Pearson Edexcel Level 3 GCE

Mark Scheme (Results) Summer 2025 Pearson Edexcel Level 3 GCE in English Literature (9ET0) Paper 1: Drama Edexcel and BTEC Qualifications Edexcel and BTEC qualifications are awarded by Pearson, the UK’s largest awarding body. We provide a wide range of qualifications including academic, vocational, occupational and specific programmes for employers. For further information visit our qualifications websites at or . Alternatively, you can get in touch with us using the details on our contact us page at Pearson: helping people progress, everywhere Pearson aspires to be the world’s leading learning company. Our aim is to help everyone progress in their lives through education. We believe in every kind of learning, for all kinds of people, wherever they are in the world. We’ve been involved in education for over 150 years, and by working across 70 countries, in 100 languages, we have built an international reputation for our commitment to high standards and raising achievement through innovation in education. Find out more about how we can help you and your students at: Summer 2025 Question Paper Log Number P79553A Publications Code 9ET0_01_2506_MS All the material in this publication is copyright © Pearson Education Ltd 2025 General Marking Guidance • All candidates must receive the same treatment. Examiners must mark the first candidate in exactly the same way as they mark the last. • Mark schemes should be applied positively. Candidates must be rewarded for what they have shown they can do rather than penalised for omissions. • Examiners should mark according to the mark scheme not according to their perception of where the grade boundaries may lie. • There is no ceiling on achievement. All marks on the mark scheme should be used appropriately. • All the marks on the mark scheme are designed to be awarded. Examiners should always award full marks if deserved, i.e. if the answer matches the mark scheme. Examiners should also be prepared to award zero marks if the candidate’s response is not worthy of credit according to the mark scheme. • Where some judgement is required, mark schemes will provide the principles by which marks will be awarded and exemplification may be limited. • When examiners are in doubt regarding the application of the mark scheme to a candidate’s response, the team leader must be consulted. • Crossed out work should be marked UNLESS the candidate has replaced it with an alternative response. Marking guidance - specific The marking grids have been designed to assess student work holistically. The grids identify which Assessment Objective is being targeted by each bullet point within the level descriptors. One bullet point is linked to one Assessment Objective, however please note that the number of bullet points in the level descriptor does not directly correlate to the number of marks in the level descriptor. When deciding how to reward an answer, examiners should consult both the indicative content and the associated marking grid(s). When using a levels- based mark scheme, the ‘best fit’ approach should be used: • examiners should first decide which descriptor most closely matches the answer and place it in that level • the mark awarded within the level will be decided based on the quality of the answer and will be modified according to how securely all bullet points are displayed at that level • in cases of uneven performance, the points above will still apply. Candidates will be placed in the level that best describes their answer according to each of the Assessment Objectives described in the level. Marks will be awarded towards the top or bottom of that level depending on how they have evidenced each of the descriptor bullet points • examiners of Advanced GCE English should remember that all Assessment Objectives within a level are equally weighted. They must consider this when making their judgements • the mark grid identifies which Assessment Objective is being targeted by each bullet point within the level descriptors • indicative content is exactly that – they are factual points that candidates are likely to use to construct their answer. It is possible for an answer to be constructed without mentioning some or all of these points, as long as they provide alternative responses to the indicative content that fulfils the requirements of the question. It is the examiner’s responsibility to apply their professional judgement to the candidate’s response in determining if the answer fulfils the requirements of the question. Placing a mark within a level • Examiners should first decide which descriptor most closely matches the answer and place it in that level. The mark awarded within the level will be decided based on the quality of the answer and will be modified according to how securely all bullet points are displayed at that level. • In cases of uneven performance, the points above will still apply. Candidates will be placed in the level that best describes their answer according to the descriptors in that level. Marks will be awarded towards the top or bottom of that level depending on how they have evidenced each of the descriptor bullet points. • If the candidate’s answer meets the requirements fully, markers should be prepared to award full marks within the level. The top mark in the level is used for work that is as good as can realistically be expected within that level. Section A Question number Indicativecontent 1 Antony and Cleopatra Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • central relationships presented as powerfully destructive on a global scale, e.g. ‘Let Rome in Tiber melt and the wide arch/Of the ranged empire fall’ • Caesar’s cynical use of power, e.g. he uses his relationship with his sister for political ends: ‘You come not like Caesar’s sister…’ • imagery around the sexual and political objectification of Cleopatra as a possible reflection of contemporary attitudes to women and power, e.g. ‘a morsel for a monarch’ • how the Rome and Egypt settings, and the constant shifting between the two, reflect contemporary perceptions about the differences between Western and Eastern powers • impact of constant references to the power Cleopatra has over Antony, e.g. ‘strumpet’s fool’ • narrative tension between notions of political power versus the power of passion and where this play sits in relation to the genre of tragedy. