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प्रश्न
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
| Portia: The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath : it is twice blessed : It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: |
- Where does this scene take place? Why Is Portia here? [2]
- To what is mercy compared in these lines? [2]
- Why does Portia call mercy ‘twice blessed’?
Explain the lines:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
the throned monarch better than his crown: [3] - Later in her speech Portia mentions a sceptre. What is a sceptre?
How, according to Portia, is mercy above the ‘sceptred sway’? [3]
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उत्तर
- The scene takes place in the court of justice in Venice.
Portia and Nerissa, disguised as lawyer and clerk, were there in the courtroom to defend Antonio against Shylock's inhuman claim to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body for forfeiting a bond which he had signed as a guarantee for the repayment of a loan of three thousand ducats. - Portia compares mercy to the gentle rain from heaven. It blesses the person who shows mercy by way of getting happiness in the generous act, and the one who is at the receiving end also benefits from the act. Mercy looks better in a king than his crown.
- Portia says that the person who grants mercy is equally blessed as the one who receives it. This is because mercy is a characteristic of God, and the person who grants it is acting with the spirit and majesty of God. Thus, mercy is twice blessed: it blesses the one who gets the merciful treatment and the one who grants it.
- Sceptre is the insignia of kingship. It represents power. The line "But mercy is above this sceptred sway" means that the king's sceptre is the emblem of his worldly power. It is the symbol of fear which kingship inspires in others. But mercy is higher and greater than the worldly authority which is symbolized by rod.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without
They died from the cold within.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
What do you mean by the ‘cold within’? How’it is responsible for their deaths?
What test had Portia’s father devised for her suitors? What oath did the suitors have to take before making their choice?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Portia: ........But this reasoning is not in fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word “choose”! I may neither choose who I would nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none?
(i) What test had Portia’s father devised for her suitors? What oath did the suitors have to take before making their choice? [3]
(ii) Who is Nerissa? What does she say to cheer up Portia? [3]
(iii) Why does Portia disapprove of the County Palatine? Who would she rather marry? [3]
(iv) How, according to Portia, can the Duke of Saxony’s nephew be made to choose the wrong casket? What do these suitors ultimately decide? Why? [3]
(v) Whom does Portia ultimately marry? Who were the two other suitors who took the test? Why, in your opinion, is the person whom she marries worthy of her? [4]
What was the inscription on the golden casket? How do the actions of the martlet illustrate this inscription?
What is meant by 'dead habit'? What is 'dead habits' compared to and why?
Answer the following questions.
The old farmer is a kind person. What evidence of his kindness do you find in the first two paragraphs
Give the character sketch of Soapy.
Your partner and you may now be able to answer the question.
Who is the speaker in the poem? Who are the people the speaker meets? What are they doing?
Use a, an or the in the blanks.
There was once ______ play which became very successful. ………… famous actor was acting in it. In ………. play his role was that of ……….. aristocrat who had been imprisoned in …………. castle for twenty years. In……… last act of ……….. play someone would come on ……… stage with ………… letter which he would hand over to ……….. prisoner. Even though …………. aristocrat was not expected to read ………. letter at each performance, he always insisted that ………… letter be written out from beginning to end.
Read the following extract from Stephen Leacock’s short story, ‘With the Photographer’ and answer the questions that follow:
|
“The photographer beckoned me in. I thought he seemed quieter and graver than before. I think, too, there was a certain pride in his manner. He unfolded the proof of a large photograph, and we both looked at it in silence. ‘Is it me?’ I asked. “Yes,” he said quietly, ‘it is you,” and we went on looking at it.” |
- Where was the narrator?
Why had he gone there?
Why do you think that there was a certain pride in the photographer's manner? [3] - What does the word "proof” mean in this context?
Why did the narrator ask, “Is it me?”? [3] - Which of the narrator's facial features had the photographer altered? [3]
- What was the only part of the narrator's face that seemed original in the photograph?
How did the photographer plan to ‘fix’ this? [3] - At the end of the story, the narrator flies into a rage.
What makes him angry?
How would you justify the narrator's angry outburst? [4]
