Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Comment on the loving pair of Lysander and Helena from the point of view of developing their character sketch.
Solution
Lysander and Helena have been called a loving pair sarcastically, as neither of the two is actually in love with the other. Lysander declares that he loves Helena because he is under the spell of the potion, which makes Helena think that Lysander is mocking her. However, the fact that Lysander, under the influence of the potion, tells Helena that he loves her, does aid in the development of the character sketch of both, Helena and Lysander.
As Lysander tries to convince Helena that he loves her, Hermia enters the scene. This is where Helena‘s betrayal is brought to light. She tells Hermia that she has always kept all of Hermia‘s secrets except one. She told Demetrius about Hermia‘s plan to escape, which caused Demetrius to follow Hermia into the Woods and led Helena to follow Demetrius. Thus, Lysander‘s declaration of love for Helena leads to the rift between Hermia and Helena and brings out Helena‘s desperation for Demetrius‘ love through Helena‘s betrayal. On the other hand, Lysander, who was in love with Hermia, has now rejected her completely as he is under the spell of the potion. Lysander was deeply in love with Hermia, but the effect of the love potion was so strong that it made him hate Hermia just as much as he loved her before. His insults towards Hermia tell us about the strength of his feelings of love for Hermia before the love potion had been poured on his eyelids. This intensity of love was transformed into the intensity of hatred towards Hermia. However, even under the spell of the potion, he does not wish to harm Hermia. Thus, the character of Lysander truly embodies a lover who would have stayed true to his betrothed Hermia if a spell hadn‘t been cast on him. Hence, it is clear that the ironic pairing of Helena and Lysander highlights the fact that the characters would choose true love above everything else.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of the friend of the narrator :
[You may begin with: My friend was scheduled to die on May 1945.]
"Don't call me Herman anymore," I said to my brother.
"Call me 94983 ".
I was put to work in the camp's crematorium, loading the dead into a hand-cranked elevator I, too, felt dead. Hardened, I had become a number.
Soon my brother, and I were sent to Schlieben, one or Buchelwald's sub -camps near
One morning I thought I heard my mother's voice.
"Son," she said softly but clearly, "I am going to send you an angel."
Then I woke up. Just a dream. A beautiful dream.
But in this place there could be no angels. There was only work. And hunger. And fear.
A couple of days later, I was walking around the camp, around the barracks, near the barbedwire
fence where the guards could not easily see. I was alone.
On the other side of the fence, I spotted someone : a little girl with light, almost luminous
curls. She was half hidden behind a birch tree.
I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German. "Do you
have something to eat?"
She didn't understand.
I inched closer to the fence and repeated the question in Polish. She stepped forward. I was
thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet, but the girl looked unafraid.
In her eyes, I saw life.
She pulled an apple from her woollen jacket and threw it over the fence.
I grabbed the fruit and, as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly, "I'll see you
tomorrow."
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of the mother: [you may begin with : My son never saw the skeleton in the cupboard ]
Yes, there was a skeleton in the cupboard, and although
I never saw it, I played a small part in the events that followed its discovery. I was fifteen that year, and I was back in my boarding school in Simla after spending the long winter holidays in Dehradun. My mother was still managing the old Green's hotel in Dehra - a hotel that was soon to disappear and become part of Dehra's unrecorded history. It was called Green's not because it purported to the spread of any greenery (its neglected garden was chocked with lantana), but because it had been started by an Englishman, Mr Green, back in 1920, just after the Great War had ended in Europe. Mr Green had died at the outset of the Second World War. He had just sold the hotel and was on his way back to England when the ship on which he was travelling was torpedoed by a German submarine. Mr Green went
down with the ship.
The hotel had already been in decline, and the new owner, a Sikh businessman from Ludhiana, had done his best to keep it going. But post-War and post-Independence, Dehra was going through a lean period. My stepfather's motor workshop was also going through a lean period - a crisis, in fact -- and my mother was glad to take the job of running the small hotel while he took a job in Delhi. She wrote to me about once a month, giving me news of the hotel, some of its more interesting guests, the pictures that were showing in town.
