Time : 3 Hours

Maximum Marks : 80 English Paper-2 (Literature)

ISC
Solutions

Self Assessment Paper

Section ‘A’
5
THE TEMPEST – Shakespeare
Answer 1
(a) (i) Antonio is speaking to Sebastian. They are wandering on the island.
(ii) A fiercely storm wrecked their ship and they were brought to that island.
(iii) He refers to the hope of finding Naples prince Ferdinand on the island who is supposed to
have drowned.
(iv) Antonio seeks to comfort Sebastian by saying that since the prince has drowned and the princess
had been married to a far-off place, Sebastian can murder his brother Alonso to become the
King of Naples.
(v) Antonio had conspired and stolen the dukedom of his brother Prospero.
(vi) (A) Flash
(B) Uncertainty
(b) (i) The boatswain speaks these words to Gonzalo, the old courtier at the Court of Naples. The
boatswain means to say that for him nobody is dearer to him than his own life.
(ii) The boatswain reacted in this way because the royal passengers on board amidst the furious
storm were in panic and distress. They were so desperate that they rushed towards the deck
and interrupted the job of the mariners. The boatswain got angry and spoke in this tone.
(iii) The rude and arrogant behaviour of the boatswain gives Gonzalo some comfort. He thinks that
there are no signs to show that he will be drowned. Moreover, his face, his appearance and his
arrogant behaviour show that he is destined to be hanged. Since he is not to be drowned, and
with him aboard, the ship cannot sink.
(iv) In this line, the boatswain tells Gonzalo that they should remain in their cabins during the
storm and prepare themselves for the impending death.
(v) We find that the boatswain is a rude, arrogant and autocratic person who defies the authority
of the king in troubled circumstances. His speech reflects that he is impatient and domineering.
He gets angry and loses his temper in a difficult situation.
(vi) (A) Storm, lightning and thunder
(B) Handle
(c) (i) Sebastian is the speaker. The term ‘living drollery’ means a live puppet show.
(ii) The scene which Sebastian calls a living drollery displays the super-natural machinery of the
play. It has the following elements:
(A) A solemn and strange music in the air.
(B) Several strange shapes enter bringing in a banquet.
(C) These shapes dance round with gestures of salutation and invite the king to eat.
2 OSWAAL ISC Sample Question Papers, ENGLISH PAPER–2 (LITERATURE), Class-XII

(iii) The term phoenix refers to the mythical Arabian bird which lives for a hundred years before it
dies by bursting itself into flames and it is reborn from the ashes to start a new life.
The term unicorn refers to the white horse-like beast with a single, large, pointed, spiraling
horn projecting from its forehead. Its horn, when powdered, was said to have the power to
make poisoned water potable and to heal sickness.
(iv) Sebastian believes in the unicorns and phoenix after seeing the live entertainment show in
which various shapes came with a banquet and danced and vanished. He believes that if such
a strange sight can be real, then he can also believe the mythical story of unicorns and phoenix
told by classical writers.
(v) Antonio responded to the living drollery by saying that he is ready to believe both the unicorns
and the phoenix and anything that seems to be incredible.
Gonzalo says that if he would report those events in Naples nobody will believe him. He
believes that those gentle shapes were gentler in manner than the living beings.
Alonso became suspicious on seeing those shapes and felt that they conveyed their meaning in
gestures when they lacked speech.
Francisco was surprised at their mysterious disappearance.
(vi) (A) Puppet show
(B) Ruling

