WEEK 6 (21^st to 26th April, 2020)

The Merchant of Venice (Act 3 sc ii Lines 62-109)

• SUMMARY

• YOUTUBE LINKS

• ASSIGNMENT

WEEK 5 (15th to 20th April, 2020)

• The Merchant of Venice Act 3 sc ii (Lines 1-62)

WEEK 4 (6th to 12th April, 2020)

• Paper II (Literature) – Revision (The Patriot)

WEEK 3 (30th March to 5th April, 2020)

• Paper II (Literature) – The Merchant of Venice- Act 3 Scene ii (Drama)

Portia tells Bassanio that she is an inexperienced, untrained and unaccustomed girl. She is happy that she is not yet too old to learn new things. Portia feels that her gentle nature will help her take guidance from her lord, governor and king, that is Bassanio.

A moment before, she was the owner of the grand mansion, the servants and queen over her own self but everything that had belonged to her once is now owned by Bassanio .

She gives all these things (her house, mastery over herself and the right over her servants) to Bassanio with a ring. She mentions that Bassanio should never part, lose or give away the ring. If Bassanio loses the ring, Portia will be at liberty to use that opportunity to accuse him of not loving her.

Bassanio tells Portia that she has robbed him of words. Bassanio says that his thoughts are confused just like a crowd of happy, murmuring citizens who have heard a fine speech from their beloved prince. Everything is so mixed up that it becomes a wilderness where nothing can be distinguished except (‘save of’) joy.

Bassanio further says that the day he takes his ring off will be the day he dies. If Portia sees him without it, she can be confident that he is dead.

Nerissa and Gratiano congratulate the lovers. Gratiano tells Bassanio about his love for Nerissa and expresses his desire to be married at their wedding ceremony.

Gratiano further says that he was also very tensed while Bassanio was making a choice of the casket because Nerissa had agreed to their marriage only if Bassanio chooses the correct casket and his marriage to Portia gets solemnized.

While the lovers are enjoying their happiness, Lorenzo, Jessica and Salerio arrive. Bassanio welcomes them and speaks aloud about his position in the new house which he assumes is firm enough to allow him the right to welcome his friends. He also seeks Portia's permission to welcome them. Portia also welcomes the three of them to her mansion.

Answer the following questions and UNDERLINE OR HIGHLIGHT the key points. (COPY THE QUESTIONS)

Q1. Mention the three words that Portia uses to describe the sum total of her to Antonio.

Q2. What does Portia bestow upon Bassanio soon after he chooses the correct casket?

Q3. What conditions does Portia give while giving the ring to Bassanio?

Q4. What was the condition laid down by Nerissa when Gratiano declared his love for her?

When Bassanio decides to choose the lead casket, Portia gives vent to an outburst of relief. She says that all other emotions, like anxiety, despair fear, jealousy which have been agitating her for so long, disappear into the night. The sole occupant of her heart now is ‘love’. She asks the God of love to calm her and make her happiness less in intensity. She is afraid of experiencing excess happiness.

On opening the lead casket, Bassanio finds the portrait of Portia and a scroll.

Bassanio says that the artist who has painted Portia's portrait must have been half divine. He says this because the picture seems so real that no human painter could have made it so.

As Bassanio gazed at Portia's portrait, he said that the eyes seemed to be moving. He reasons that the eyes of Portia seem to move because his eyes are moving. About the lips, he says, they are slightly parted because a sweet breath is escaping from the mouth. He calls the lips two sweet friends and says that nothing but a sweet breath should come between them.

Bassanio says that the painter, in painting the hair, has kept in mind the cobweb of a spider. Just as a spider weaves cobwebs to ensnare tiny insects and gnats, the artist has painted Portia's sunny tresses in such braids and knots that the hearts of men are taken captive by their beauty sooner than insects (gnats) in a spider's web.

Bassanio cannot imagine how the artist could have painted the eyes. He says they are so beautiful that it seems to him that when one of them was made, its beauty ought to have dazzled the painter and blinded both his eyes. This ought to have rendered him unable to paint the second eye.

When Bassanio is praising the eyes, lips and hair of Portia's portrait, he concludes by asking Portia to see how much his praise does injustice to her portrait by underestimating it. In the same way, the portrait is far behind the real thing, i.e. Portia herself.

Bassanio turns to read the scroll which contains and summarizes his fate.

