About this day
For A-level students of the AQA B Specification
In a programme designed to inspire, support and entertain, a series of expert speakers will explore the literary, social and international perspectives of the AQA B A-level option ‘Aspects of tragedy’, offering comprehensive strategies for approaching set texts. This outstanding day will provide students with invaluable insights and helpful guidance to allow them to achieve their very best in the examination. Over the course of the day, topics will include Shakespearian tragedy, how to define the tragic genre and tragic subgenres, and how to compare and link texts across different genres and times.
Programme & speakers
American tragedy: The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman Luke McBratney, Author and former Principal Examiner
Luke McBratney views the texts through the lens of tragedy and considers the extent to which each protagonist’s downfall springs from their personal flaws or from the dreams that have been inculcated in them by the American society of their time. (Image credit: Leo DiCaprio great gatsby raising glass gif/Raul Pacheco-Vega/Flickr/CC-BY-ND 2.0)
About Luke McBratney
Luke McBratney is an examiner, author, editor and trainer. A former Principal Examiner and specification writer for a major examining board, he is a member of the English Review editorial board and co-series editor of the Hodder Study and Revise guides to set texts for A-level English literature. He is co-author of a textbook for A-level English literature (OUP) and author of guides to love poetry, Skirrid Hill, New Selected Poems by Seamus Heaney and Translations (Hodder).
Tragedy in Shakespeare Nick Hutchison, Actor, Director and Lecturer
Actor-director Nick Hutchison will explore Shakespearean tragedy, focusing on the role of the tragic villain, use of plots and sub-plots and how language is used to heighten the sense of tragedy. He will draw on Othello, Richard II and King Lear. (Image credit: Othello’s Lamentation/William Salter/Folger Shakespeare Library/CC-BY-SA-4.0)
About Nick Hutchison
Nick Hutchison is an actor, director and lecturer who has directed Shakespeare’s plays across the globe. He lectures for Shakespeare’s Globe, LAMDA, RADA and universities worldwide on Elizabethan and Jacobean Theatre, specialising in theatre performance derived from close textual analysis. As an actor he has worked in film, TV, theatre and radio, including for the Royal Shakespeare Company and in films including About A Boy, Miss Potter, 102 Dalmatians, Fierce Creatures, The Bounty and Restoration.
An examiner's perspective Luke McBratney, Author and former Principal Examiner
Luke McBratney offers advice for maximising your exam performance, with a particular focus on making the most of the Shakespeare extract. This talk includes interactive activities such as commenting on excerpts from strong and less strong student responses.
About Luke McBratney
Luke McBratney is an examiner, author, editor and trainer. A former Principal Examiner and specification writer for a major examining board, he is a member of the English Review editorial board and co-series editor of the Hodder Study and Revise guides to set texts for A-level English literature. He is co-author of a textbook for A-level English literature (OUP) and author of guides to love poetry, Skirrid Hill, New Selected Poems by Seamus Heaney and Translations (Hodder).
Hunting for a hamartia: Is a dead knight a tragedy? Neil Bowen, Teacher, lecturer and author
In this session we will consider the extent to which the protagonists in these poems are to blame for their own downfalls and to what extent they are victims of external forces, such as the actions of other characters and/or the influence of the societies in which they live. Supplementary questions will include the role of men and women in tragedies and whether these poetic protagonists are grand enough to fit conceptions of the ‘tragic hero’. This session will draw on the set poetry texts by Keats and the poetry anthology.
About Neil Bowen
An experienced Head of English and a freelance writer, Neil Bowen is the author of a range of books, articles and English resources and a member of Ofqual’s experts panel for English. He is the author of The Art of Writing English Essays for GCSE, co-author of The Art of Writing English Essays for A-level and Beyond and of The Art of Poetry, volumes 1-5. Neil also created and runs the Peripeteia project bridging the gap between A-level and degree level English courses.
Definitions of tragedy Cathi Allison, Examiner, teacher and Head of Department
This session will focus on the various definitions of tragedy from Aristotle’s “Poetics” to its use as a genre in Shakespeare’s set plays and the domestic rural tragedy used by Hardy in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. We will consider the suggested ‘aspects of tragedy’ outlined in the AQA B specification as they might apply to these texts with reference to the main theories of Hegel, Bradley and with a nod to Eagleton. We will look at some of the questions that might be asked in the Tragedy section of paper 1A and how they might be tackled.
About Cathi Allison
Cathi has been teaching and examining GCSE English Literature and Language, as well as A-level English Literature for over 30 years. She has also examined and taught Media Studies and Theatre Studies. She is currently Head of English, teaching both GCSE and A-level students.