Section ‘B’
THE TEMPEST – Shakespeare
Answer 2
(a) The opening scene in The Tempest helps in furthering the action of the play. It opens on a ship amidst
a furious storm at sea. There is a panic among the passengers. The passengers come out of their
cabins and rush towards the deck. The boatswain asks the meddlesome passengers to go back
to their cabins. It appears that the ship will sink and the passengers will die. Thus, Shakespeare
maintains the suspense in the opening scene. Most of the passengers grow panicky, but Gonzalo,
the old courtier, is calm and makes light of the fearful situation by saying that the boatswain is not
likely to be drowned and with him aboard, the ship cannot sink. When Gonzalo sees that the ship is
about to sink, he says that he would like to die a dry death. It is pertinent to note that when the other
passengers are panicky, Gonzalo retains his mental poise and makes humorous remarks.
The opening scene reveals that Shakespeare was acquainted with the language of the sailors. The
scene also has a moral. It points that danger reduces the royal passengers and the common people
to the same level. The opening scene is dramatically significant because it narrates the central action
of the play. All the events that follow are connected with the storm that takes place in the opening
scene of the play.
(b) The power which Anotnio sought was political. Having been entrusted with the responsibility to
govern the state of Milan, Antonio became ambitious. Finding that his brother was engrossed in his
study, Antonio began to arrogate to himself more authority which in reality belonged to Prospero.
Using all unfair means, Antonio acquired a hold on all the organs of the government, and ultimately
entered into a secret agreement with Alonso, the King of Naples. Antonio carried out his plan to oust
Prospero from his dukedom.
Alonso helped Antonio in his plan because he had been a sworn enemy of Prospero and by helping
Antonio, he could add to his own power. According to his agreement with Antonio, Antonio was to
pay him an annual tribute of money and submit to his authority. Thus, Alonso’s motive for helping
Antonio was to extend his own power.
(c) One of the most pervasive themes of The Tempest is the contrast between nature and society. Caliban
is the central figure here. Caliban’s name is probably an anagram of ‘cannibal’. The conventional
Renaissance view that society is, by definition, good. But the man outside of society, in his natural
state, is bad.
For the orthodox Renaissance thinker, society, with its rules and hierarchical order was of a divine
creation. It is this notion of a divine order in society that lies behind Shakespeare’s historical plays
and also behind the historical doctrine of the divine right of kings. That is, since, society was a
Solutions 3

divinely created organism, those in the uncivilized state are hardly better than the beasts. It was
commonly held for much of the inhumanity shown to the natives of Africa and the New World by
the Elizabethan explorers.
Answer 3
After the banquet disappears, the harpy begins to speak to Alonso and his companions. The harpy
informs Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio that they are sinners whom the furious storm has thrown
up on the shore. It has happened under the directions of the Destiny which governs everyone’s life.
The harpy tells them that they are unfit to live because of the crimes they have committed. At this
point, they take out their swords to attack the harpy. The harpy calls them fools and tells them that
they cannot harm it and its companions because they are the agents of Destiny. Their swords cannot
do any damage to them as they are unconquerable. The harpy, then, reminds them of the grave
injustice that they had done to Prospero. They hatched a cruel plot. They ousted noble Prospero
from his dukedom and exposed him and his three year old daughter, Miranda to the fury of the sea
waves. In order to punish them for their crime, the super natural powers raised dangerous storm at
the sea. It tells Alonso that he has been deprived of his son by the super natural machinery and that
he would live the rest of his life in great misery and pain. He can redeem himself if he genuinely
repents for his evil deed. The other two – Sebastian and Antonio – would also be punished severely
unless they repent for their misdeeds. If they repent of their evil deeds and decide to lead pious lives,
they would be saved from the wrath of the super natural powers, otherwise the fury of these powers
would descend upon them to torture and torment them. After this warning to the three sinners, the
harpy disappears.
ECHOES
Answer 4
(a) Once, the author walked into Mr. Gessler’s shop wearing a new pair of shoes which he had bought
from a large firm in an emergency. The author walked into the shop wearing them, absent- mindedly.
It hurt Mr. Gessler to know that his customer was wearing shoes that were not made by him. He took
the author’s order without showing him any leather. With a critical look he examined those boots
and finally commented that the pair of shoes worn by him was not his craft. Just with the touch of
his fingers he could tell where exactly those boots did hurt the author. Mr. Gessler’s tone was neither
of anger, nor of sorrow, nor of contempt, but it froze the blood within. The ready-made shoes of the
author seemed to have struck a chord in Mr. Gessler’s heart. As if in a monologue, he started deriding
the large shoe-making firms for they didn’t seem to value the quality of the product. Spontaneously
for the only time in-front of the author, he discussed the conditions and hardships of his trade. He
loathed the practice of advertisement, sales promotion and all such means implemented by the big
firms in order to entice the buyers at the cost of quality, and all this just continued him losing out his
customers at the grand promotions made by these firms and this happened every year. The author
felt sorry for Mr. Gessler and noticed displeasure and annoyance palpable in his face which was
wrinkled due to years of toil in his trade.
(b) It was only after a year that the author could return to London. He went to see his favourite shoe-
maker but the encounter was not as pleasant as expected. Mr. Gessler had battled poor business, loss
of his brother and despondency. The continuing distress had taken a toll on his physical and mental
condition. He looked so haggard and broken. He seemed to have aged fifteen years in just one year
of dull business.
The author started his conversation by heaping praises on the boots that the author had bought from
the shoe-maker. Quite characteristically, his attention fell on the author’s shoe. He felt them by his
hands, lovingly, remembering the effort he had put in to make them. He was glad to get fresh orders
for more pair of shoes from author. Eventually, the four pairs of new shoes arrived and were of
perfect fit. Strangely though, Mr. Gessler continued to charge the same old rate as before. The author
paid of the charged amount.
(c) Their shop was distinctive in decor. It bore no flashy signage, except for a board that read their
names ‘Gessler Brothers’, and a pair of shoes placed in the window perhaps as a sign to help the
public recognize it as a tiny shoe-making unit. The reason for it was that the two brothers only made
customized footwear. They were not into making standard size shoes in bulk for the market. The
shoe-maker was blessed with such finesse that he used to make every pair of shoes that was ordered,
4 OSWAAL ISC Sample Question Papers, ENGLISH PAPER–2 (LITERATURE), Class-XII

