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BLOCK-4
REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS-1
UNIT-1
GENERAL PROLOGUE, THE CANTERBURY TALES-INTRODUCTION, LINES 1-31
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
1. Who was St. Thomas Beckett?
ans. Archbishop of Canterbury
2. To which inn did the pilgrims arrive?
Ans. Tabard inn
3. Who is the host of the Tabard Inn?
Ans. Harry bailey
4. How many pilgrims arrived at the Tabard Inn?
Ans. 29
5. Where is the Tabard Inn situated?
Ans. Southwark, London
6. Where is the Shrine of St. Thomas Beckett situated at?
Ans. Canterbury
QUESTION ANS ANSWER
1.write the analysis of Canterbury tales
Ans."The Prologue" begins in a very bright and
blissful mood, with the description of April,
the Spring season. The Spring shower is
brought forth by the West Wind. Spring is a
season that compels the natural world to grow,
the birds to sing and men to visit pilgrimag-
es. People travel to strange lands to visit the
shrines of far-off saints. It is during this time
that the people from all parts of England go
to the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett at Canter-
bury. St. Thomas Beckett was the Archbishop
of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170, who was
killed by the followers of King Henry II, inside the Canterbury Cathedral. The reason be-
hind the murder was a conflict between him
and the King regarding the privileges and
rights of the Church. He was, later, in 1772,
canonised as a saint by Pope Alexander III. It
is believed that visiting his shrine will help in
relieving people of different kinds of ailments.
The second stanza gives a brief description
of the inn in which he stayed. It was the Tab-
ard Inn in Southwark in London. There were
twenty-nine people who joined him there,
and all of them were on their pilgrimage to
the Shrine of St. Thomas Beckett. They were
from different classes of the society. The inn
had many rooms and stables, and was well-
equipped to accommodate them. They all got
acquainted, and decided to start their journey
the next morning itself.
The poem is written in Middle English, which
was the form of English used from the 12th
to the 15th centuries in England. These lines
serve as an introduction to the context, and
setting of the poem.
Although the general tone of the whole poem
is satiric and ironic, this section of the poem
does not present it heavily. The poem is writ-
ten in iambic pentameter lines.
Chaucer employs many symbols to present his
views in this poem. In this section, the month
of April stands as a symbol to represent rejuvenation and rebirth.
UNIT-2
EPITHALAMION
OBJECTIVE QUESTION
1. To which genre of poetry does "Epithalamion" belong?
Ans. A wedding song
2. How many long lines are there in the poem?
Ans. 365
3. Who is the groom mentioned in the poem?
Ans. Spencer
4. Who is the bride?
Ans. Elizabeth boyle
5. When was the marriage held?
Ans. In 1594
6. Where does the marriage take place?
Ans. At the altar
QUESTION ANSWER
1.write the analysis of EPITHALAMION
Ans.
"Epithalamion" is an ode written by Edmund
Spenser, celebrating his marriage with Eliza-
beth Boyle. The meaning of the word 'epitha-
lamion' is 'marriage hymn' or 'wedding song'.
The poem begins in the Classical tradition
with an invocation of the Muses. The bride
is asleep at the beginning of the poem. The
beginning stanzas anticipate the waking up of
the bride in the morning. She is in her dreams.
Later on, she wakes up, and gets ready for her
wedding. The first half of the poem presents
the poet addressing the gods, as well as other
supernatural beings, to help his bride to get
ready for their wedding.
Later in the poem, he requests the Greek gods
and other supernatural beings to lead her to
the altar for the wedding ceremonies to take
place. Here, Spenser moves on to use Chris-
tian allusions, replacing the Greek ones. The
Christian wedding ceremony becomes firmly
entrenched with the pagan elements when the
poet summons the aid of the nymphs. After the
wedding ceremony, the gods take her to the
house of the groom. A joyous, festive mood
prevails throughout the day. The bride wishes
for night to come, so that they might be left
alone for their wedding night. Finally, night
arrives, and the poet prays for the blessings of
the gods for the well-being of their marriage.
The major themes in the poem are the mar
riage between Edmund Spenser and his bride.
