Choose two of the passages (a) to (c) and answer briefly the questions that follow:
Benedick: I can see yet without spectacles, and I see no such matter. There's her cousin, she were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December. But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?
Claudio: I would scarce trust myself though I had sworn the contrary if I Hero would be my wife.
(i) Whom is Benedick referring to in the above lines?
(ii) Benedick says: 'I see no such matter.' What does he mean by it?
(iii) Explain the lines:
"There's her cousin, she was not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December".
(iv) What does the comparison of Beatrice with May suggest about Benedick?
(v) What does Claudio mean by 'sworn the contrary'?
(vi) Give the meaning of the following words as they are used in the context of the passage: possessed; fury; intent
Solution
(i)
Benedick is referring to Hero who was Claudio's lover in the above lines.
(ii)
Benedick through these lines means to say that he can still see without glasses and he doesn’t find what Claudio said was correct.
(iii)
The above lines mean that Benedick was trying to say Claudio that if her cousin Beatrice didn’t have such a hasty temper she would be more beautiful than Hero & that it would be like comparing May to December.
(iv)
The comparison of Beatrice with May suggests about Benedick that he rails against marriage & expresses special disdain for Beatrice but still comment on her beauty & compares her temper with the hotness of May month.
(v)
Claudio means by ‘sworn the contrary’ that even if he had sworn never to marry.
(vi)
possessed - taken over
fury - anger
intent - decided
