Specification B

• Approaching AQA English Literature: Specification B

  Within Specification B, you can either study Aspects of Comedy or Aspects of Tragedy. If you study Othello, then you are completing the Aspects of Tragedy route.
• The exam

  • In AS, you will be studying the drama in the Drama paper. This is Paper 2.
  • In this examination, students may take a copy of their set text into the examination.
  • These texts must not be annotated and must not contain additional notes or materials.
• Literary Genre of Aspects of Tragedy

  • In the A Level, students again look at the literary genre of Aspects of Tragedy.
  • It is noted that Tragedy is a long-established literary genre.
  • This paper is a closed book examination.
  • Students are not permitted to take a copy of their set texts into the examination.
• Tragic hero or heroine

  • At the core of all the set texts in this part of the Specification is a tragic hero or heroine who is flawed in some way, who suffers and causes suffering to others. In all texts, there is an interplay between what might be seen as villains and victims.
• Tragic features

  • Some tragic features will be more in evidence in some texts than in others.
  • Students will need to understand how particular aspects of the tragic genre are used and how they work in the four chosen texts.
  • The absence of an ‘aspect’ can be as significant as its presence.