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Orlando :
[You may begin with : One day Rosalind and Celia met me ..... ]
One day Rosalind and Celia met Orlando. He did not recognize them because of their stained faces and simple clothes. He thought they were a shepherd boy end his sister. He made friends with them and often came to see them in their cottage.
Rosalind, still dressed as Ganymede, one day made fun of Orlando's poetry. 'I'll cure you of your love for this girl Rosalind!' she said. 'I will pretend to be Rosalind and you shall make love to me.
And there followed an amusing scene with Orlando calling Ganymede "Rosalind" and swearing that he would die oflove for her, and Ganymede refusing to believe it. 'Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love! said Rosalind, laughing at the earnest Orlando.
At last the young man said he would have to go. I must attend the Duke at dinner', he explained, 'but I shall be with you again at two O'clock.'
So Rosalind said goodbye to him, and waited impatiently for his return. Two O'clock came, however, but no Orlando, and Rosalind began to feel angry and disappointed. Just then Oliver, Orlando's elder brother, came running through the forest to their cottage. He held a blood-stained handkerchief in his hand, which he gave to Rosalind, saying that Orlando had sent it to her.
'What has happened? What must we understand by this?' cried Rosalind, full of fear for her lover's safety.
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Roma :
[You may begin with: Herman and I shared the backseat of Sid's car. .... ]
We piled back into Sid's car, Roma and I sharing the backseat. As European Jews who had survived the war, we were aware that much had been left unsaid between us. She broached the subject, "Where were you during the war?" she asked softly
"The camps," I said, the terrible memories still vivid, the irreparable loss, I had tried to forget. But you can never forget.
She nodded, "My family was hiding on a farm in Germany, not far from Berlin," She told me. "My father knew a priest, and he got us Aryan papers."
I imagined how she must have suffered too, fear, a constant companion. And yet here we were both survivors, in a new world.
"There was a camp next to the farm." Roma continued. "I saw a boy there and I would throw him apples every day."
What an amazing coincidence that she had helped some other boy. "What did he look like?" I asked.
"He was tall, skinny and hungry. I must have seen him every day for six months. "
My heart was racing. I couldn't believe it. This couldn't be. "Did he tell you one day not to come back because he was leaving Schlieben?".
Roma looked at me in amazement. "Yes!"
"That was me!"
I was ready to burst with joy and awe, flooded with emotions. I couldn't believe it! My angel.
"I'm not letting you go," I said to Roma.
I proposed to her. I didn't want to wait.
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Orlando:
[You may begin with : When Duke senior and his followers
were taking meal I rushed ...... ]
The Duke senior and his followers were sitting down to a
meal one day when Orlando rushed out from among the trees, his sword in his hand. 'Stop, and eat no more!' he cried. The Duke and his friends asked him what he wanted. 'Food,' said Orlando. 'I am almost dying of hunger. '
They asked him to sit down and eat, but he would not do so. He told them that his old servant was in the wood, dying of hunger. 'I will not eat a bite until he has been fed ', Orlando said.
So the good Duke and his followers helped him to bring
Adam to their hiding place, and Orlando and the old man were fed and taken care of. When the Duke learned that Orlando was a son of his old friend Sir Rowland de Boys, he welcomed him gladly to his forest court.
Orlando lived happily with the Duke and his friends, but he had not forgotten the lovely Rosalind. She was always in his thoughts and every day he wrote poetry about her, pinning it on the trees in the forest. 'These trees shall be my books,' he said, 'so that everyone who looks in the forest will be able to read how sweet and good Rosalind is.'
Rosalind and Celia found some of these poems pinned on
the trees. At first they were puzzled, wondering who could have written them; but one day Celia came in from a walk with the news that she had seen Orlando sleeping under a tree, and she and Rosalind guessed that he must be the poet.
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of the boy :
[You may begin with : My mother hopes that I am preparing ... ]
''I hope you're preparing for your exams,'' she wrote back.
''After all, there's not much we can do about a skeleton that's been hidden a way for ten or fifteen years. Anyway, there were two newspapers in the cupboard. The Daily Chronicle, published from Delhi on January 18, 1930, is complete. That was four years before you were born. The main headline refers to the 'Bareilly Train Disaster' in which thirteen passengers were killed and nineteen seriously injured. There are also two pages of book reviews, including a review of 'The Glenlitten Murder' by E. Phillips Oppenheim. I think you have read some of his books. Books on the Riviera.
