Question

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

Third Citizen - Your name, sir, truly. CINNA- Truly, my name is Cinna. Second Citizen - Tear him to pieces! He's a conspirator.

1. What do you learn about the mob's mentality from this scene? (Analysis)
2. Who is Cinna? What makes the mob furious with him? (Recalling & Understanding)
3. Cinna was asked four questions by the mob. What were they? (Recalling)
4. Besides the answer given in the extract, what are the other three answers he gives to the mob? How does the mob react to his answers? (Recalling & Understanding)
5. Where does the mob go at the end of the scene? What is the significance of this scene? (Recalling & Analysis)

Answer 1

1. The mob is shown to be violent, irrational and easily influenced. They act without proper judgement and are ready to attack anyone they associate with the conspirators.
2. Cinna is a poet, not Cinna the conspirator. The mob becomes furious simply because his name is ‘Cinna’ and wrongly assumes that he is one of Caesar’s murderers.
3. The mob asks Cinna:
   • What is your name?
   • Where are you going?
   • Where do you live?
   • Are you married or unmarried?
4. Cinna says that he is going to Caesar’s funeral, he lives near the Capitol and he is unmarried. Even after he answers honestly, the mob refuses to listen to reason and decides to kill him.
5. At the end of the scene, the mob rushes away to attack and burn the houses of Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna and the other conspirators. The scene is significant because it shows the dangerous and uncontrollable nature of mob violence after Antony’s speech.