Writer's methods — Much Ado About Nothing — Edexcel GCSE English Literature 1ET0
Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Writer's methods
Writer's methods
What you need to know
How Shakespeare's form, structure and language create meaning: comedy and its near-tragic turn, the double plot,
prose and verse, witty dialogue and wordplay, overhearing and dramatic irony, Dogberry's malapropisms, song, and imagery of war, horns and fashion.
Prose for the wit of Beatrice and Benedick and the comedy of the watch, and verse for Claudio and Hero, the church scene and Beatrice's soliloquy.
The parallel gulling scenes in Act 2 Scene 3 and Act 3 Scene 1, and the dramatic irony of the watch knowing the truth before the wedding.
Puns and wordplay such as the 'skirmish of wit', Dogberry's malapropisms such as 'Comparisons are odorous', and the song 'Sigh no more, ladies'.
Imagery of war for courtship, horns for cuckoldry, and fashion and clothing for false appearances.
Edexcel's Shakespeare question has two parts: part (a) on the printed extract marks only language, form and structure (AO2), so context earns nothing there; part (b) on the play elsewhere, from memory, marks the argument and its references (AO1, 15 marks) and context (AO3, 5 marks), not language analysis. Say which part each worked paragraph and exam tip is for.