He reads that since he has not chosen by mere outward appearances, he should also be fortunate and make his choice as wisely as this one. Since this fortune has befallen him, he should be satisfied and seek nothing more for his happiness. If he is well pleased with his luck and feels that fate has brought him happiness, then he should go to his lady and claim her as his own with a kiss of love.

Bassanio says that he feels like one who is striving to win some contest, like one of two prize-fighters. He hears the plaudits and the clamour of the crowd but is too bewildered by the struggle to be able to tell whether the applause is for him or not. Such is Bassanio's condition. He is yet uncertain whether he has won Portia or not. He asks Portia to confirm, approve and sanction it and to return the kiss.

Portia makes a complete surrender of herself to Bassanio. She tells him that he sees her there with all her merits and shortcomings and she does not pretend to be otherwise. For Bassanio’s sake, she wishes that she were thrice twenty times better, a thousand times more beautiful and ten thousand times wealthier. She wishes that she were infinitely fairer, just so that Bassanio might value her more, so her good qualities, beauty, possessions, and friends would be more than Bassanio could calculate. That would raise her higher in his esteem. All she can offer him is her own person, a mere nothing. She may be described, on the whole, as nothing better than a maiden without education, training and experience who however, is glad that she is still young enough to have time to improve. She is even happier because she is not so dull by nature that she is not able to learn. She is happiest of all because she is now able to surrender her mind and heart completely and willingly to Bassanio.

ASSIGNMENT (ACT 3 sc ii Lines 110-165)

Answer the following questions and UNDERLINE OR HIGHLIGHT the key points. (COPY THE QUESTIONS)

Questions:

Q1. Which emotions does Portia want to fleet to air after Bassanio chooses the right casket?

Q2. While describing the painting, what does Bassanio refer to as ‘sweet friends’? What separates the friends?

Q3. How does Bassanio describe his condition to Portia immediately after reading the scroll?

Q4. What does Portia wish to make herself capable of Bassanio?

Based on The Merchant of Venice (Act3 sc ii 1-62)

Answer the following questions:

Q1. Where does this scene take place? Name the characters present in the scene.

Q 2. What is the purpose of Bassanio’s visit?

Q 3.What advice does Portia give Bassanio? Why?

Q 4.Why is Portia unable to help Bassanio?

Q 5. What does Bassanio compare his present condition to? What did he decide to do then?

Q 6. What does Portia accuse Bassanio of? What is Bassanio’s reply?

Q 7. Who does she compare herself and Bassanio with?

Q 8. What role will music serve if Bassanio succeeds?

The poem is a harsh critique on public sentiments and morality. It deals with the fickle mindedness of the public. The narrator here is the patriot. (Not the poet)

Stanza 1

myrtles- shrub with white flowers - symbol of love

heave and sway-refers to the movement of the crowd on the roof tops.

Church spires -conical structure on top of the church.

Flamed- glowed/ gave off flames. The brightly coloured flags on church tops to welcome the patriot appeared to be on fire (ablaze).

In general, the patriot was welcomed by the public.

Stanza 2

mist with bells- sound of the bells which were being rung by the followers of the patriot to celebrate his arrival..

Folk- general public/crowd

'Repels' means drive back or away.

'Mere noise repels' here means that the patriot does not want so much of noise and celebration all around. He wants his followers to show their love for him in a more concrete manner.

He then says to bring the Sun, the symbol of light for him. In general, the people were ready to do anything for the patriot, even impossible things like giving the Sun. They were willing to give everything that was very dear to them to their leader.

Stanza 3

leaping at the Sun- trying to do what is impossible [reference to Icarus, son of Daedulus. He ignored his father's instruction not to fly too close to the sun. He flew close to the sun and melted his wings.]

..harvest, what I reap- Benefit/suffer from the result of one's past actions.

Stanza 4

palsied- affected with paralysis

Shamble's gate- a place where people would congregate to watch public hangings.

Scaffold's foot- a platform on which a criminal is executed

trow- think/believe

Stanza 5

fling- throw

misdeeds- wicked/illegal acts

Stanza 6

Thus I entered and thus I go- how the patriot has entered one year back and how the patriot exits- refer to the difference in the treatment of the people/public.

