Writer's methods — Much Ado About Nothing — OCR GCSE English Literature J352
OCR GCSE English Literature · J352
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.
OCR's question on this play is one essay, from a choice of two, for 40 marks: an extract-based question on the printed extract and the play elsewhere, or a discursive question on a view of the play, using at least two moments. Response (AO1) and language, form and structure (AO2) carry the most weight and equal weight, context (AO3) counts as the play shows it, and 4 marks are for vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation (AO4). An extract-based answer that never leaves the extract, or a discursive answer built on one moment, cannot go above Level 3. Each worked paragraph and exam tip is labelled with the question it is for.