''The other book is about the spirit world, and the possibility of communicating with those who have passed from this material world. Perhaps we can summon up the spirit of the person who inhabited the skeleton? She could tell us how she met her end. Old Miss Kellner holds seances and table-rappings. But how would she summon up a spirit if she doesn't know who it was in the first place?
''The second newspaper - incomplete - is the Civil and
Military Gazette of March 2, 1930. This was published from Lahore, and as you know, Mr. Kipling worked on it a few years earlier. The front page is missing, but page 5 carries an ad for a film called 'The Awakening of Love' starring Vilma Banky. Vilma was a popular heroine when I was a girl. Nothing much else of interest except for a small item under the headline 'Elder Murder Sequel' : ''
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Daisy :
[You may begin with: I was happy ...... ]
The little daisy was as happy as if the day had been a great holiday, but it was only Monday. All the children were at school, and while they were sitting on the forms and learning their lessons, it sat on its thin green stalk and learnt from the sun and from its surroundings how kind God is, and it rejoiced that the song of the little lark expressed so sweetly and distinctly its own feelings. With a sort of reverence the daisy looked up to the bird that could fly and sing, but it did not feel envious. 'I can see and hear." it thought; the sun shines upon me, and the forest kisses me. How rich I am!''
In the garden close by grew many large and magnificent flowers, and, strange to say, the less fragrance they had the haughtier and prouder they were. The peonies puffed themselves up in order to be larger than the roses, but size is not everything! The tulips had the finest colours, and they knew it well, too, for they were standing bolt upright like candles, that one might see them the better. In their pride, they did not see the little daisy, which looked over to them and thought, ''How rich and beautiful they are! I am sure the pretty bird will fly down and call upon them. Thank God, that I stand so near and can at least see all the splendour. ''
Read the extract carefully and rewrite as if you are the friend of the narrator :
[You may begin with: A couple of days later he was walking around ...... ]
A couple of days later, I was walking around the camp, around the barracks, near the barbed-wire fence where the guards could not easily see. I was alone.
On the other side of the fence, I spotted someone: a little girl with light, almost luminous curls. She was half-hidden behind a birch tree.
I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German, ''Do you have something to eat?'' She didn't understand. I inched closer to the fence and repeated the question in Polish. She stepped forward. I was thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet, but the girl looked unafraid. In her eyes, I saw life. She pulled an apple from her woollen jacket and threw it over the fence. I grabbed the fruit and, as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly, ''I"ll see you tomorrow. ''
I returned to the same spot by the fence at the same time every day. She was always there with something for me to eat a hunk of bread or better yet, an apple. We didn't dare speak or linger. To be caught would mean death for us both. I didn't know anything about her, just a kind farm girl, except that she understood Polish. What was her name? Why was she risking her life for me? Hope was in such short supply, and this girl on the other side of the fence gave me some, as nourishing in its way as the bread and apples.
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of O.W. Harrison:
[You may begin as: My appeal was dismissed by the Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Scoope ............. ]
The Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Scoope have dismissed the appeal of O.W. Harrison, who was charged with the murder of Mr. W. P. Elder in July and confirmed the sentence of death passed on him by the Sessions Judge of Manbhun.
"Nothing to do with our skeleton, of course, because Mr. Elder was buried at Jamshedpur, while Marrisln occupies an unknown grave. And in any case, our skeleton is a woman's. But I remember the case. Harrison was having an affair with Mr. Elder's wife. When confronted by the outraged husband, Harrison took out his revolver and shot the poor man. All very sordid. No mystery there for you. Concentrate on your studies. Second term exams must be near I am sending you a parcel of socks. I know they don' t last very long on you."
Two weeks later, I wrote: "Dear Mum, thanks for the socks. But I wish you had sent me a food parcel instead. How about some guava cheese? And some mango pickle. They don't give us pickle in school. Headmaster's wife says it heats the blood.