In triumphs, people have dropped down dead- While doing well for others, many people have died/ been destroyed (like the patriot)

Last two lines- The poem ends on a note of optimism with Browning's own optimistic philosophy "God's in His Heaven and all's Right with the World". The patriot believes that it is God who will reward him according to his true merit.

• This poem is a dramatic monologue by Robert Browning. In this poem the speaker or the narrator is a patriot who was treated as a hero by the public a year back. He was welcomed with roses and myrtles on his path, the gathering of people, flags, and bells. Whatever the patriot asked the people to bring him, the people would have done that no matter how impossible the task would have been

• Not only the crowd but also the patriot had done everything possible for a man to do for the benefit of the public. 'Leaped at the sun' refers to impossible task. After one year, the scene has entirely changed. For his year's misdeeds, the patriot was taken to the shambles' gate exactly after one year by the same public where he would be executed.

• Contrary to a year before, the patriot was being taken to be executed. There was no one on the house tops, only a few palsied people were at the window. Others had gathered at the Shambles' gate to see the patriot being executed. It was raining. A rope had cut both his wrists, his forehead was bleeding and stones were flung at him. The poem says that the public had treated him like that for his year's misdeeds.

• We are not aware of what misdeeds he had done in one year. The poet has not mentioned it. It is probable that he was misjudged by the common public. He had tried to do everything possible for them but his outcome is execution.

• The last stanza highlights the difference in the attitude of the public and the readers can see the difference of treatment before and after.

• The major themes of the poem are Optimism and Fickle mindedness of the people.

• Although he would be hanged, the patriot is very optimistic. He feels that the public for whom he did every possible thing had judged him wrong. He is sure that he will now feel safer with God. He feels God will judge him according to his true merit. This poem reflects the optimism philosophy of Robert Browning and also the faith in God.

WEEK 3 (30th March to 5th April, 2020)

• Act 1 scene i - Antonio’s cause of sadness and the introduction of Portia by Bassanio to Antonio. Bassanio asks for money but Antonio was not able to help him as all the money was invested in the ships.

• Act 1 scene ii – Description of the various suitors by Portia to her ‘lady in waiting’ Nerissa.

• Act 1 scene iii – The ‘Bond episode’ which comprises characters like Antonio, Bassanio and the Jewish money lender Shylock.

• Act 2 scene i – Introduction of Prince of Morocco and his visit to Belmont for trying his luck at the caskets.

• Act 2 scene ii – A comic scene where the father- son duo i.e. Old Gobbo and Launcelot Gobbo takes place. Launcelot wanting to leave the service of Shylock and accepts Bassanio as his new master.

• Act 2 scene iii – Introduction of Jessica (Shylock’s daughter) who does not want Launcelot Gobbo to leave her father’s house.

• Act 2 scene iv – The Christian friends plan for the masquerade, in order to help Jessica elope with Lorenzo.

• Act 2 scene v – Shylock gives instructions to Jessica before leaving the house as he had a dinner invitation (feast) at Bassanio’s house.

• Act 2 scene vi – The friends wait for the lovers and are surprised as they are late because lovers are always punctual.

• Act 2 scene vii- Prince of Morocco finally chooses the Gold casket, rejecting silver and lead.

• Act 2 scene viii – Salarino and Salanio’s conversation about the rumour of Antonio’s shipwreck and Shylock crying out aloud on the streets of Venice “O my daughter! O my ducats!”

• Act 2 scene ix – Prince of Arragon finally chooses the Silver casket, rejecting Gold and Lead.

• Act 3 scene i – Introduction of Tubal, a Jewish friend of Shylock, who was asked to bring information about Jessica. Shylock’s two types of mood are revealed where he is sad because of Jessica’s elopement with all the jewels and on the other hand he is happy on hearing about Antonio’s shipwreck. He asks Tubal to get him an officer and to meet him at the synagogue as he feels it is the right time for taking revenge against Antonio.

• The scene is set in Belmont, the residence of Portia. This is the third of the casket scenes, the scene in which Bassanio makes his choice of the caskets.

• Bassanio is anxious to try his luck immediately but Portia implores him to be patient, for his wrong choice could separate both of them. She admits that she can advise Bassanio which casket to choose but that would break her oath to her father. In spite of Portia’s entreaties, Bassanio is eager to make his choice at once. Portia believes that if Bassanio loves her, he will make the correct choice and she calls for music to be played while he chooses to lighten the atmosphere. She sings in praises for Bassanio and compares him to Hercules, who rescued a maiden who had to be sacrificed by the Trojans to a sea-monster.

