DRAFT
BA EXAMINATION BY COURSE UNIT
ESH101
HOURS
SHAKESPEARE
DURATION: 3
YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO TURN THIS QUESTION PAPER OVER UNTIL
INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY AN INVIGILATOR.
Answer BOTH Questions. You are advised to take 10 minutes to read the whole
paper before beginning to answer, and to pay careful attention to the rubric and to
the number of marks available in each case.
In your answer to question 2, you may NOT choose a scene from the play you have
chosen for your answer to question 1, and you may NOT choose two plays from the
same semester.
If you answer more questions than specified, only the first answers (up to the
specified number) will be marked. Cross out any answers that you do not wish
to be marked.
Complete all rough workings in the answer book and cross through any work that is
not to be assessed.
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO TAKE INTO THE EXAMINATION A COPY OF THE
NORTON SHAKESPEARE (THIRD EDITION). THE COPY MUST CONTAIN
NEITHER INSERTED PAPER (SMALL BOOKMARKS ARE PERMITTED) NOR
EXTENSIVE HANDWRITTEN TEXT (SHORT MARGINAL NOTES ARE
PERMITTED).
Possession of unauthorised material at any time when under examination conditions
is an assessment offence and can lead to expulsion from QMUL. Check now to
ensure you do not have any notes, mobile phones or unauthorised electronic devices
on your person. If you do, raise your hand and give them to an invigilator
immediately. It is also an offence to have any writing of any kind on your person,
including on your body. If you are found to have hidden unauthorised material
elsewhere, including toilets and cloakrooms it will be treated as being found in your
possession. Unauthorised material found on your mobile phone or other electronic
device will be considered the same as being in possession of paper notes. A mobile
phone that causes a disruption in the exam is also an assessment offence.
EXAM PAPERS MUST NOT BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAM ROOM
Examiners: Professor Warren Boutcher, Professor Claire Preston, Professor Andrea
Brady, Dr. Lucy Razzall
© Queen Mary, University of London, 2016
Question One [50 marks]
Choose one of the following scenes (1.a-h) and write an analysis
of it. [Norton third edition page-numbers are given with each
quotation.]
In your analysis you should demonstrate both close-reading skills,
and your ability to situate this kind of analysis within a larger
argument about narrative development and dramatic context.
You may, if you wish, choose to focus your close-reading on
a shorter passage within your scene (c. 15-30 lines); however,
you should not lose sight of its place and role within the
scene as a whole.
a) ‘I pray thee, good Mercutio … pardoning those that kill.’ (Romeo
and Juliet Act 3 Scene 1, 1-195) (N 1000-1004)
b) ‘I have been studying how to compare … and give them burial
here.’ (Richard II Act 5 Scene 5, 1-118) (N 952-955)
c) ‘Hence! Home, you idle creatures … keep us all in servile
fearfulness.’ (Julius Caesar Act 1 Scene 1, 1-74) (N 16951696)
d) ‘What country, friends, is this?… I thank thee. Lead me on.’
(Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 2, 1-63) (N 1918-1920)
e) ‘I have sent to seek him and to find the body … my joys will
ne'er begin.’ (Hamlet Act 3 Scene 6, 1-65) (N 1823-1825)
f) ‘Sweet Phoebe, do not scorn me .... Go with me, Silvius.’ (As
You Like It, Act 3 Scene 5, 1-138) (N 1662-1665)
g) ‘Come, shelter, shelter! …How the rogue roared!’ (Henry IV,
part 1, Act 2 Scene 2, 1-100) (N 1194-1196)
© Queen Mary, University of London, 2016
h) ‘Though in the trade of war …. Bondslaves and pagans shall
our statesmen be.’ (Othello, Act 1 Scene 2, 1-99) (N 20892091)
Question Two [50 marks]
Write an essay comparing and contrasting a semester one play
and a semester two play, with particular reference to a scene or
sequence from each play (one play/scene must be chosen from
the list below, 2.a-h; the other is your choice).
Do not write about a play you have already discussed in Question
1. Do not write about two plays from the same semester. If you
commit either rubric infringement you will be awarded 0 marks for
this question.
You must select one of the scenes/ sequences from the list below
(2.a-h) and, as part of your essay, compare and/or contrast it (or a
substantial part of it) with a scene or sequence of your own
choice from a play from the other semester (a 'sequence' means
that it must consist of a consecutive passage of action from within
a scene or across scenes).
You should pay attention in your answer to the dramatic contexts
of the passages you are considering.
Semester One plays: Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, Julius
Caesar, Twelfth Night.
Semester Two plays: Hamlet, As You Like It, Henry IV part 1,
Othello.
a) ‘Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie … Stay but a little. I will
come again.’ (Semester 1, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 Scene 0,
line 1 - Act 2 Scene 1, line 180) (N 985-989)
b) ‘So that by this intelligence we learn … Then I must not say no.’
(Semester 1, Richard II, Act 3 Scene 3, 1-208) (N 930-934)
© Queen Mary, University of London, 2016
c) ‘But here comes Antony … Now mark him. He begins again to
speak.’ (Semester 1, Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 1, line 149 Act 3 Scene 2, line 115) (N 1722-1727)
d) ‘Nay, I prithee put on this gown … That they may fairly note this
act of mine.’ (Semester 1, Twelfth Night, Act 4 Scene 2, line 1
- Act 4, Scene 3, line 35) (N 1959-1963)
e) ‘Who's there? … Where we shall find him most convenient.’
(Semester 2, Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 1, 1-174) (N 1764-68)
f) ‘Which is he that killed that deer? … Will you go?.’ (Semester
2, As You Like It, Act 4 Scene 2, line 1 - Act 4 Scene 3, line
179) (N 1669-1673)
g) ‘I prithee, Harry, withdraw thyself … Let us not leave till all our
own be won.’ (Semester 2, Henry IV, part 1, Act 5 Scene 4,
line 1 - Act 5 Scene 5, line 44) (N 1239-1243)
h) ‘How now, Roderigo? … Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad,
mend.’ (Semester 2, Othello, Act 4 Scene 2, line 170 - Act 4
Scene 3, line 100) (N 2142-2146)
End of Paper
© Queen Mary, University of London, 2016