Hi! These are my A-Level notes, essays and resources I used to sit the 2018 summer exams, in AQA Psychology, AQA Economics and AQA English Literature (achieving A*A*A). Hope you find these useful.
Hi! These are my A-Level notes, essays and resources I used to sit the 2018 summer exams, in AQA Psychology, AQA Economics and AQA English Literature (achieving A*A*A). Hope you find these useful.
AQA English Literature A; Love through the ages (7711, 7712) - I sat my a-level exams in June 2018 and achieved an A grade in English Literature
This resource includes a discussion of the theme of tragedy and how it relates to Othello, The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire.
It considers
The traditional Aristotelian tragic hero, and characteristics
Gatsby as a tragic hero
Othello as a tragic hero
Blanche DuBois as a tragic heroine
Critical evaluation of Blanche’s heroism
Othello AQA English Literature A; Love through the ages (7711, 7712) - I sat my A-levels in June 2018 and achieved an A grade in English Literature
Here is a list of scholarly criticisms of Othello, great for using in essays to engage in wider debate (and achieve higher band answers). Includes:
Commentary from Godfrey, Leavis, AC Bradley, Samuel Coleridge and various others
Critical approaches; post-colonial, new historicist, feminist, marxist
Analysis of Othello as a protagonist, themes of justice and revenge, marriage and women etc.
AQA English Literature A; Love through the ages (7711, 7712)
Tennesse Williams -** A Streetcar Named Desire
*I sat my A-levels in June 2018 and achieved an A grade in English Lit
Includes essay plans for:
Examine the view that ‘men in A Streetcar Named Desire are most despicable, it is the women who show nobility of character’.
Examine the view that A Streetcar Named Desire fails because Blanche is unable to achieve true tragic dignity.
Examine the role of deception in the action of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Examine the view that in A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella symbolises the plight of women in 1940s American society, where life without the support of a man is inconceivable.
Examine the view that 'We do not sympathise enough with Blanche to make this play truly tragic'
Also includes templates for your own attempts at essay plans and practice questions!
AQA English Literature A-level; Specification A (7711, 7712). Love through the ages; comparative set texts (Great Gatsby and Love poetry pre-1900)
Includes example essays and teacher-assessed marks (all Band 5, 21-22/25)
Compare how the authors of two texts you have studied present ideas about unrequited love
Compare how the writers of two texts you have studied present ideas about immorality in love
Compare how the writers of two texts you have studied present ideas about truth and deception in love
Compare how the authors of two texts you have studied present ideas about romantic commitment
Compare how the writers of two texts you have studied present ideas about conflict within relationships
(Cross-poetry analysis) Compare how the authors of two texts you have studied present ideas about loss of love
From AQA A-level English Literature A ‘Love through the ages’ (7711, 7712) -*I sat my exams in June 2018 and achieved an A grade. *
This resource contains a list of 25-mark essay plans (fully-written essays as well as structured plans), and a list of key quotations:
Discuss how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Othello and Desdemona in this extract and elsewhere in the play (25 marks)
'As lovers, Othello and Desdemona either worship or despise one another. There is no middle ground.’
In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello’s and Desdemona’s attitudes towards one another in this extract and elsewhere in the play. (25 marks)
‘Paradoxically, texts present jealousy as a destructive force existing within the deepest of love’. In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello’s feelings for Desdemona in this extract and elsewhere in the play. (25 marks)
Structured plans
‘Bleak, pessimistic view on love: it is a cause of misery and sadness’
Typically, love is presented as an all-consuming, malicious force’. In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents love in this passage and elsewhere in the play.
In Othello, females are presented as weak-minded and subservient in their relationships with their husband’. In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents marital love in this extract and elsewhere in the play.
‘Shakespeare presents love as successfully transcending boundaries and difficulties’. In light of this view, examine the relationship between Othello and Desdemona in this extract and elsewhere in the play.
‘Typically, texts present men as unable to control their emotions or act rationally upon them’. In light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello’s emotions in this extract and elsewhere in the play.