• The lyrics of the background music warns Bassanio not to judge by the external appearance while selecting the casket as appearances can be deceptive. Hence Bassanio rejects gaudy gold and common silver; his choice is the meagre lead which is far from being attractive. On opening the lead casket, Bassanio finds a magnificent Portrait of Portia. However, he feels that it stands nowhere to her real self.

• Having made the right choice, the two pledge themselves to each other and Portia presents Bassanio with a ring as a token of their love, which he promises never to part with.

• Nerissa then surprises her mistress with the announcement that she and Gratiano also wish to tie the knot. Nerissa too gives a ring to Gratiano which he promises never to part with.

• Both the couples rejoice in love. Their merriment is interrupted by the distressing news brought by Salerio about Antonio’s loss at sea. Bassanio tells Portia about his indebtedness to Antonio and the misfortune that has befallen him. Portia urges Bassanio to marry her soon and then depart for Venice with Gratiano. During Bassanio’s absence, she and Nerissa would live as maids and widows.

• Bassanio reads aloud Antonio’s letter to Portia. In the letter, Antonio wishes only to see Bassanio before he dies. Antonio also requests Bassanio to come to Venice for a last farewell, before he loses his life in keeping with the terms of the bond. Bassanio, as a loyal friend, leaves for Venice to help Antonio.

Kindly do the work in your English Literature school exercise copy, click/scan the photos and mail to the respective English teachers by 05.04.2020.

Answer the following questions based on the extract below: (COPY THE QUESTION)

Q1. Portia:

…And yet a maiden hath no tongue, but thought,-

I would detain you here some month or two

Before you venture for me. I could teach you

How to choose right, but then I am forsworn;

So will I never be: so may you miss me;

But if you do, you’ll make me wish a sin,

That I had been forsworn….

a) Where does this scene take place? Why did Portia request Bassanio to wait for sometime before choosing the casket? [3]

b) What reason does Portia give at the end of her speech for speaking so long? What does this show about her feelings towards Bassanio? [3]

c) Why can’t Portia teach Bassanio to choose the correct casket? If Bassanio were to make an incorrect choice, what would Portia have wished? [3]

d) What was Bassanio’s reaction to Portia’s request? To what does he compare his condition to? Which casket did he finally choose? [3]

e) What light does the extract throw on the character of Portia as a daughter & a lover? [4]

Answer the following questions based on the extract below:

Q1. I wasn’t too worried about all this. I’d trained, sweated and disciplined myself for six years, with the Games in mind. While I was going over on the boat, all I could think about was taking home one or two of those gold medals. I had my eye especially on the running broad jump. A year before, as a sophomore at Ohio State University, I’d set the world’s record of 26 feet 8-1/4 inches. Everyone kind of expected me to win that Olympic event hands down.

a) Who is the speaker? Describe the physical appearance of his German Competitor. [3]

b) When and where were the Olympic Games held? How had Jesse Owens prepared for the games? [3]

c) Describe the speaker’s first and second qualifying jumps. What advice was given to him soon after?[3]

d) What achievement had the speaker made while he was a student at the Ohio State University? What was his Olympic record? How did Hitler react to his victory? [3]

e) “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part.”- Justify the statement with reference to the friendship that grew between the speaker and his competitor in the Olympic Games. [4]

The Patriot Analysis

First Stanza

It was roses, roses, all the way,

With myrtle mixed in my path like mad:

The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,

The church-spires flamed, such flags they had,

A year ago on this very day.

The first stanza is a description of the Patriots feelings towards his Country, or perhaps to his religion as the church is mentioned near the end of the stanza. Browning uses a metaphor saying ‘it was roses, roses all the way’, in which he is describing elated feelings of love, dedication and happiness through the word roses. The Patriot is euphoric toward his Country, he is full of energy and he sees everything with life and energy, even the houses and church spires. The last line of the stanza tells us that this energetic time of the Patriots life is not the present, but rather something that occurred a year ago. The stanza can also be taken literally, and in that case, it could mean that when he first arrived in this Country people had thrown flowers at him, and everyone had been out cheering for him in excitement, urging him on to make their Country proud. Alliteration is seen in this stanza with Myrtle-mixed-my-mad and flames-flag.