with his own hands and with such delicacy and care that they fitted the wearer’s feet perfectly.
He also made the slimmest pair of pumps using the finest leather; tall known riding shoes that
served new even after years of having used them. Such rare artisanship was the hallmark of the shoe
made by him. He seemed to be realizing the soul of every boot and then making the polite types,
incarnating the very spirit of all the footwear's.
Answer 5
Katherine Mansfield born at the end of the nineteenth century was a writer who aimed to bring
about a modernist change through her works. Her brief life-span was a lesson in casting-off
conventions, where who never yielded to the norms of society. She wrote her own experiences in
her stories mirroring the society that existed in the times. Katherine revolutionised the 20th century
English short-story. Her writing, mostly, were free of plots and endings, and rather highlighted
the expansiveness of the interior life, the poetry of feelings and the blurred edges personality. Her
prose offers lessons in entering the ordinary lives, that are vived and strong, whereas her fiction
retained the relevance through its open endedness with the ability to raise discomofrting questions
about identity, belonging and desire. She depicted women in her stories facing challenges due to the
existence of partiarchal world which refused woman the right to explore and operate freely within a
man's world.
‘The Singing Lesson’ is a short story that narrates the despair of a school music teacher. Engaged
to be married, her fiance breaks up with her through a letter citing he is not a marrying man and
dis disgusted with the idea of it. The trauma of a broken relationship overpowers her and affects
everyone around her as she fails to control her emotions.
Mansfield, in this short story, gives readers a very clear insight into the mind of an unmarried
woman and her situation in society. A woman relies on a man to wed her and is desperate to see
herself married as per the norms of society. The readers are informed that Miss Meadows is a maiden
of thirty years old while her fiance Basil is twenty five. At the time when the story was written, thirty
would have been viewed upon as old, when it came to a woman getting married.
The opening of the story gives a fair insight into the thought process of Miss Meadows as to how
deeply affected she was after having read the letter from the her fiance Basil, wherein he had stated
to call-off wedding.
Though heart-broken from the fateful news, Miss Meadows goes about her work, albeit reluctantly.
Her coldness is further sensed when she exchanges greeting with the Science Mistress. Miss Meadow's
despair in contagious, as in, it spreads to the girls in the music class. She choose the song ‘Lament’ for
the students to sing, which in itself perfectly reflected how she felt at the particular comment.
“Good Heavens, what could be more tragic than that lament ! Every note was a sigh, a sob, a groan
of awful mournfulness.’’
Mansfield has also explored the conventional situation of the times. Miss Meadows, as stated,
was thirty ears old and five years elder to her finance. She was worried about having to bear the
embarrassment with the calling-off of the wedding. She feared that she might never get married
again and is reliant on Basil only to marry her. She is also concerned about what her colleagues
would say, once the news becomes public. She is worried that she might have to disappear from the
school altogether to avoid any further embarrassment.
Despite Miss Meadows being a professional and an educated lady, she suffers from an identity
crises, which could only be complete through her marriage.
Mansfield also clearly depicts how little regard Miss Meadows gave to love and compatibility while
choosing her husband. Her accounts of Basil display a childishness and inability to understand how
important it is to choose a good life partner. Readers are informed that Miss Meadows is desperate for
marriage and is ready to adjust with a man who loves her only little or not at all. To Miss Meadows, it
seems that she is aware of Basil not in love with her. Despite that she agrees to marry him forgiving
him for his mistake as she fears the stigma of being an unmarried woman in society.
Miss Meadows' desperation and reliance on marriage shows the situation of women in society. There
is also a faint air of desperation, as sensed in Miss Meadows's thoughts. In a desperate attempt
to avoid social humiliation, Miss Meadoes dearly wishes and almost begs Basil to marry her. Her
thoughts resound as. She is afraid to remain single and be a butt of jokes and taunting comments.
She is thus, prepared to sacrifice her free will and happiness for a life where she gets the society's
approval.
Solutions 5