Elizabeth Boyle, the glorification of the beau
ty of the bride, and the use of Christian and
pagan mythology.
This poem is an ornamental gift from Spenser
for his bride, Elizabeth Boyle. It is written in
flowery language. The major literary devices
used in the poem are allusions and conven-
tional motifs. The poem is rich in symbols and
imagery from Christian and Greek mythology,
fashioned upon the Renaissance trend. It has
24 stanzas, and each stanza has a refrain.
The setting of the poem has similarities with
the Irish countryside, where Spenser's wed-
ding ceremony was conducted. His deep love
for Ireland is presented in the poem through
the rich portrayal of the natural world sur-
rounding the bride and himself.
UNIT-3
"TO BE OR NOT TO BE", HAMLET,ACT3,SCENE1(SOLILOQUY)
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
1. Where does the ghost appear in the beginning of the drama?
Ans. Elsinore castle in Denmark
2. Who is the school friend of Hamlet?
Ans. Horatio
3. Who is the new king of Denmark?
Ans. Claudius
4. Who is the mother of Hamlet?
Ans. Getrude
5. Why does Hamlet appear heart-broken?
Ans. By the death ofhis father and the immediate marriage of his mother getrude to his uncle Claudius
6. What does the ghost request from Hamlet?
Ans. To take revenge on claudius
7. What does prevent Hamlet from taking revenge on Claudius?
Ans. His contemplative and thoughtful nature
8. Who are the two friends assigned to observe the erratic behaviour of Hamlet?
Ans. Rosencrantz and guildenstern
9. What does Hamlet suggest to Ophelia?
Ans. Hamlet refuses ophelias love and suggest her to leave for nunnery
10. What do the travelling actors enact?
Ans. They enact a story resembling to the event of king hamlets murder
11. How does Claudius behave when the murder scene is staged?
Ans. Appearing restless and annoyed he leaves the room
12. Why does Hamlet appear reluctant to kill Claudius when he was in his prayer?
Ans. In fear that it may take claudius to heaven
13. Why does Claudius send Hamlet to England?
Ans. In order to ensure his safty from the revengeful hamlet
14. Who was hiding behind Getrude's bedchamber when Hamlet visited her?
Ans. Polonius
15. How does Hamlet kill Polonius?
Ans. Misjudging that man behind the curtain is Claudius
QUESTION AND ANSWER
1.write the critical analysis of hamlet
Ans.Hamlet is the longest drama written by Wil-
liam Shakespeare. The exact date of Hamlet's
publication is unknown but the scholars admit
that it was published between 1601 and 1603.
Hamlet could be considered as the milestone
artistic work by William Shakespeare in his
progression as a playwright. In this play,
Shakespeare fuses together two contradictory
and opposing forces such as Hamlet's moral
-sensitivity and the internal compulsion for
taking revenge on his father's murderer.
Hamlet is a revenge play which introduces
the character of Hamlet who, being a char-
acter with a philosophical bent of mind and
reflective in nature, remains an inappropriate
character for executing the act of revenge. The
context of this revenge is Claudius' killing of
King Hamlet and marrying his wife soon after
the murder. So the ghost of the King Hamlet
suggests Prince Hamlet to take revenge upon
the murderer. But the moral and contempla-
tive nature of Hamlet blocks him from taking
revenge. Hamlet even becomes sceptical of
the truthfulness of the ghost's version of the
story. Hamlet follows the conventions of re-
venge plays such as the depiction of violence
and bloodshed on the stage. However, it devi-
ates from the contemporary dramatic conven-
tions through the portrayal of internal crisis
and dilemma of Hamlet.
The play is structured with dramatic phases
like exposition, complication, crisis, climax
and falling action. The 'exposition' of the play
is formed by the appearance of the ghost, and
three guards find the ghost as a figure resem-
bling the former King Hamlet. When Hamlet
watches the ghost, he is left with the confusion
whether the ghost is a good spirit or bad spirit.
