A-level ENGLISH LITERATURE A7712/1
ACTUAL 2025 PAPER MERGED WITH
MARK SCHEME
vincent marekia
[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]
, 1
A-level
ENGLISH LITERATURE A7712/1
ACTUAL 2025 PAPER MERGED WITH
MARK SCHEME
Paper 1 Love through the ages
Wednesday 14 May 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 3 hours
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 12-page Answer Book
• a copy of each of the set texts you have studied for Section C. These texts must not be annotated
and must not contain additional notes or materials.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7712/1.
• In Section A you will answer one question about a Shakespeare play.
• In Section B you will answer the one question about unseen poetry.
• In Section C you will answer one question about two texts: one poetry text and one prose text, one
of which must be written pre-1900.
• Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 75.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
• In your response you need to:
– analyse carefully the writers’ methods
– explore the contexts of the texts you are writing about – explore connections across the texts you
have studied – explore different interpretations of your texts.
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
, 2
IB/G/Jun25/G4009/V4 7712/1
Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question in this section.
Either
0 1 Othello – William Shakespeare
‘Audiences are more likely to sympathise with Othello as a victim than to condemn him for
his jealous suspicions towards his wife.’
In the light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello in this extract and
elsewhere in the play.
[25 marks]
Enter Othello and Iago
IAGO
Will you think so?
OTHELLO Think so, Iago?
IAGO What!
To kiss in private?
OTHELLO An unauthorized kiss.
IAGO
Or to be naked with her friend in bed An
hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO
Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?
It is hypocrisy against the devil.
They that mean virtuously and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO
So they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.
But if I give my wife a handkerchief –
OTHELLO
What then?
IAGO
Why, then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers, She
may, I think, bestow’t on any man.
OTHELLO
She is protectress of her honour too.
May she give that?
Turn over ►
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
, 3
IAGO
Her honour is an essence that’s not seen:
They have it very oft that have it not.
But for the handkerchief –
OTHELLO
By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it!
Thou said’st – O, it comes o’er my memory As
doth the raven o’er the infected house, Boding
to all! – he had my handkerchief.
IAGO
Ay, what of that?
OTHELLO That’s not so good now.
IAGO What
If I had said, I had seen him do you wrong,
Or heard him say – as knaves be such abroad, Who
having by their own importunate suit
Or voluntary dotage of some mistress
Convincèd or supplied them, cannot choose But
they must blab –
OTHELLO Hath he said anything?
IAGO
He hath, my lord; but be you well assured, No
more than he’ll unswear.
OTHELLO What hath he said?
IAGO
Faith, that he did – I know not what he did.
OTHELLO What?
What?
IAGO
Lie –
OTHELLO With her?
IAGO With her, on her, what you will.
OTHELLO Lie with her? Lie on her? We say lie on her
when they belie her. Lie with her! Zounds, that’s ful-
some! Handkerchief – confession – handkerchief! To
confess and be hanged for his labour. First to be hanged
and then to confess! I tremble at it. Nature would not
invest herself in such shadowing passion without some
instruction. It is not words that shakes me thus! Pish!
Noses, ears, and lips! Is’t possible? – Confess? Handker-
chief! O devil! He falls
IAGO
Work on,
My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught,
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus, All
guiltless, meet reproach. What ho, my lord! My lord,
I say! Othello!
(Act 4, Scene 1)
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
ACTUAL 2025 PAPER MERGED WITH
MARK SCHEME
vincent marekia
[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]
, 1
A-level
ENGLISH LITERATURE A7712/1
ACTUAL 2025 PAPER MERGED WITH
MARK SCHEME
Paper 1 Love through the ages
Wednesday 14 May 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 3 hours
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 12-page Answer Book
• a copy of each of the set texts you have studied for Section C. These texts must not be annotated
and must not contain additional notes or materials.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7712/1.
• In Section A you will answer one question about a Shakespeare play.
• In Section B you will answer the one question about unseen poetry.
• In Section C you will answer one question about two texts: one poetry text and one prose text, one
of which must be written pre-1900.
• Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 75.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
• In your response you need to:
– analyse carefully the writers’ methods
– explore the contexts of the texts you are writing about – explore connections across the texts you
have studied – explore different interpretations of your texts.
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
, 2
IB/G/Jun25/G4009/V4 7712/1
Section A: Shakespeare
Answer one question in this section.
Either
0 1 Othello – William Shakespeare
‘Audiences are more likely to sympathise with Othello as a victim than to condemn him for
his jealous suspicions towards his wife.’
In the light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Othello in this extract and
elsewhere in the play.
[25 marks]
Enter Othello and Iago
IAGO
Will you think so?
OTHELLO Think so, Iago?
IAGO What!
To kiss in private?
OTHELLO An unauthorized kiss.
IAGO
Or to be naked with her friend in bed An
hour or more, not meaning any harm?
OTHELLO
Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?
It is hypocrisy against the devil.
They that mean virtuously and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt heaven.
IAGO
So they do nothing, ’tis a venial slip.
But if I give my wife a handkerchief –
OTHELLO
What then?
IAGO
Why, then, ’tis hers, my lord, and being hers, She
may, I think, bestow’t on any man.
OTHELLO
She is protectress of her honour too.
May she give that?
Turn over ►
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
, 3
IAGO
Her honour is an essence that’s not seen:
They have it very oft that have it not.
But for the handkerchief –
OTHELLO
By heaven, I would most gladly have forgot it!
Thou said’st – O, it comes o’er my memory As
doth the raven o’er the infected house, Boding
to all! – he had my handkerchief.
IAGO
Ay, what of that?
OTHELLO That’s not so good now.
IAGO What
If I had said, I had seen him do you wrong,
Or heard him say – as knaves be such abroad, Who
having by their own importunate suit
Or voluntary dotage of some mistress
Convincèd or supplied them, cannot choose But
they must blab –
OTHELLO Hath he said anything?
IAGO
He hath, my lord; but be you well assured, No
more than he’ll unswear.
OTHELLO What hath he said?
IAGO
Faith, that he did – I know not what he did.
OTHELLO What?
What?
IAGO
Lie –
OTHELLO With her?
IAGO With her, on her, what you will.
OTHELLO Lie with her? Lie on her? We say lie on her
when they belie her. Lie with her! Zounds, that’s ful-
some! Handkerchief – confession – handkerchief! To
confess and be hanged for his labour. First to be hanged
and then to confess! I tremble at it. Nature would not
invest herself in such shadowing passion without some
instruction. It is not words that shakes me thus! Pish!
Noses, ears, and lips! Is’t possible? – Confess? Handker-
chief! O devil! He falls
IAGO
Work on,
My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught,
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus, All
guiltless, meet reproach. What ho, my lord! My lord,
I say! Othello!
(Act 4, Scene 1)
IB/G/Jun25/7712/1