Answer 6
Klausner the human protagonist in the story is a “small frail, man nervous and twitchy with always
moving hand.’’ He had a large head that was inclined towards its left shoulder as though his neck
was not sturdy enough to support his head rigidly. He had a pale almost white, smooth face, pale
grey eyes that were covered behind steel spectacles. Withing the description of the physical attributes
itself, Dahl reveals many character traits of Klausner. He is nervous person who keeps on twitching
and moving hands. His nervousness gives away his lack of confidence and the sense of insecurity
that he suffers from. His eyes betray his emotions easily and give away his emotional bearing before
the readers. Despite his nervousness, Klasuner is an man full of patience, who works meticulously
to fulfill his dram of inventing the sound machine. While fiddling with the wires and observing his
work in great detail, we see a glimpse of a confident Klausner who is convinced about his theory of
sound. He is passionate to the core and determined to prove the world the existence of ”an infinity
of notes that vibrates a million times a second.’’
As for his traits, he was a person who held a unique theory about sounds. Klausner believed that
there did exist numerous sounds in the world were inaudible to bare human ears, for they were
of high frequency. Hence he invented a ‘Sound Machine’ which could help the humans hear such
sounds after adjusting them to frequencies suitable to human ear. He also believed that plant and
flowers cried on being cut and that they did carry subsequent would which required treatment for
healing.
Klausner in his mission is so excited that he fails to notice his obsession and how people perceive
him. While Dr. Scott out of his friendship is mild in his outlook towards Klausner, Mrs Saunders, his
next door neighbour does not hesitate to term him mad and crazy.
The Doctor is introduced to the readers as a friend of Klausner and he loyally stands by him
throughout despite not being convinced of his invention or the theory. He is a sceptic, unsure of hte
way the sound machine will turn out. He is nervous of the outcome as well as nervous for his friend
who has embarked on proving a theory which has minimum chances of success. His concern for
Klausner is palpable in his conversation with him. He cares for him and makes those extra efforts to
enquire about his health even when there is no needed. He also tries his level best to avoid the truth
of the sound he heard to ensure Klausner is not disappointed, but fails.
The Doctor is a curious soul, inquistive about the many things that Klausner does. He is keen to know
about Klausner's invention and theory behind it, but he does not agree to the whims and facies of
Klausner's brain and instead relies n his own experience. He is a sceptic and does not believe the
theory and story provided by Klausner, but he is a sympathetic friend who understands Klausner's
situation and to heal him of his bad notions agrees to stitch the wounded tree. The Doctor is a
nervous soul, but a true and loyal friend, a characteristics that wins him the hearts of Dahl's readers.
Their relationship, suggests the readers that one should never object people who have different
ideas and personalities which may seem controversial. One may or may not be convinced by the
other's views but it is better to live together in harmony, than an outright dejection.
REVERIE
Answer 7
(a) During the First World War (1914-1918) which forms the background of the poem ‘The Gift of India
by Sarojini Naidu, thousands of Indian soldiers perished in alien lands on the bidding of their British
masters. They fought bravely even thought they had no cause, but only a duty to fight. They laid
down their lives. Their dead bodies lay scattered in fields, unattended. The sorrows and sufferings
of Mother India can never be comprehended.
The poet hpoes that soon the surge of hate and violence would come to an end. Life would be
refashioned on the strong foundations of peace :
When the terror and the tumult of hate shall cease
And life be refashioned on anvils of peace,
The poet has the feeling that the rulers have forgotten the sacrifices of Indian soldiers who fought
and laid doesn their lives on the battlefronts, far away from their country in distant lands in Asia,
Middle East and East. Their sacrifices cannot and should not be forgotten. Brave soldiers who die
6 OSWAAL ISC Sample Question Papers, ENGLISH PAPER–2 (LITERATURE), Class-XII

