low)
These characters undergo many different emotions in these scenes and the actors need to show
these emotions. They will both be in shock in Act 4 scene 1 after the Friar has revealed his plan
and Benedick should move slowly towards Beatrice when only they are left on the stage. She
should behave as if she wishes to be left alone to cry, ‘I will weep a while longer’, as all she can
think about is Hero. The alliteration of the ‘w’s will help her to string out this line, indicating the
length of time she will continue to weep.
Benedick should declare his love in a serious, pondering way, as if he is only just discovering it –
he wants to be the man who ‘would right’ Hero for Beatrice. The ‘Is not that strange?’ should be
delivered in a wondering way and it should stop Beatrice’s crying. Beatrice’s reply is like a riddle
and she should be quite flustered because she is on the verge of saying she also loves Benedick,
but she finishes very solidly with ‘I am sorry for my cousin’ as if this is the only fact she now
knows. This exchange should show us that these characters are experiencing changing thoughts
and emotions and are taking time to use their natural wit and intelligence to work out exactly
what’s going on.
Benedick changes the tone and pace of the scene with: ‘By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me’.
The actor should be really emotional and melodramatic – it will be good to introduce humour
after all the passion and trauma there has been, and to make Beatrice’s later request of Benedick
even more shocking.
Beatrice’s demand ‘Kill Claudio’ should be delivered in a calm, deliberate way that totally cuts
across the good humour and excitement of the preceding lines. Benedick has been expansive and
offers to do anything to prove his love but was obviously not expecting this. The actors need to
ensure this demand stops everything – what we hear and what we see. Benedick should freeze
and then shake himself a little before doing a false laugh and treating the whole thing as a joke.
Beatrice should make it clear it’s not a joke and go to walk away. We see her persuade him and
the mood and tone of the scene once again become really serious and sombre.
By the time we get to Act 5 scene 4 the mood has changed again. They hope the plan to reunite
Hero and Claudio will work and Benedick is on a knife-edge due to this and publicly declaring
that he and Beatrice love each other. Benedick should show his nerves when he asks Leonato if
he can marry Beatrice – his words come out in short phrases and this shows he is not as secure
about himself as he normally is. Leonato’s laughter and response unnerves him even more and
by the time he gets to talk to Beatrice he wants to check she really does love him. All through
the section with Hero and Leonato he should show he is concerned and worried and nervous.
He should keep looking at the masked women, trying to work out which is Beatrice. Maybe the
fact that he can’t shows he doesn’t really know her well enough to love her as he says he does?
41
When Beatrice and Benedick finally get to talk to each other they have to try and pretend they do
not really care what the other one says. They should talk and act quite casual and pretend to find
the trick really funny. They could over-play the laughter and acting to show it’s a show. When
they are shown the sonnets they have to be embarrassed but Benedick should make a show
about it being the truth and direct his comment about ‘I take thee for pity’ to all the other
characters, to help save face. Beatrice can do the same with ‘partly to save your life’ and the
sense of good humour is restored.
• It uses some references clearly, choosing them to support and focus the answer.
• It provides some analysis of language techniques and effects.
• Provide more analysis of the language of the play, with special focus on its effects.
• Ensure each idea is supported with a precisely selected quotation – the student is good at
this in the first part of the answer but forgets to do it in the later part.
42
Shakespeare practice paper:
Pages 94–95
Imagine you are directing this play. Explain how you want the actor playing Leonato
to show his thoughts and emotions in these scenes.
LEVEL 4 (low)
Leonato should be really worried and desperate in the first extract because he thinks that he has
been shamed as much as Hero. He can wave his hands about to show he doesn’t know what to
do. He can ask his questions in a high voice to show he is out of control: ‘What shall become of
this? What will this do?’ As the Friar offers his plan he should calm down and respond by shaking
his head and nodding when he likes the idea.
In Section 2 (Act 5 scene 4) he should be really excited and jumpy because the plan is about to
happen and Hero is OK again. He’s really happy that everyone was innocent and everyone had
been betrayed. He should be really excited when he tells the girls to go off and put masks on.
He should show his thoughts and emotions by running around everywhere and smiling loads.
When Benedick tells him that he loves Beatrice he laughs at him because the trick worked.
