THE LAIDLAW MEMORIAL SCHOOL & JUNIOR COLLEGE,

KETTI.

ICSE BOARD PROJECT (2021-2022)

ENGLISH LITERATURE – PAPER 2

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Aswath Krishna R Ms.Monica Ruth

Class: 10 B
Section-A

My point of view

At Belmont, Portia would like Bassanio to

delay before he chooses one of the caskets.
Already she has fallen in love with him, and
she fears the outcome. She asks him to
"tarry," to "pause a day or two," to "forbear
awhile"; anything, she tells him, to keep him
from possibly choosing the wrong casket.
Bassanio, however, begs to choose one of
them. His anxiety is too great. If he waits, it
is as though he "lives on the rack." Thus
Portia acquiesces and tells her servants that
this choice is no ordinary choice; therefore,
she would like music to be played "while he
doth make his choice."

The song which is sung, beginning "Tell me

where is fancy bred," has ominous lyrics.
Bassanio surveys the caskets, reads their
inscriptions, and is reminded by the
background music that "fancy" is sometimes
bred in the heart and is sometimes bred in
the head. The words seem to warn him not to
judge by external appearance. Consequently,
Bassanio rejects the golden casket; it is a
symbol for all "outward shows"; likewise, he
rejects the silver casket, calling it a
"common drudge / Tween man and man."
Instead, he chooses the casket made of
"meagre lead," which is the least attractive
of the caskets — if they are judged by
appearance alone.

When Bassanio's choice is made, Portia

prays in an aside for help in containing her
emotions. She watches rapturously as
Bassanio opens the lead casket and finds in
it a picture of Portia, which, though
beautifully painted, fails to do her justice, in
Bassanio's opinion. Alongside Portia's
portrait, there is a scroll which tells him,
"Turn you where your lady is / And claim her
with a loving kiss." Still giddy from his
success, Bassanio does so, and Portia, who
only a moment before was mistress of herself
and of all her possessions, now commits
herself and all she owns to her new lord. She
also presents him with a ring, a symbol of
their union, which he is never to "part from,
lose, or give away." Bassanio promises to
wear the ring as long as he lives.

I and Gratiano congratulate the lovers and

announce that they also have made a match
and ask permission to be married at the
wedding ceremony of Portia and Bassanio.
Portia agrees to the double wedding, and
Gratiano boastfully wagers that he and
Nerissa produce a boy before they do.
Section-B

About the Author

Norah Burke was a British novelist, non- fiction and

travel writer famous for her descriptions of life in India
during the early 20th century. She also wrote romances
under the pseudonyms Andre Lamour and Paul Le
Strange.
Norah Aileen Burke was born in Bedford, and moved to
India when she was a baby. Her mother Aileen Marion
Wrench Burke was born in India, while her father was an
engineer with the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Her
father, Redmond St. George Burke, was a forest officer
in India at her early childhood. As a girl in India, she
wrote and edited her own little magazine, The
MonthlyDorrit . She returned to England in 1919 to
attend a school in Devonshire.

Burke was also a travel writer. She collaborated with her

father on a book about camp life in the Indian jungles,
Jungle Days 1935. She returned to the theme in her
memoir Jungle Child 1956, and in travel books Tiger
Country 1965 and Eleven Leopards 1965. She also
wrote about wildlife in King Todd 1963, a "biography" of
a badger, Fire in the Forest and The Midnight Forest
1966.
About the story, The Blue Bead
The Blue Bead is a work of famous novelist and non-fiction
writer, Norah Burke. It is a story depicting the heroic deed of a
twelve-year-old girl named Sibia . She saves the life of a Gujar
woman from a crocodile without wasting a moment. She was a
simple Indian girl living in poverty. Also, she finds happiness
in small things, gets fascinated by natural jewellery etc.
However, she is brave and courageous. Also, she is a keen
observer and can make quick decisions.
Conclusion of The Blue Bead

The story conveys a very powerful message that if a person has

a strong determination to attain something and also has the
patience to wait for the same and work for it then you will
receive it. Also, it shows the life of rural people who find
happiness in the little things.
Section-C

A dramatic monologue is a narrative poem in which a single

speaker (who is not the poet) speaks, often revealing the
speaker’s character traits and motives in relation to the
situation. In most dramatic monologues there is also a silent
listener who doesn’t directly speak but we know of his/her
presence through the single speaker.

Now, Robert Browning’s poem “The Patriot” has almost all

the elements of a dramatic monologue. The poem is narrated
in the first person from the patriot’s perspectives. Here the
speaker narrates his tale to the readers as he has been taken to
the scaffold to be executed publicly for his ‘misdeeds’.

He tells us of his situation: how he was once well loved by

everyone, and how he is now despised by the same people.
The patriot believes that he is innocent of having done any
misdeeds, and it is only out of the misunderstanding of the
people that he is being put to death. His death sentence is for
the wrong reason, and he will get justice in heaven where God
should repay him. Thus the poem also reveals the speaker’s
attitude and motive in the particular situation of life he is in.
The only thing missing is the listener. Still, ‘The Patriot’
qualifies as a dramatic monologue in its form.