fighting desrve to be honoured and remembered. The poet belives that those India soldiers who
fought for their British rulers should be remembered for generation to come. Their sacrifices woudl
not go in vain.
To the comrades who fought on the dauntless ranks,
And you honour the deeds of the dauntless ones,
Remember the blood of my martyred sons !
(b) The poem ‘The Gift of India’ speaks about the sincere and dutiful patriotism displayed by the Indian
soldiers. The sense of patriotism for motherland runs throughout the poem. The Indian soldiers
gave up their lives in wars fought by the British during the First World War.
Mother India reminds the world of the priceless treasures that she has gifted the world. She has sent
her sons’ to foreign lands to fight foreign wars, which they fought in the battlefield with full vigour
and enthusiasm. They have shed their blood and sweat to fight someone else’s war, only to protect
the honour of their motherland.
Although grieved at the loss of the Indian soldiers, a sense of pride overcomes the sense of despair
as Mother India realizes the achievement of the soldiers.
Numerous images have been used to portray pictures of the soldiers killed in war. Their dead body
scattered in foreign soil looks like broken limbs and disfigured bodies.
With the sudden dawn of hope of a revived life, free from the shackles of cruelty and dominance, the
poet urges the world to glorify the sacrifices of the soldiers for their motherland and enhance and
strengthen the sense of respect and appreciation in the readers.
(c) ‘The Gift of India’, in traditional form, is a powerful anti-war poem. It consists of 24 lines and is not
divided into regular stanza. it employs the complete from which is suitable in the context of the
subject-matter of the poem. Like any other poem of Naidu, it also makes good use of similes and
metaphors.
The poem appeals to us mainly because of the its sentimental subject. The way the poet has handeled
a forgotten subject is brilliant. We are moved by the apt comparisons used in the poem : the dead
soldiers compared to scattered shells on sands, or to flowers cut down casually. ‘Princeless treasures’
is an apt metaphor for the precious lives of Indian soldiers. The rhetorical question such as ‘can you
measure the grif of the tears I weep’ is quit moving and arouses the feeding of grief in us.
The poem is an appropriate reminder to all of us that we should recognize and honour the sacrifies
made by made Indian soldiers in forgotten wars.
Answer 8
‘John Brown’ by Bob Dylan is an anti-war lyric. It tells the story of an American mother who sends
her son John Brown to war on some foreign land. The song follows the young soldier and his mother’s
lives. Dylan shows us the true fate of the American soldier who is stationed in foreign countries for
war. He also Answers the very nature of war and shows us that there is no nobility in warfare,
thereby strengthening the idea of pacifism.
In the beginning of the poem, serving the country has been shown as an act of pride and heroisms
through the extreme happiness expressed by John’s mother. Looking at her son clad up as a soldier
fills the mother with a sense of gratitude. Though, the sudden return of John from the war field back
to his home indicates that unforeseen events awaited John’s mother.
When the mother went down to the station to receive John, she had expected to see a refined soldier,
but what she saw was unimaginable. Initially, she failed to recognize her own son for John had borne
immense physical pain and numerous disabilities in the war. His arm was imputed; his face bore
scars from bullet and grenade wounds. He wore a metal brace around his waist to support himself
from walking. His voice was slow and faced difficulty in speaking. On top of all these, he had also
undergone mental trauma and felt anguished against the futility of war.
In an attempt to pacify his mother who was shattered on witnessing the distressed state of her son,
John revealed to his mother that wars are nothing noble at all. He told his mother that when he
was at the war-field, he wondered why he was even there, for he felt that he was only trying to kill
somebody, who was as young and as innocent as him in a do-or-die situation.
John realized how chaotic, insane and irrational the war was. Wars are nothing but a means to kill
one another, eventually resulting in the loss of human lives for hardly any humane causes.
Solutions 7

