The Spider and the Fly (Assignment)

Mary Botham Howitt

Answer 1.
The spider wanted to lure the fly into his web so that he can feast upon the fly. He asks the fly to come to his
parlour which is up the winding stairs where he would show the fly pretty things which he has in his collection. He
tells the fly it must be weary for flying so high, so he insists the fly to rest upon his little soft bed where there are
curtains drawn all around, sheets are fine and thin and if the fly rest for a while he will snugly tuck the fly in. He
then to convince the fly tells he wants to show his affection towards the fly and ask her to have a slice from the
pantry of his kitchen where he has stocked all good things. He goes on to praise the fly about how witty and wise
it is and how handsome and brilliant its wings and eyes are whereas his is as dull as lead and he asks the fly to
come to the parlour and check her out in the little looking glass he possesses. At last he convinces the fly by
praising by telling her about her pearl and silver wings and purple and green robes. He’s ulterior motive was to
capture the fly in his web. He used deception and flattery to lure her to his trap.
Answer 2.
When the spider asks the fly to walk into his pretty parlour she tells the spider it is useless of him to ask her that
for she knows who ever goes up the winding stairs never come down again. The spider then goes on to offer her
his soft little bed to the weary fly but she refuse profusely by saying she has often heard those who sleep in the
spider’s bed never wakes up again. The cunning spider offered the fly to have a slice from the his kitchen’s
pantry , but the fly politely says no by saying she has heard what horrors are there in the spider’s pantry and she
doesn’t wish to see it. The spider then praise the fly about her looks and asks her to come in and look at the
looking mirror he has , the fly tells the she is pleased to hear that but she is going to bid him good bye and call it
another day. This is how the fly initially decline the invitation of the spider by giving various reasons.
Answer 3.
At the end of the poem we see the fly surrender to the sweet flattery of the spider and steps into his trap. After
the different ways to coax the fly into the his web spider uses flattery and entraps the fly. At first we presume the
fly to be intelligent who knows the horrors the spider was hiding and she would not fall into the traps but at the
end we are disappointed to see that the fly was silly as she fell into the trap of the cunning spider as soon as
thespider started to flatter her by telling how wavy her wings are and how brilliant her eyes were. When the fly
goes near the spider the spider grabs her and drags her to his parlour. This is how the silly fly had a tragic
ending.
We see the spider uses flattery and deception to lure the fly into his vicious trap. Likewise we see there are
many people in the world who may be nice to you in the front but actually has ulterior motive to harm you. One
should be completely sure of the other person before trusting him/her completely. And one should not let flattery
and desire of the heart get the better of themselves as it maybe deceitful.