"About that skeleton. If a dead body was hidden in that
cupboard after 1930- must have been, if the newspapers of that year were under the skeleton - it must have been someone who disappeared around that time or a little later. Must have been before Tirloki joined the hotel, or he'd remember. What about the registers- would they give us a clue?"
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of the Daisy, the flower:
[You may begin as: I was very happy ........... ]
How happy the daisy was! No one has the least idea. The bird kissed it with its beak, sang to it, and then rose again up to the blue sky. It was certainly more than a quarter of an hour before the daisy recovered its senses. Half ashamed, yet glad at heart, it. looked over to the other flowers in the garden; surely they had witnessed its pleasure and the honour that had been done to it; they understood its joy. But the tulips stood more stiffly than ever, their faces were pointed and red because they were vexed. The peonies were sulky; it was well that they could not speak, otherwise, they would have given the daisy a good lecture. The little flower could very well see that they were ill at ease, and pitied them sincerely.
Shortly after this, a girl came into the garden, with a large sharp knife. She went to the tulips and began cutting them off, one after another. "Ugh!" sighed the daisy, "that is terrible; now they are done for."
The girl carried the tulips away. The daisy was glad that it was outside, and only a small flower - it felt very grateful. At sunset, it folded its petals and fell asleep, and dreamt all night of the sun and the little bird.
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Oliver.
Read the following extract and rewrite it as if the dentist is narrating it:
[You may begin as: I told George that I thought I had seen him somewhere before .......... ]
| Dentist: | I thought I'd seen you somewhere before. Why I know your father well! |
| George: | Do you, sir? |
| Dentist: | Yes, rather. He was only speaking about you the other night. You've been having some trouble with two back teeth, haven't you? |
| George: | (becoming suddenly nervous) N - no - that is not much. |
| Dentist: | Ah! Well, your father thinks you'd better have them out. It's strange you should have come in tonight because I shall be seeing you in the morning. Your dad's made an appointment for you. |
| George: | (obviously alarmed) N - no, not really? You - You don't mean this seriously, do you? |
| Dentist: | Why, yes. But perhaps I shouldn' t have mentioned it. Your dad told me you particularly hate having teeth out. Still, never mind, it's quite painless, you know. |
| George: | (gulping nervously) If there's one thing that gets me in a blue funk it's - (He realizes that Tom and Ginger are regarding him with eyes of triumph) |
| Tom: | George, old chap, we're joining your club tomorrow. |
| George: | Who says so? |
| Ginger: | ou said so yourself, George. You promised. you'd let us join that club if you showed a sign of fear before leaving this house. Well, you showed it right enough the moment you heard you'd got to have some teeth out; and you can't go back on your bargain now - can he, boys? |
| Tom and Alfie: | (in emphatic chorus) No fear! |
Narrating an experience :
Narrate an experience in about 80 - 100 words with the help of the following beginning. Suggest a suitable title for it.
It was Saturday and my parents were not at home. Being alone I could not sleep peacefully.............................
Narrate an experience in about 80-100 words begining with the follwing words:
It was Sunday and I was enjoying the latest movie in the theatre with my parents.........
Read the following extract and rewrite it as if Daisy is the narrator:
[You may begin with: "I grew on the bank of a ditch ______"]
There was a little flower garden with painted wooden palings in front of it: close by was a ditch on its fresh green bank grew a little daisy: the sun shore as warmly and brightly upon it as on the magnificent garden flowers, and therefore it thrived well. One morning it had quite opened, and its little snow-white petals stood around the yellow center, like the rays of the sun, It did not mind that nobody saw it in the grass and that it was a poor despised flower; on the contrary, it was quite happy, and turned towards the sun, looking upward and listening to the song of the lark high up in the air.
The little daisy was as happy as if the day had been a great
holiday, but it was only Monday. All the children were at school,
and while they were sitting on the forms and learning their lessons, it sat on its thin green stalk and learned from the sun and from its surroundings how kind God is, and it rejoiced that the song of the little lark expressed so sweetly, and distinctly its own feelings. With a sort of reverence the daisy looked up to the bird that could
fly and sing, but it did not feel envious. " I can see and hear," it
thought; "the sun shines upon me, and the forest kisses me. How
rich I am!"
