2015

Ans 1. a Neapolitan prince; the County Palatine

Ans2. The casket rule.

Ans3. The term of the bond is if Antonio is unable to pay the three thousand ducats specified on
the paper on a certain date, in an agreed place, the forfeit to be paid, will be an exact pound of
Antonio's flesh which Shylock will be at liberty to take from any part of his body which pleases
him.

Ans4. Jessica was the daughter of shylock and elopes with Lorenzo.

Ans5. Portia disguises herself as a male then assumes the role of a lawyer's apprentice whereby
she saves the life of Bassanio's friend, Antonio, in court. She also disguises herself as Balthazar,
a young doctor of law. And Nerissa became Stephano which is Nerissa disguised as 'Balthazar's
law clerk.

Ans6. Portia gives Bassanio the ring along with her vows and her inheritance. This is a big deal
because Bassanio is in great debt to Antonio and is pretty much financially destitute
without Portia's wealth that he acquires through the marriage.

Ans7. Kamla Das

And8.

Ans9. Seven Stages

And 10.

PART-C

Ans15. "Punishment in Kindergarten" is a little autobiographical poem by the famous Indo-

Anglian poet Kamala Das.  She recalls one of her childhood experiences.  When she was in the
kindergarten, one day the children were taken for a picnic. All the children except her were
playing and making merry.  But she alone kept away from the company of the children.  Their
teacher, a blue-frocked woman, scolded her saying.

                        "Why don't you join the others, what

                        A peculiar child you are!"

            This heard, all the other children who were sipping sugar cane turned and laughed.  The
child felt it very much.  She became sad at the words of the teacher.  But the laughter by the
children made her sadder.  She thought that they should have consoled her rather than laughing
and insulting her.  Filled with sorrow and shame she did her face in a hedge and wept.  This was
indeed a painful experience to a little child in the nursery school.

            Now after many years she has grown into an adult.  She has only a faint memory of the
blue-frocked woman and the laughing faces of the children.  Now she has learned to have an
'adult peace' and happiness in her present state as a grown-up person.  Now there is no need for
her to be perturbed about that bitter kindergarten experience.  With her long experience in life
she has learned that life is a mixture of joy and sorrow.  She remembers how she has experienced
both the joy and sorrow of life.  The long passage of time has taught her many things.  She is no
more a lonely individual as she used to feel when she was a child.  The poet comes to a
conclusion that there is no need for her to remember that picnic day, when she hid her face in the
hedge, watching the steel-white sun, that was standing lonely in the sky.

            The poem is written in three stanzas, each having different number of lines – the first
with seven lines, the second with six and the third with nine.  The poem does not follow any
regular rhyme scheme.  The subject matter of the poem has two parts, the first of which being the
description of the painful experience of the kindergarten days and the second, the adult's attitude
to the incident at present when she is no more a child.

            The poet seems to be nostalgic about her childhood days.  There are certain expressions
in the poem that are worth remembering.  The poet says that the child buried its face in the hedge
and "smelt the flowers and the pain".  "Smelt the flowers can be taken as an ordinary expression,
but "smelt the pain" is something very evocative and expressive.  In the first stanza of the poem,
the poet describes the pain caused to the child, "throwing words like pots and pans".  This again
is beautiful.  The phrase used by the poet to describe the child's teacher, namely, "blue-frocked
woman" can be justified from the child's point of view.  But to the poet who is an adult the use of
the phrase looks a little too awkward.  On the whole, the poem can be taken as the poet's interest
in remembering her childhood days.

Ans16. Done
Ans17. The trial scene in The Merchant of Venice is the climax of the play as Shylock has taken
Antonio to court. Portia once again proves herself cleverer and more competent than any of the
men with whom she shares the stage; and she resolves the major crisis in the comedy and paves
the way for a happy ending. From the point where Shylock enters the courtroom everyone is
appealing for mercy for Antonio and this is what the scene demonstrates, a need for mercy.
Portia says shortly after she has entered the scene ‘Then the Jew must be merciful’. Not that this
is what the law says he must be, but that he should do this because it is the only thing he can do
morally. The mercy theme runs all the way through the scene and many opportunities were
offered by the Duke, Bassanio and Portia for Shylock to take the moral course of action, but he
constantly refuses saying he should get what he deserves not by moral justice but by the law -
‘My deeds upon my head I crave the law, the penalty and forfeit of my bond’. Portia lets Shylock
have the chance to take the moral path but Shylock chooses to have his pound of flesh. Shylock
does not realise he is being played into a trap as he is blinded by spite.

This results in an ironical justice. After Shylock has chosen his course of action, Portia informs
him of the consequences, ‘If thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods are
by the laws of Venice confiscate unto the state of Venice’. Antonio receives his moral justice and
Shylock is shown little mercy by the letter of the law that he demanded for himself. As Shylock
refused to show mercy to Antonio when he had power over him, he is shown the same treatment
- ‘The Jew shall have all justice, he shall have nothing but the penalty.’ It is shown to the reader
that Shylock gets what is due as the play is written in favour of Christianity, and so all sympathy
is lost for Shylock.

A number of critics have raised questions about the accuracy and fairness of the courtroom
proceedings: the presiding duke is far from impartial; Portia appears as an unbiased legal
authority, when in fact she is married to the defendant’s best friend; and she appears in disguise,
under a false name. But if the trial is not just, then the play is not just, and it ceases to be a
comedy. Thus, while Portia bends the rules of the court, her decision is nonetheless legally
accurate. More important for the cause of justice, the original bond was made under false
pretenses—Shylock lied when he told Antonio that he would never collect the pound of flesh.
Therefore, Portia’s actions restore justice instead of pervert it.
However, many modern readers find it difficult to rejoice in Portia’s victory. Portia not only
releases Antonio from his bond, but effectively strips Shylock of both his religion and his
livelihood, rendering him unable to inflict, or even threaten, further damage. Shakespeare’s
contemporaries, the majority of whom assumed that eternal damnation was the fate of any non-
Christian, would have witnessed Shylock’s conversion as a vital contribution to the play’s happy
ending. By turning Shylock into a Christian, the Venetians satisfy themselves with their own
kindness in saving the soul of a heathen. But audiences today find laughing at Shylock to be
much harder.

Perhaps the court’s verdict fits Shylock’s crimes, but the court indulges in an equally literal and
severe reading of the law in order to effect the same vicious end: the utter annihilation of a
human being. Before doling out Shylock’s punishment, the duke assures him that he will “see the
difference of our spirit,” but the spirit of the Venetians proves to be as vindictive as the Jew’s.
The duke spares Shylock’s life, but takes away his ability to practice his profession and his
religion. Modern audiences cannot help but view Shylock as a victim.

Ans18. Chutiya question……pta nhi dete be ku h ese bakvas chezze