When Don Pedro and Claudio come in he has to act really sad again and the actor has to show
that this is just put on. He could do this by looking at the audience and smiling when they can’t
see him. His language is formal and he has to say it in a very formal way: ‘Good morrow, Prince;
good morrow, Claudio. We here attend you. Are you yet determined Today to marry with my
brother’s daughter?’ The actor needs to be really serious and formal when he says this.
When Hero is revealed he can be really happy again and should be smiling and dancing around.
• It shows a general understanding of Leonato.
• It uses some quotations but these are not explained fully.
• Provide a short quotation for each idea.
• Comment on the language used in more detail.
• Try to vary the ideas.
43
Imagine you are directing this play. Explain how you want the actor playing Leonato
to show his thoughts and emotions in these scenes.
LEVEL 6 (low)
Although Leonato doesn’t say much in these scenes he’s a really important character because he
shows us the impact of the accusations and the importance of public opinion. He also functions
to make Benedick rethink his ‘love’ for Beatrice.
When we see Leonato in the first Section, he is distraught and the actor must show this through
gesture, movement and vocal tone. He should allow the Friar to support him but should look as
if his world has crashed down, which it has, because not only has Hero been dishonoured, but
that will transfer to him. Public opinion is so important at this time that it really really matters,
especially to Leonato. All he can do is ask questions: ‘What shall become of this? What will this
do?’ He can’t develop his ideas further or say any more because he is so shocked. This is a real
contrast to the Leonato we have seen earlier in the play, who always had something to say and
was confident in who he was and the respect he deserved from all.
He should respond carefully to the Friar’s ideas, especially when he points out ‘Then shall he
mourn’ when Claudio thinks Hero is dead. He should show wonder and thought as he is listening
to this plan but should obviously not be totally convinced, which makes the Friar put together his
‘Plan B’ where poor Hero just gets shoved in a nunnery.
The actor needs to show that this once proud and charismatic man is broken by these allegations
and he allows Benedick to tell him what to do, as he says, ‘the smallest twine may lead me’,
suggesting that he has no power to resist anything anymore. This image is really powerful and
could be emphasised by the actor as he leaves the stage.
We need to see a totally different Leonato in the second Section: he should be excited, anxious
and bubbling over with happiness as the moment of proving Hero’s reputation and marrying her
to Claudio is upon him. He should also be really pleased and excited that Don Pedro, Claudio and
Margaret can also be excused, and he should ensure we are all clear about this, otherwise Claudio
isn’t worthy of Hero! At this point in the scene, Leonato tells the audience lots of information so
it is important the actor makes this clear – we have to understand about the innocence and the
plan with the masks. The word play with ‘brother: You must be father to your brother’s daughter’
would delight him and he should show his glee at the plan and its complications.
This glee and delight gets taken into his conversation with Benedick and we once again see the
man who loves to manipulate and interfere in the lives of others – for the best possible reasons, of
course – as he matter-of-factly tells Benedick that he has been set up. He should really enjoy this
moment as it reminds him of a happier time. His tone should be light and straight and he should
be really pleased that Benedick now says he wants to marry Beatrice, but the audience should see
that he has done this too carelessly and has left Benedick reconsidering what he feels.
44
As Don Pedro and Claudio enter, Leonato has to visibly change his tone and look – they still think
Hero is dead and so he can’t be so happy. His language is formal and this should be reflected in
his tone and physical relationship to them. He should be formal and tight. He can spit out the
words ‘Good morrow’, being over-polite and distant. When the exchange between Claudio and
Antonio is happening, Leonato should barely be in control and should fidget and respond by
being formal and stiff. His final reproach: ‘She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived’, is really
difficult as it’s serious even though he’s now happy again. It’s important that this is made clear, so
that everyone knows and realises the power of public opinion when such things are accused. For
Leonato that was a period when he lost his reputation as well as his daughter.
We see the happy and fun-loving Leonato again when he deals with Beatrice and Benedick and
later calls for dancing. He should ooze confidence and happiness now that his world is all set
to rights again.
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ENGLISH WORKBOOK 3–7 ANSWERS

Shakespeare practice tasks:

Quotation Technique Effect

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