Flashcards · 9675 · AS Topic 1

Unit 1 – Aspects of Dramatic Tragedy (AS Level) flashcards

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How is OxfordAQA 9675 Unit 1 (Aspects of Dramatic Tragedy) set out?: 2 hours, closed book, 50 marks: 50% of the International AS and 20% of the A-level. Section A a passage-based question on an Elizabethan or Jacobean tragedy (25), Section B an essay on a later tragedy (25).
Which plays are set for 9675 Unit 1 Section A?: One of Othello, King Lear, Hamlet, Doctor Faustus (B text) and The Duchess of Malfi.
What does Unit 1 Section A require?: Close reading of the given extract's language and dramatic method first, then connecting outward to how that moment works in the play's tragic structure.
What does Iago's "the green-eyed monster" show about jealousy in Othello?: Iago warns Othello against jealousy while deliberately provoking it; the image presents jealousy as a devouring creature, and the irony shows his manipulation.
What does Lear's "Nothing will come of nothing" reveal in the opening scene?: Lear's angry reply to Cordelia's refusal to flatter him shows his pride and his blindness to true love, the error of judgement that sets his downfall in motion.
What is the tragic significance of Faustus's pact in Doctor Faustus?: He sells his soul for twenty-four years of knowledge and power. His pride and refusal to repent, despite chances, drive the morality-play structure to damnation.

Which plays are set for 9675 Unit 1 Section B?: One of Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Hedda Gabler, Waiting for Godot and Translations.
What does Unit 1 Section B require?: A sustained, genre-focused essay on the whole play, with memorised evidence from several points in the text.
What are hamartia and catharsis?: Hamartia: the tragic hero's fatal flaw or error of judgement. Catharsis: the release of pity and fear the audience experiences through the tragedy.
Why does Unit 1 set tragedies from two different periods?: To test whether your understanding of tragic convention (flawed protagonists, pride, blindness and insight, pity and fear) transfers across eras.
What makes a genre-focused answer stronger than a plot-and-theme answer?: It debates whether the play uses, complicates or subverts each tragic convention, rather than only identifying that the convention is present.