Read the following extract and rewrite it from the point of view of Tom.
[You may begin with: I crossed from the right to the centre and said that it was a queer place ...... ]
| Tom: | (crossing R.C.). This is a queer place. I wonder if there's anybody in the house. |
| George: | You've picked three empty houses already, and you let us sing the whole of While Shepherds Watched outside the last one before you found out your mistake. |
| Tom: | Well, that's better than what you did -you picked the house where they had that bulldog. |
| George: | (contemptuously) I wasn't afraid. of the bulldog. |
| Tom: | No, maybe you weren't; but I'm not sure that the savage beast hasn't tom off a bit of young Alfie's suit, and if he has there won't half be a row! (Alfie fidgets nervously at the mention of his damaged suit.) |
| Tom: | (down R.C.) How much money have we collected? |
| Ginger: | (crossing C. to George) Let's have a look under the light. (After counting coppers with the aid of George's torch.) Eightpence halfpenny. |
| Tom: | (in a tone of disgust) Only eightpence halfpenny - between four of us - after yelling our heads off all evening! Crikey! Money's a bit tight round these parts, isn't it? |
| George: | I told you it was too early for carol-singing. It's too soon after Guy Fawkes' day. (Faint distant scream off R.) |
| Tom: | (startled) What was that? |
| George: | What was what? |
| Tom: | That noise - it sounded like a scream. |
| George: | Nonsense. |
| Alfie: | (L.) Let's go home. |
Rewrite the following extract as if the girl with an apple is the narrator :
[You may begin like this: A stranger said something, in a language. I didn't understand.... ']
I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German. "Do you have something to eat?"
She didn't understand. I inched closer to the fence and repeated the question 111 Polish. She stepped forward. I was thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet, but the girl looked unafraid In her eyes. I saw life. She pulled an apple from her woollen jacket and threw it over the fence. I grabbed the fruit and. as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly," I'll sec you tomorrow." I returned to the same spot by the fence at the same time every day. She was always there with something for me to eat a hunk of bread or, better yet, an apple. We didn't dare speak or linger. To the caught would mean death for us both.
I didn't know anything about her, just a kind farm girl, except that she understood Polish. What was her name? Why was she risking her lire for me? Hope was in such short supply), and this girl on the other side of the ranch gave me some. as nourishing in its way as thc bread and apples. Nearly seven months later. my brothers and I were crammed into a coal car and shipped 10 Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia. "Don't return," I told the girl that day. "We're leaving."
Composition :
Rewrite the story extract as if Oliver is the narrator.
[ You may begin as: "I had no knowledge of where my brother was ..... "]
Oliver, therefore, had no knowledge of where his brother was, but Frederick refused to believe this. 'You have not seen him since the wrestling match!' he said disbelievingly. 'Sir, sir, that cannot be! You must find your brother, wherever he is. Do not dare to come back without him! If you do not bring him to me, dead or alive, within the year. I will take all your land and possessions and you will not be allowed to live anywhere within my dukedom'.
And so Oliver also set out for the forest of Arden, in search of his brother Orlando. Rosalind and Celia. with the faithful Touchstone, wandered through the forest for many days. They grew so tired and hungry that they felt they could go on no longer in search of Rosalind's father, but at last they met a shepherd who told them that his master had a cottage for sale. They thankfully
bought the cottage and lived there, wandering through the forest every day and returning to the little house at night.
Although Rosalind did not know it, her father was not very far away. He and the faithful lords who had accompanied him were happily settled in the forest. They had grown to love the simple
life they led. They found it safer and more sweet than the life of
the court, where people were often greedy and jealous and cruel.
They had enough food for their needs because they could 'hunt
the deer in the forest and grow their own fruit and vegetables.
They were full of contentment and good cheer.
Narrate an experience in about 80-100 words with the following ending. Give a suitable title:
………. I promise myself to work hard in order to achieve success.
Narrate an experience based on the given beginning and suggest a suitable title.
'Last year in September, we were travelling to our village for Ganesh Utsav. It had been raining heavily for two weeks...'
Narrate an experience in about 80-100 words with the following ending. Give a suitable title.
............ and hence I decided never to leave my home without a mask.