The play moves to the phase of 'complication'
when Hamlet appears as a mad man, posing a serious confusion and threat to Claudius and
his companions who attempt to find out the
Claudius becomes seriously concerned with
causes of his erratic and strange behaviour.
Hamlet's discovering the truth of his father's
murder. In order to avoid the threat from Ham-
let and maintain his power, Claudius sends
that the person hiding behind the drapes was
him to England. Hamlet wrongly assumed
Claudius. He kills Polonius by mistake and
this act takes the plot to a complex level. The
death of Polonius leads to the madness and
death of Ophelia.
The 'crisis and climax' phase of the play oc-
curs when the fencing match is held between
Hamlet and Laertes, then the audience wit-
nesses a series of violences on the stage. Both
Laertes and Hamlet are wounded by the poi-
soned foil. When Laertes confesses that Clau-
dius is the cause of Getrude's death, Hamlet
kills Claudius with the same poisoned foil.
The 'falling action' of the play occurs by the
death of Hamlet, the title character. The sound
of the marching army from Poland could be
heard this time. The information on the death
of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz is also an-
nounced by the ambassador of England. As
all major characters die, listening to Horatio's
narration of the story, Fortinbras gives orders
to conduct a funeral ceremony for Hamlet in a
quite befitting manner as for a soldier.
Soliloquy is a dramatic device employed by B
playwrights to expose the complex inner feel- f
ings and thoughts of a character through his s
self-speech which the audience can listen to f
but other characters in the play remain un- p
aware of. These soliloquies are long speeches
that are articulated by a single character on t
the stage which provides information on the c
private thoughts of the character. In Hamlet,
there are seven soliloquies by Hamlet which c
unfold the complex psychological state and in-
ternal crisis of the title character. The lengthy I soliloquies in Hamlet shed light on the inner
conflicts of the tragic hero of the play. Each
soliloquy in Hamlet serves to contribute to the
progression of the play.
The first soliloquy happens before the ghost's
appearance in front of Hamlet. The second so-
liloquy takes place soon after the ghost's first
meeting with him in which the ghost assigns
him the responsibility of taking revenge upon
his father's murderer. As he has determined to
take revenge upon Claudius, in the third so-
liloquy, Hamlet charges himself for postpon-
ing the act of revenge. The fourth soliloquy in
Hamlet is the most philosophical soliloquy in
the play. The fifth soliloquy takes place just
before Hamlet's encounter with his mother.
The sixth soliloquy happens when he was on
his way to Getrude's chamber. Here the ghost
is Hamlet's own conscience to scold and ac-
cuse him for the delay of execution of the re-
venge.
Among these soliloquies, the fourth soliloquy
is the most renowned as it is a highly phil-
osophical and contemplative one. The solilo-
quy 'to be or not to be consists of 262 words
and 33 lines. The Act III, Scene I, the scene of
Hamlet telling Ophelia to 'get thee to a nun-
nery' is referred to as the 'nunnery scene'. This
soliloquy raises fundamental questions on hu-
man existence which deal with issues like life
and death. The most disturbing dilemma of
Hamlet is expressed in this soliloquy which
foregrounds the dilemma whether to silently
suffer the misfortune of life or fight with the
fierceness of fate. Here the soliloquy preoccu-
pies with choices of enduring life and putting
an end to life. In this soliloquy Hamlet comes
to the conclusion that it is the total ignorance
=of the hereafter life that compels people to endure life even if it is filled with hardships and
challenges. and dilemmas in this soliloquy, the irresolute
nature of Hamlet is shown. Enlisting painful
moments, it showcases the problems and an-
guish of human existence. Though this solilo-
quy is the manifestation of Hamlet's worries
and internal ruminations, it reflects the prob-
lems of every individual in the world, thus it has a universal appeal. The function that this
soliloquy serves in the play is to present the
reason for Hamlet's postponement of taking
revenge and consequent mental distress that
he suffers.
