Drama and poetry pre-1900 (Component 01) - Section 2 set texts: Drama and poetry pre-1900 - Learners study one pre-1900 drama text: — OCR A-Level English Literature
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Drama and poetry pre-1900 (Component 01) - Section 2 set texts: Drama and poetry pre-1900 - Learners study one pre-1900 drama text: explained
Learners studying Christopher Marlowe's 'Edward II' as their chosen pre-1900 drama text must analyse its dramatic methods and contextual significance.
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As an Elizabethan tragedy, the play explores the conflict between personal desire and political duty, focusing on Edward's relationship with Gaveston. Students should examine Marlowe's use of blank verse, stagecraft, and characterisation. Furthermore, the text must be read in light of its historical context, including Renaissance ideas of kingship and early modern attitudes towards power. In the exam, learners are required to compare 'Edward II' with their chosen pre-1900 poetry text, drawing perceptive connections between the dramatic and poetic genres.
John Webster: The Duchess of Malfi
Studying John Webster's Jacobean tragedy, 'The Duchess of Malfi', for Component 01 requires learners to analyse dramatic methods and contextual influences in a pre-1900 drama text. Students must explore how Webster constructs meaning through stagecraft, dialogue, and characterisation, focusing on the Duchess's defiance of patriarchal structures and the corruption of the Italian court. As a Section 2 set text, it is essential to connect the play's thematic concerns, such as social class, madness, and revenge, to its 17th-century context. A concrete approach involves analysing Bosola's role as a malcontent and how his cynical commentary bridges the gap between the corrupt aristocracy and the audience, illuminating the moral decay of the era.
Oliver Goldsmith: She Stoops to Conquer
For Component 01, Section 2, learners study Oliver Goldsmith's 'She Stoops to Conquer' as their chosen pre-1900 drama text. This requires analysing how Goldsmith uses laughing comedy conventions to satirise 18th-century sentimental comedies. Students must examine dramatic methods, including mistaken identity and witty dialogue, to understand how meaning is constructed. A concrete method is evaluating Kate Hardcastle's manipulation of class and gender expectations when she 'stoops' to play a barmaid, thereby curing Marlow's anxiety. Learners must connect these dramatic techniques to the Georgian context, exploring themes of social hierarchy, marriage, and the stark contrast between fashionable town society and traditional country life.
Henrik Ibsen: A Doll’s House
Studying Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House requires analysing its ground-breaking role in nineteenth-century realist drama and its critique of bourgeois Victorian marriage. You must explore how Ibsen uses dramatic techniques, such as the claustrophobic single-room setting and the symbolic tarantella dance, to expose the restrictive gender roles of the era. A successful study involves evaluating Nora’s psychological journey from a seemingly compliant 'lark' to an independent woman who famously slams the door on societal expectations. You should also connect the play to its contextual background, including the New Woman movement and nineteenth-century legal constraints on women, while comparing its thematic concerns with your chosen pre-1900 poetry text.
Oscar Wilde: An Ideal Husband
Studying Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband involves analysing its blend of sparkling drawing-room comedy and biting political melodrama. You must explore how Wilde uses epigrammatic wit, paradox, and the figure of the dandy to satirise late-Victorian hypocrisy, political corruption, and rigid moral absolutism. A thorough study requires examining the contrasting female archetypes presented through Lady Chiltern and Mrs Cheveley, and how they reflect contemporary anxieties about the New Woman and public morality. Furthermore, you must evaluate the play's fin-de-siècle context and seamlessly connect its thematic explorations of public versus private morality with your chosen pre-1900 poetry text to build a comparative argument.
Your focus
- Analyse Marlowe's use of dramatic form, structure, and language in 'Edward II'.
- Evaluate the influence of Elizabethan political and social contexts on the play's themes.
- Synthesise comparative arguments linking the dramatic methods in 'Edward II' to a pre-1900 poetry text.
Show all 15 objectives
- Identify and analyse key dramatic techniques used by Webster to construct characters and themes.
- Evaluate the impact of Jacobean social, political, and religious contexts on the play's reception and meaning.
- Formulate a coherent, well-supported argument regarding the play's exploration of power and corruption.
- Analyse the dramatic techniques Goldsmith uses to create comedy and drive the narrative.
- Evaluate the play's commentary on 18th-century social class and gender roles.
- Compare the differing attitudes towards town and country life as presented through the play's characters.
- Analyse how Ibsen uses realist dramatic techniques and stagecraft to develop character and theme.
- Evaluate the impact of nineteenth-century socio-historical contexts on the play's reception and meaning.
- Synthesise connections between the dramatic text and a paired pre-1900 poetry text focusing on shared thematic concerns.
- Analyse Wilde's use of language, wit, and dramatic structure to satirise Victorian social mores.
- Evaluate the significance of late-nineteenth-century political and social contexts in shaping the play's narrative.
- Construct a comparative argument linking the play's exploration of morality and society to a pre-1900 poetry text.
Drama and poetry pre-1900 (Component 01) - Section 2 set texts: Drama and poetry pre-1900 - Learners study one pre-1900 drama text: exam tips
Marking Points
- Analyse Marlowe's dramatic techniques in 'Edward II', including stage directions, soliloquies, and blank verse.
- Evaluate the contextual significance of Elizabethan politics, kingship, and social hierarchy within the play.
- Explore the thematic tensions between public duty and private desire, particularly through the characters of Edward, Gaveston, and Mortimer.
- Construct a cohesive comparative argument linking 'Edward II' to the chosen pre-1900 poetry text.
- Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the play's plot, characters, and dramatic structure.
- Analyse Webster's use of language, imagery (such as disease and corruption), and stagecraft.
- Evaluate the significance of contextual factors, such as Jacobean views on women, religion, and the Great Chain of Being.
- Articulate informed, independent interpretations of key characters like the Duchess, Ferdinand, and Bosola.
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the play's comedic structure, plot, and character dynamics.
- Analyse Goldsmith's dramatic methods, focusing on irony, farce, and the subversion of theatrical conventions.
- Evaluate the influence of 18th-century social contexts, particularly regarding class distinctions and marriage markets.
- Construct a well-evidenced argument that explores the tension between appearance and reality within the play.
- Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the play's plot, characters, and dramatic structure.
- Analyse Ibsen's use of stagecraft, including props like the macaroons or the letterbox, and lighting to convey thematic meaning.
- Evaluate the influence of late nineteenth-century socio-historical contexts, particularly regarding gender, law, and bourgeois respectability.
- Construct a coherent argument that links the play's exploration of power and deception to the paired pre-1900 poetry text.
- Analyse Wilde's use of comedic conventions, epigrams, and paradoxes to critique late-Victorian society.
- Evaluate the dramatic function of character archetypes, such as the dandy, the blackmailer, and the morally inflexible spouse.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the fin-de-siècle context, particularly regarding political corruption, aestheticism, and gender expectations.
- Develop a comparative analysis that links Wilde's thematic concerns with those found in the paired pre-1900 poetry text.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Track the shifting power dynamics and use of physical props, such as the crown, to discuss Marlowe's stagecraft.
- 💡Integrate contextual details about the Elizabethan succession and the Machiavellian villain to enrich your analysis of Mortimer.
- 💡Ensure your comparative points with the poetry text are rooted in specific dramatic and poetic methods, not just broad themes.
- 💡Focus closely on Webster's use of macabre imagery and how it reflects the psychological states of the characters.
- 💡Use specific terminology related to drama, such as soliloquy, aside, and proxemics, when discussing how meaning is shaped.
- 💡Ensure that your argument balances close textual analysis with a broad understanding of the play's overarching themes and contexts.
- 💡Track how Marlow's language and behaviour shift depending on the perceived social class of the women he addresses.
- 💡Use precise comedic terminology, such as farce, satire, and comedy of manners, to elevate your analysis.
- 💡Always link the characters' deceptions and disguises back to the overarching theme of truth versus appearance.
- 💡Always reference specific stage directions, such as the stove or the Christmas tree, to demonstrate an understanding of the play as a performed piece.
- 💡Use Torvald's patronising pet names for Nora to analyse the power dynamics and linguistic control within their marriage.
- 💡When comparing with poetry, focus on shared concepts like entrapment, societal expectations, or the facade of respectability rather than superficial plot similarities.
- 💡Quote Wilde's stage directions, which often provide crucial, witty insights into characterisation and the artificiality of high society.
- 💡Contrast the linguistic styles of different characters, such as Mrs Cheveley's manipulative rhetoric versus Lord Goring's paradoxical philosophy, to explore power dynamics.
- 💡Structure your comparative essays around conceptual links, such as the tension between public duty and private desire, to ensure a cohesive argument with your poetry text.
Common Mistakes
- Error: Treating the play as a historical document rather than a constructed piece of drama. Correction: Focus on Marlowe's dramatic choices, stagecraft, and language rather than just the historical events of Edward's reign.
- Error: Applying modern terminology and moral frameworks to the relationships in the play without historical nuance. Correction: Analyse the relationships using early modern concepts of favouritism, sodomy, and political alliance.
- Error: Writing a standalone essay on 'Edward II' in Section 2. Correction: Ensure the essay is a balanced comparison between the drama text and the chosen pre-1900 poetry.
- Treating the play as a historical document rather than a constructed piece of drama; correction: always analyse the text as a performance piece, referencing stage directions and dramatic irony.
- Ignoring the specific demands of the Jacobean revenge tragedy genre; correction: explicitly discuss genre conventions such as the malcontent, the Machiavellian villain, and the use of spectacle.
- Providing generic historical context without linking it to the text; correction: integrate contextual knowledge directly into the analysis of specific scenes or character motivations.
- Focusing solely on the plot without analysing the comedic mechanics; correction: explicitly discuss how Goldsmith generates humour through dramatic irony and character foils.
- Misunderstanding the specific context of 'laughing comedy'; correction: contrast the play's robust, farcical elements with the moralising tone of sentimental comedy.
- Overlooking the significance of the setting; correction: analyse how the country house setting functions as a catalyst for the subversion of rigid social hierarchies.
- Treating the play merely as a feminist tract; instead, recognise Ibsen's broader humanist critique of societal hypocrisy and individual freedom.
- Ignoring the dramatic form by writing about the characters as real people; instead, analyse them as constructs shaped by Ibsen's stage directions and dialogue.
- Failing to integrate contextual factors organically; instead of bolting on historical facts, explain how nineteenth-century marital laws directly drive the plot and Nora's desperation.
- Focusing solely on the comedic dialogue without addressing the underlying political and moral seriousness; instead, analyse how the wit serves as a vehicle for social critique.
- Treating Lady Chiltern as a flawless victim; instead, critically examine how Wilde presents her rigid moral idealism as dangerous and destructive.
- Providing historical context about Wilde's personal life that does not illuminate the text; instead, focus on the specific late-Victorian political and social contexts relevant to the play's themes.