Second Stanza

The air broke into a mist with bells,

The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries.

Had I said, “Good folk, mere noise repels—

But give me your sun from yonder skies!”

They had answered, “And afterward, what else?”

The second stanza is not very clear in its meaning, but it appears that this is the chapter of the Patriots life where he is a hero. Everyone is willing to do all that he asks for, even if he had asked for the sun they would give it to him and still ask him what else he would like. Browning uses imagery to describe a very festive environment, with bells ringing and walls swaying with the crowds and cries. This shows us that the Patriot was really seen as some sort of hero to his people.

Third Stanza

Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun

To give it my loving friends to keep!

Nought man could do, have I left undone:

And you see my harvest, what I reap

This very day, now a year is run.

The third stanza is no longer festive as it begins to reveal the reality after all the initial hype. The people had only been speaking words and pretending to revere this Patriot because in actuality it was really him who had to leap for the sun. Leaping for the sun is another way of trying to achieve the impossible. The ancient Greek myth of Icarus is a good way to explain this analogy. Icarus is known for having attempted to fly to the sun, but the closer he got his wings (which were attached by wax) melted off him. This is relevant to the Patriot because he seems to have been over ambitious, and in doing so it caused him to fall a dreadful height. He states that he did the impossible, what no man can do, that all his rewards are clear for everyone to see, but what has happened now?

Fourth and Fifth Stanzas

There’s nobody on the house-tops now—

Just a palsied few at the windows set;

For the best of the sight is, all allow,

At the Shambles’ Gate—or, better yet,

By the very scaffold’s foot, I trow.

I go in the rain, and, more than needs,

A rope cuts both my wrists behind;

And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds,

For they fling, whoever has a mind,

Stones at me for my year’s misdeeds.

The fourth and fifth stanza is where he reveals, quite shockingly that he has completely fallen. There are no more people looking out for him or cheering him on. The only people who come to watch him are the palsied few, which obviously refers to those lowest in society, sick and old with nothing better to do than watching him at the Scaffolds foot, which is a raised wooden platform in which people are executed. He describes the rope cutting his hands and bleeding because of the process of his execution, and quite interestingly he mentions that those with a mind whip stones at him for his year’s misdeeds.

We know from the previous stanzas that the patriot had done literally everything in his power to satisfy his people, he had many accomplishments under his belt, but he was still being executed at the end. He may be using sarcasm here by stating that those with a brain where hating on him even while he was being hung or he may be stating how everyone else was so idle and ignorant, so forgetful and static that at least those who threw the rocks at him had some sort of passion, some sort of understanding, whether right or wrong, for why they were watching him die in the first place. The Patriot mentions that he walks in the rain as he’s going up to be executed. This could be literal rain, creating a mood of depression and dismay. This rain could also be metaphorical; referring to him being cleansed of his desire to please people and cleansed of sin before he died because his execution was completely unjust,

Sixth Stanza

Thus I entered, and thus I go!

In triumphs, people have dropped down dead.

“Paid by the world, what dost thou owe

“Me?”—God might question; now instead,

‘Tis God shall repay: I am safer so.

The sixth and final stanza refers to the chapter of death in the Patriots life. He feels himself die and as a final thought occurs to him, he is not sacred or full of hate, but rather he is pleased and even relieved that at-least now he is going to God, who will judge him justly. For God sees all and knows all, unlike human beings who react to only what their limited knowledge allows them to understand. This final stanza also brings forward the point that this entire story could have been about a man, patriotic to his religion, who gained a respectable position in the church and society but he began to question his religion and in doing so underwent great lengths in order to find out more about other religions, and people saw him as an apostate and had him hung. However, Browning’s mentioning of triumphs in this stanza makes it most likely that this was the story of a hero of a Country who was forgotten and then killed.

The Patriot is a tragic tale of a man who fell from being a star citizen to becoming despised so intensely that he was put to death. The entire poem is based on irony as the people who once used to revere the man and put him on a pedestal became the same people who deserted him and even killed him at the end. The Patriot is divided into six stanzas, each of which is a different chapter of the Patriots life. Browning uses the poetic devices of irony, metaphors, imagery, and alliteration to show the reader the uncertain nature of society. Society is very dynamic in the people they choose to support. Entire nations can switch sides instantaneously without care or worry about what happens to those they left behind.