Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
The character of King Richard I is presented in Ivanhoe not only with all his admirable qualities but also with his shortcomings. Elaborate with close reference to the text.
Advertisements
Solution
King Richard I is a real, historical guy. He ruled England from 1189 to 1199 and led the Third Crusade of Christian knights to the Middle East to fight against the Muslims holding Palestine. He spent most of his life at war with various people – the French, the peoples of the Middle East, his own dad. With all this fighting, King Richard built up a reputation for chivalry – for living according to the honor codes of medieval knighthood – that has lasted for over eight centuries. (You can read more about the real Richard.) As a character in Ivanhoe, it's almost as if King Richard is two different people. There is that historical King Richard, the one we just described, who draws Ivanhoe out of England to fight by his side in the Crusades. That King Richard doesn't appear much in the book, because he's being held captive in Germany and then making his way back to England. (This really happened; he was held for ransom by Leopold V of Austria.) It's the absence of that King Richard that makes Ivanhoe possible, since it frees up his brother, Prince John, to bully the Saxons and generally make things more difficult for Ivanhoe and his family. King Richard's other face in the novel is that of the Black Knight. That guy loves jests and drinking songs and hanging around with jokers like Wamba and Friar Tuck. He doesn't always take a lot of initiative against the Normans, which is how he gets his other nickname, the Black Sluggard ("sluggard" means "lazy person"). For example, at the tournament at Ashby-de-la-Zouche, he doesn't really participate until he sees Ivanhoe about to get killed in a three-on-one fight with Athelstane, Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, and Brian de Bois-Guilbert.
Still, when the Black Knight does jump into a fight, his mighty arm seems invincible. Later, when he joins the outlaws of Sherwood to storm Torquilstone. As Rebecca comments, "it is fearful, yet magnificent, to behold how the arm and heart of one man can triumph over hundreds". This is a guy who knows how to kick back and have a good time, but he's also ready to battle evil one-on-one when he sees it. Scott points outright to this conflict between our ideal of the heroic King Richard and the reality of his poor performance on the home front. When Richard tells the outlaws of Sherwood his true identity, he settles in for a long party with the guys. He doesn't want to take back his throne and responsibilities as king. It takes the encouragement of Locksley (Robin Hood) and Ivanhoe for King Richard I to get a move on and put down his brother John's rebellion. King Richard I always comes off better in ballads and legends than he does in history books.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
In order to be successful, one should rely on oneself and not expect others to help. Express your view on the given statement.
Fill in the blank with the suitable word.
He ran _____________ from home at the age of ten.
How was the country affected by the war?
Who and what does the free bird symbolize?
The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.
Read the above lines and answer the question that follow.
What is meant by “free bird thinks of another breeze”?
The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.
Read the above lines and answer the question that follow.
What parallel can be drawn to the poet’s feelings and that of the caged bird?
Who won the race and how? Explain in about 50 words.
What is the theme of all summer in a day by Ray Bradbury?
The children were delighted. The exams had been cancelled.
Write a composition (350 – 400 words) on the following:
All Girls or all-Boys Schools provide a better learning environment than co-educational schools. Express your views either for or against the statement.
This is the hospital. I was born here.
Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view.
Advanced technology gives us conclusive evidence of past events.
Discuss in groups of four.
The problems of over population that directly affect our everyday life.
‘A bird in hand is worth two in the bush’.
- Explain the above statement in the literal sense.
- Explain it in the context in which it is mentioned in the story.
- Is there a corresponding proverb in your own language?
It took the narrator quite some time to understand that what he heard as 'piper', in fact, meant 'paper' and the phrase 'mind the gap' in the Tube. What do you think caused the problem?
Wars are not fought only on the battlefield. Comment.
Gather information on any one of the following by talking to your elders, family members, and from other sources in your mother tongue and write a short note on it in English.
A special type of embroidery
Write in your own words:-
What problems do customers face when they have to make a cash deposit at a bank?
Fill in the form given below.
Connect the pairs of sentences below using and or but.
- Everyone has gone to sleep.
- I want to read my book.
Alice follows the strange rabbit because she wants to know a number of things. Re-arrange the words to make the questions that Alice has in her mind, and put a question mark (?).
hurry is in a why he
Why was the author left with his grandmother in the village?
What was Sletherby’s response to Bertie’s request?
Complete the summary of the play, choosing the appropriate words from the list given below the passage.
A number of patients wait at the (1) ______of a dentist’s clinic. Everybody is tensed at the thought of a painful (2) ______being extracted. One of the women is bent on showing everyone her (3) ______. After the arrival of the dentist, Joe, the first (4) ______is called in. Sometime later, the nurse comes out and goes in with a (5) ______. Everyone is (6) ______at this, imagining Joe being subjected to a lot of hammering in the process of his tooth being pulled out. Once again the nurse comes out to fetch a large pair of (7) ______and later on she takes in a (8) ______. A little boy confesses that he pretended to have (9) ______, because he did not wish to go to school. The loud (10) ______and screeching from within the room makes everyone leave the (11) ______, one by one. Finally there are only two women in the waiting room, one of them being Joe’s wife. She weeps (12) ______about her husband. But Joe comes out and explains that he had shifted his (13) ______to the evening and had been given some pills for the pain. After they leave, the dentist comes out and locates the key of his tool (14) ______. He had been trying to open it using the hammer, the pliers and the hacksaw only in vain. The woman with the photographs is surprised to see that the (15) ______had moved quickly and she was the next patient to go in.
| hammer | patient |
| hacksaw | cabinet |
| frightened | queue |
| worried | waiting room |
| pliers | tooth |
| photographs | clinic |
| toothache | sawing |
| appointment |
Bring out the significance of what Leacock was reading at the photographers.
Why did Miss Wyatt summon Miss Meadows to her room?
Write an essay of about 200 word
The importance of a balanced diet
Attempt a description of the following process, in about 100 word each, either using the imperative or the passive.
Preparing your favourite dish
Prepare an attractive tourist leaflet for your native place, in English as well as in your mother tongue.
With reference to the short story Quality, trace the journey of the Gessler Brothers from “ld is an Ardt!" to the bitter realization of “Dey dake it away from us, who lofe our boods….bresently i haf no work.” Write your answer in about 200-250 words.