At war-field, soldiers are a mere puppet in the hands of the warmongers who controlled their actions.
To them, the lives of the soldier do not matter against the final outcome of the war.
Towards the end of the song, before retiring to home, John dropped his medals in the hands of
his mother. This overwhelming scene leaves us wondering if these medals, which are mere empty
tokens of pride, are actually worth the suffering that John went through and the damage that he
endured will be carried throughout his life.
Hence, wars are nothing glorious, especially due to the destruction and its ill-effect on the innocent
soldiers and the entire human life. The song busts the myth of heroism and patriotism attached with
warfare. Dylan strongly disapproves of war and attempts to awaken the common people against the
propaganda of war and bravery indoctrinated by the warmongers.
Answer 9
‘Dolphins’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem written from the perspective of dolphins. It tries to
enumerate the emotions of a dolphin which was once free, swimming around the ocean at its own
will, but is now confined to an artificial pool and is made to act as per the command of its trainer.
The poem shows how dolphin and other animals are suffering at the hands of human beings. It
comes as a protest against the slow destruction of nature and the natural creatures by man. It urges
us to look at the world from the perspective of the dolphins as to how humans have displayed
cruelty towards the animals, at times with no intent also. On a metaphoric level, the poet seems to
indicate the troubles of humans who think that they are caught in the confines of this world. The
poem, thus speaks to any person who has ever felt confined by circumstances. The poem being a
dramatic monologue, is written in a simple and straight-forward manner, although sometimes the
phrasing is suggestive than explicit. The language for most part is plain. At times, the phrases play
with clichés, for instance, “We are in our element but we are not free” The phrase ‘in our element’ is
a well-worn cliché but Duffy plays on the idea of water as one of the natural elements. The dolphins
are surrounded by water, but they are also confined within a tank. The freedom of the dolphins is
limited not only by the physical tank but also by the tricks with which they are trained to perform.
At many instances in the poem, the juxtaposition of simplicity and ambiguity can be noticed. With
lack of rhyme scheme and use of enjambment, the poet uses repetition to highlight the weariness
of dolphins. Full of pathos, the confinement of the dolphins in the poem compels the readers to
reflect upon the essence of freedom. A sense of enslavement and lack of freedom at the hands of
humans pervade the entire poem. Although dolphins are known as the befriender of human beings,
it is ironic as to how man is responsible for their misery. Remembering its carefree days against the
present life of monotony and despair, dolphins state that “We are not free” for they are confined in
the limited space, constantly controlled and dominated by the man in authority. Their lives are filled
with immense despair and gloominess. The dolphins, even after being sentient in nature, are unable
to unravel any truth in their Artificial world. It doesn’t offer them new experiences, hence they don’t
feel blessed in their new surrounding. Being dominated by humans, they are denied minimal level
of freedom and happiness. Man has used animals for their commercial profits. The poem ends on a
note of hopelessness and darkness. They surrender themselves to the life where there is no moon
and the natural regulator of tide is replaced by man-made object. Hence, referring to the themes of
loss, nostalgia, dislocation, etc., Duffy has attempted to portray the injustice done by man to animals
and other mammals. Human beings as a species of privilege over other animals have oppressed and
displayed cruelty to them. Enunciating the plight of confined dolphins, Duffy has criticized this
speciesism.
nnn