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English A level A* student Duchess of Malfi context (AO3) notes £10.99
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English A level A* student Duchess of Malfi context (AO3) notes

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35 page document with detailed contextual information on the Duchess of Malfi, linking each context point directly to the play. Helped me achieve an A*, almost full marks.

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  • September 7, 2022
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  • 2022/2023
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English A Level
Assessment objectives:
AO1: Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated concepts and
terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression.
AO2: Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts.
AO3: Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts
are written and received.
AO4: Explore connections across literary texts.
AO5: Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations.

Drama and poetry pre-1900 Comparative and Literature post-1900
contextual study


7th of June 2021 15th of June 2021 Coursework - completed

2hr 30 mins 2hr 30 mins

40% 40% 20%

Section 1: The Tempest Critical appreciation of an
unseen Gothic passage (close
Section 2: The Duchess of reading)
Malfi + The Merchant’s Tale
and Prologue Comparative Gothic essay:
Frankenstein + The Bloody
Chamber

Drama + poetry pre-1900: Section 2

The Duchess of Malfi

Exam:
- Choice of six questions (each with different thematic / literary focus) → choose one
- Answer is based on a comparative study, with substantial discussion of both The Duchess of
Malfi + Chaucer
- 30 marks
- Make sure your essays show that you know that the characters are CONSTRUCTS being used by
the writers
- The key term in the essay question that needs exploring is that which is in the sentence that
follows the statement - consider the ways in which writers explore …
[__ therefore engage with this part of the question IMMEDIATELY in your thesis
- Don’t just give lots of examples of the theme in the play - in your thesis consider what
the play says about society and life, and how this relates to the Q
- Work context into the thesis

AO3 50% marks

AO4 25% 7. marks

, AO1 12.5% 3. marks

AO5 12.5% 3. marks

Past exam questions:
➔ ‘Literature often celebrates the strong bonds between human beings.’ In the light of this view,
consider ways in which writers explore the strength of human relationships. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Stereotypes about gender are as inappropriate in literature as they are in life.’ In the light of this
view, consider ways in which writers explore gender roles. In your answer, compare one drama
text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Literary works often explore the consequences of human error.’ In the light of this view, consider
ways in which writers explore poor decisions. In your answer, compare one drama text and one
poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘The instinct to control others is natural in humanity.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in
which writers explore control and authority. In your answer, compare one drama text and one
poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Happiness is difficult to find and keep.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers
explore happiness. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above
lists.
➔ ‘Love brings difficulties as well as pleasures.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in which
writers explore love relationships. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text
from the above lists.
➔ ‘We live in a world of constant change.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers
explore change. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Foolish acts and their consequences are an important part of literature.’ In the light of this view,
consider ways in which writers explore human folly and its effects. In your answer, compare one
drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Literature is very good at exploring intense emotion’ In the light of this view, consider ways in
which writers explore intense feelings and emotions. In your answer, compare one drama text and
one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘We always need to be prepared for disappointment in life.’ In the light of this view, consider
ways in which writers explore disappointment. In your answer, compare one drama text and one
poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Literature proves that human beings are intent on deceiving one another.’ In the light of this
view, consider ways in which writers explore deceit and delusion. In your answer, compare one
drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘People are naturally inclined towards vain and selfish behaviour.’ In the light of this view,
consider ways in which writers explore vanity and selfishness. In your answer, compare one
drama text and one poetry text from the above list.
➔ ‘Hidden truths will always be revealed in the end.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in
which writers explore truth and secrecy. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry
text from the above lists.
➔ ‘The Outsider is always an intriguing figure in literature.’ In the light of this view, consider ways
in which writers explore those who are placed outside the centre of society. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Literature often presents characters in a state of reflection.’ In the light of this view, consider
ways in which writers explore the significance of thought and reflection. In your answer, compare
one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.