UNIT-4
ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS
1. Mention the genre of Absalom and Achitophel?
Ans. Satire
2. What is the overall thematic thread of Absalom and Achitophel?
Ans. Rebellion led by Absalom and achitophel against king david of Israel
3. Who is considered Absalom?
Ans.Monmouth
4. Who is considered Achitophel
Ans. Shaftesbury
5. Who is introduced as Zimri?
Ans. Buckingham, the old enemy of dryden
6. Why is Zimri lampooned?
Ans.for his lavishness and wrong opinion
7. Who is described as a fool's fool?
Ans. Zimri
8. Who is described as an unquestionable leader of the crowd who died of
trying to think?
Ans. Unquestionable leader of the crowd who died of trying to think
9. What is the blend that makes the poem distinctive?
Ans. Fatherhood and kingship
10. What is the form of Absalom and Achitophel?
Ans. Hwroic couplet
QUESTION AND ANSWER
1.write the critical analysis of absalom and achitophel?
Ans.Absalom and Achitophel is a satire composed
by John Dryden. It is patterned in a heroic
couplet format. The overall thematic thread of
the poem is a rebellion led by Absalom and
Achitophel against King David of Israel. It
narrates the story of England during the sev-
enteenth century. In the poem, Dryden consid-
ers Monmouth as Absalom, the beloved child
and Shaftesbury as Achitophel. Charles is in-
troduced as King David and Buckingham, the
old enemy of Dryden, is introduced as Zimri.
Zimri appears in the poem as a disloyal ser-
vant.
The story alludes to the Bible where Absalom
is a favourite son of King David and his false
friend Achitophel, who inspires King David's
son to be rebellious against his own father.
The poem is distinctive for its satirical ren-
dition of its characters. The poem, written in
a mock-heroic fashion, provides allegories to
describe the political events.
This section of the poem is part of descrip-
tions on mean and corrupt people who express
their solidarity with Absalom and Achitophel
in order to bring down David. Dryden's main
allegation against them is that they think very
little but speak excessively. The first in his list
of mockery is Zimri who is lampooned for his
wrong opinions. Zimri represents the Duke of
Buckingham, who is already a subject of rid-
icule in Dryden's The Rehearsal.As the poem is written during the political
turmoil, it adopts an allegorical and mock-he-
roic narrative style to lampoon the personal
and political matters. Dryden, seemingly in
the form of praise, employs the dramatic lan-
guage in order to shower his criticism on Zim-
ri or Duke of Buckingham. Though Zimri is
intelligent, he is inconsistent and extravagant.
Dryden sheds light on the various personal
traits of Zimri such as his likes and dislikes,
attitude and lifestyle.
This section of Absalom and Achitophel starts
disclosing that Zimri is one of the leaders who
takes his position against the royal court/gov-
ernment. Zimri is introduced in the poem as
a leading rebellious leader of high position,
who is an icon of multiple talents and tastes.
With a mix of humour and sarcasm, Dryden
announces that he always seems stern in his
opinions, but his views always prove to be
wrong. He initiates multiple tasks in a single
moment but fails in executing any of them.
Dryden excels in his sarcastic balancing of
Zimri's expertise and failure, but both contrib-
ute ironically to laughing at him. The brilliant
balancing of positives and negatives are strik-
ingly done in lines such as "chemist, fiddler,statesman, and buffoon" and "chemist, a vio-
linist, a politician and a fool's fool". In these
lines, the list of positive qualities comes to an
end in a negative attribute. In both these lines
quoted above, Zimri is sketched in terms of
his skills in science, musical instruments, and
governance but all these positive attributes
are negated by the last qualification 'buffoon'
which signifies that he is a 'fool'. Extending
this ridicule to its extreme, Dryden names him
as a 'fool's fool'.
Dryden calls him a luxurious and extrava-
gant man who spends his time flirting with
women, but also drinking heavily, and engag-
ing in creative works like painting and com-
posing rhythmic poems. The vehement attack
from the part of Dryden is that Zimiri is an
unquestionable leader of the crowd who died
of trying to think.
One of the leading preoccupations of the
poem is the connection between kingship
and fatherhood. Employing biblical allusions,
Dryden introduces the present fatherhood and
royal responsibilities with the help of ancient
fatherhood and royal powers. The
poemis dis-tinguished for itsbrilliant
blend offatherhood and kingship.
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