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • Howard Jacobson’s point that Antony no longer has the power to steel his men but can only reduce them to tears (Anthology) • Anthony Miller’s argument that the action ‘turns on the exercise of “integral” power, and on a contest for “integral” power, cast primarily in military terms.’ (Varieties of Power in Antony and Cleopatra Sydney Open Journals 2004). 2 Antony and Cleopatra Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • the play is full of messengers, e.g. two in the first scene, thirty-five in all, with nearly every scene having a messenger of some kind • use of messengers for dramatic exposition, e.g. to provide the audience with historical background and political context • dramatic impact of constant interruptions, arrivals and departures, e.g. develops tension; increases pace; possibly suggests contemporary political upheaval to a Jacobean audience • messengers being ignored as part of a pattern of disregarded warnings and omens throughout the play, providing a sense of tragic irony • messengers travelling between Rome and Egypt help suggest the play’s global scope to the audience • function of Dolabella in foregrounding aspects of Cleopatra’s character and heightening the tragedy, e.g. her attack on him in Act II; his pity for her in the final act. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • Tony Tanner’s comment that messengers are ‘interruptions, irruptions, precipitants of change’ (Anthology) • Emrys Jones’ suggestion that the constant movement in the play encourages an ironical and critical response from the audience (Anthology). Question number Indicativecontent 3 Hamlet Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • varied critical responses to the relationship presented between Hamlet and his father, e.g. Hamlet’s use of hyper-masculine imagery to describe him: ‘Hyperion to a satyr’ • use of soliloquy to dramatise Hamlet’s self-doubt and questioning of his identity • relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude as a possible reflection of contemporary male attitudes, e.g. ‘Frailty thy name is woman.’ • manipulation of Ophelia by various male characters possibly reflects contemporary patriarchy, e.g. Polonius’ varied treatment of his son and daughter • use of Claudius to explore contemporary issues of kingship and succession, e.g. biblical allusions to present his character: ‘the serpent that did sting...now wears his crown’; references to Cain and Abel • impact of the dramatic paralleling of Hamlet with two other more traditional male heroes, Fortinbras and Laertes. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • Janet Adelman’s argument that the play rewrites the story of Cain and Abel as the story of Adam and Eve, relocating masculine identity in the presence of the adulterating female (Anthology) • Sandra Fischer’s comment that ‘one must listen for the repression of Ophelia’s voice as juxtaposed against Hamlet’s noisy soul-wrenching soliloquies’ (Hearing Ophelia: Gender and Tragic Discourse in Hamlet, Renaissance and Reformation Vol 14 Winter 1990). These are suggestions only. Accept any valid alternative response. 4 Hamlet Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • the theme of pretence as a possible reflection of contemporary political and social anxieties • dramatic impact of the various examples of Polonius’ pretence, e.g. the ‘entrapment’ scene: ‘your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth…’ • use of dramatic set pieces to foreground the theme of deception, e.g. the ‘closet’ scene; ‘The Murder of Gonzago’ play • Claudius presented as the consummate hypocrite, putting on the mask of morality • use of imagery to reinforce the theme of pretence, e.g. recurring images of acting: ‘These but the trappings and the suits of woe’ • dramatic impact of Hamlet’s ‘pretend’ madness. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • Marvin Rosenberg’s argument that Hamlet has a penchant for playacting (The Masks of Hamlet, University of Delaware 1992) • Maynard Mack’s suggestion that the guise of the madman allows Hamlet licence to say things that Shakespeare could not otherwise have written (Anthology). Question number Indicativecontent 5 King Lear Candidates may refer to the following in their answers: • the use of the storm to dramatically foreshadow the tumultuous political events to come and how this might reflect contemporary political turmoil • use of pathetic fallacy to increase tension for the audience • Lear’s language as a reflection of the storm itself, making manifest its power to the audience, e.g. ‘You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout/Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!’ • varied interpretations of the storm’s symbolism, e.g. divine justice; purgatory • the storm as a dramatic backdrop to Lear’s deteriorating mental health • impact of the Fool’s final speech at the end of the storm scene. Possible references to the Critical Anthology or other critical reading could include: • David Scott Kastan’s point about tragedy always asking if the causes of suffering lie in human weakness, divine retribution, or arbitrary fate (Anthology) • Jennifer Hamilton’s description of the storm as the ‘material and contiguous part that represents the whole political situation’ (This Contentious Storm, An Ecocritical History of King Lear, Bloomsbury 2017). These are suggestions only. Accept any valid alternative response.