, ➔ ‘Freedom is a condition towards which all humanity aspires.’ In the light of this view, consider
ways in which writers explore the desire for freedom. In your answer, compare one drama text
and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Loss and suffering are familiar conditions in human experience.’ In the light of this view,
consider ways in which writers explore loss and suffering. In your answer, compare one drama
text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Love is invariably possessive.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore
love and possession. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above
lists.
➔ ‘Good writing about sexual relationships is invariably moral.’ In the light of this view, consider
ways in which writers explore the morality of sexual relationships. In your answer, compare one
drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Men may seem to be more powerful than women, but the reality is very different.’ In the light of
this view, consider ways in which writers explore power and gender. In your answer, compare one
drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Forbidden tastes are sweetest.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore
the attraction of that which is forbidden. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry
text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Conflict in literature generally arises from misunderstanding.’ In the light of this view, consider
ways in which writers make use of misunderstanding. In your answer, compare one drama text
and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Rank and social status are enemies of happiness.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in
which writers explore the effects of rank and social status. In your answer, compare one drama
text and one poetry text from the above lists.
Practise exam Qs:
➔ ‘Of all the emotions that drive us, fear is the strongest.’ In light of this view, consider ways in
which writers explore the power of fear. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry
text from the above lists.
➔ ‘Flawed characters are always more memorable than any moral lessons that literature seeks to
draw from them.’ In light of this view, consider ways in which writers present characters’ flaws
and failings. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text from the above lists.
➔ ‘The more intense the passion, the more bitter its effects.’ In light of this view, consider ways in
which writers explore intense emotions. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry
text from the above lists.


AO3 (50%)
General context of The Duchess of Malfi
- Elizabethan era: 1558–1603
- Jacobean era: 1603–1625

John Webster
- Even less is known about the life of Webster than is known about the life of Shakespeare
- Born around 1580 into a prosperous middle-class family, and studied law in the Middle
Temple
- We have no clear indication of Webster’s personal beliefs, but he wrote in a spirit of
enquiry - his characters challenged the status quo of the establishment and undermined
accepted values. Not anarchistic though, as although his plots travel through
unharmonious and disruptive situations, there always emerges before the end a certain

, kind of order. To end otherwise would have been neither artistically consonant with
accepted form nor personally safe

1) ‘The White Devil’ (1612)
- The first play that Webster wrote alone (collaborated with other
playwrights eg. Thomas Middleton before). Initially not well received
- Experiments with some of the ideas and themes later reworked in the more
immediately popular play The Duchess of Malfi
2) ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ (1614)
- Written 10 years into the Jacobean era in England and only a few years
before Shakespeare’s death
- Although Webster was only 33 when the play was first performed, it was
nearly another 10 years before it was published in 1623. There were
certain intrinsic dangers in the printing of such a play - not only the
neurotic censorship rife at the time, but also the danger of text piracy
- Achieved a longer run of revivals and 4 reprints during the second half of
the century, was probably the more popular play of the two tragedies
- Webster took the story of the Duchess of Malfi from ‘The Palace of
Pleasure’ (1567), a book by William Painter - embroidered it with great
skill and adapted it into a revenge tragedy (eg. adds madness) - this was a
common thing for writers to do at the time
➔ ‘The Palace of Pleasure’ = translation of an Italian novella which is
based on true historical events
[__ The real Duchess, Giovanna d'Aragona, married Antonio
Beccadelli in secret and bore him three children. She was
murdered by her brothers, one of whom was a Cardinal, in 1510.
Webster’s main changes to the true story are that in reality Antonio
didn’t die until a few years after the Duchess’s death, and Bosola’s
repentance and ultimate betrayal and murder of the brothers is
fictionalised, as the two were never accused in their lifetimes or
killed - died of natural causes
Comparison between The White Devil and TDOM
- Both tragedies set in Italian court
- TDOM has a smaller cast of characters, and a simpler, more concentrated plot. Is less
flamboyant and more introspective in tone. Reduced emphasis on action
[__ eg. Even towards the end of TDOM as the action is approaching its denouement,
Webster is happy to hold up the action to give us a scene which does not advance the plot,
but which adds significantly to the darkly poetic atmosphere: Antonio, not yet knowing
that his wife, the Duchess, and their children, have been murdered, is in the ruins of an
abbey, and an echo in the voice of his dead wife eerily tells him of the doom that
envelops him. Such a scene would have been out of place amidst the more frenetic action
of ‘The White Devil’, but fittingly develops the atmosphere of intense private grief in
TDOM
- In the fourth act, the Duchess becomes so intensely the focus in TDOM that the dramatic
nature of her unfolding torture surpasses anything realised in Webster’s former work
regarding Vittoria

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