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Grade 12 Literature Setwork
NSC and SC Examination
Question Papers and Memoranda
(Marking Guidelines)
English Home Language:
Drama – Hamlet
All Examination Question Papers and
Marking Guidelines:
Copyright Department of Basic
Education
,English Home Language/P2 15 DBE/November 2018
NSC
SECTION C: DRAMA
Answer ONLY on the play you have studied.
HAMLET – William Shakespeare
Answer EITHER QUESTION 10 (essay question) OR QUESTION 11 (contextual
question).
QUESTION 10: HAMLET – ESSAY QUESTION
Gertrude and Ophelia's passivity makes them vulnerable to exploitation and
manipulation.
Critically discuss the extent to which you agree with the above statement.
Your response should take the form of a well-constructed essay of 400–450 words
(2–2½ pages). [25]
QUESTION 11: HAMLET – CONTEXTUAL QUESTION
Read the extracts below and then answer the questions that follow.
EXTRACT E
GUILDENSTERN
But we both obey,
And here give up ourselves in the full bent,
To lay our service freely at your feet
To be commanded.
CLAUDIUS
Thanks Rosencrantz, and gentle Guildenstern. 5
GERTRUDE
Thanks Guildenstern, and gentle Rosencrantz,
And I beseech you instantly to visit
My too much changéd son. Go some of you
And bring these gentlemen where Hamlet is.
GUILDENSTERN
Heavens make our presence and our practices 10
Pleasant and helpful to him!
GERTRUDE
Ay, amen!
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern off
Enter Polonius. He speaks apart with the king.
POLONIUS
The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord, 15
Are joyfully returned.
CLAUDIUS
Thou still hast been the father of good news.
POLONIUS
Have I, my lord? Assure you, my good liege,
I hold my duty as I hold my soul,
Copyright reserved Please turn over
2 Grade 12 Literature Setwork English Home Language
, English Home Language/P2 16 DBE/November 2018
NSC
Both to my God and to my gracious king, 20
And I do think, or else this brain of mine
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure
As it hath used to do, that I have found
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy.
CLAUDIUS
O speak of that! That do I long to hear. 25
POLONIUS
Give first admittance to th'ambassadors.
My news shall be the fruit to that great feast.
CLAUDIUS
Thyself do grace to them, and bring them in.
Polonius off
He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found 30
The head and source of all your son's distemper.
…
[Re-enter Polonius]
POLONIUS
You know sometimes he walks four hours together
Here in the lobby.
GERTRUDE
So he does, indeed. 35
POLONIUS
At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him.
Be you and I behind an arras then.
Mark the encounter.
[Act 2, Scene 2]
11.1 Refer to lines 1–4: 'But we both …To be commanded.'
Explain what has prompted Claudius and Gertrude to send for Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern. (3)
11.2 Refer to line 8: 'My too much changéd son.'
Account for the change that has come upon Hamlet. (3)
11.3 Refer to lines 18–20: 'Assure you, … my gracious king'.
Discuss how this statement is typical of Polonius's character. (3)
11.4 Refer to line 36: 'At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him.'
Based on your knowledge of the play as a whole, comment on the role
Ophelia plays in influencing Hamlet's attitude toward women. (3)
11.5 Refer to lines 10–11: 'Heavens make our … helpful to him!'
Comment on the irony of Guildenstern's words in the above lines. (3)
AND
Copyright reserved Please turn over
Grade 12 Literature Setwork English Home Language 3
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