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Question
When do you have flashes of sympathy and admiration for Lady Macbeth in the course of the play? Explain by citing examples from the Acts studied. Write your answer in about 200-250 words.
Solution
Throughout "Macbeth," Lady Macbeth is primarily portrayed as a ruthless and ambitious character, but there are moments when the audience might feel flashes of sympathy and admiration for her.
Initially, in Act I, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth's ambition and determination are admirable. Upon reading Macbeth's letter about the witches' prophecies, she immediately resolves to propel her husband to the throne. Her famous soliloquy, "unsex me here," reveals her willingness to cast aside her femininity and embrace ruthlessness to achieve her goals. This moment can evoke a sense of admiration for her strength and resolve, even if her methods are morally questionable.
However, as the play progresses, flashes of sympathy for Lady Macbeth emerge, particularly in Act V. By this time, the consequences of their actions have taken a severe toll on her mental state. In Act V, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene reveals her profound guilt and torment. She is seen trying to wash the imagined bloodstains from her hands, repeatedly uttering, "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" This powerful scene exposes her vulnerability and the psychological burden she carries, eliciting sympathy from the audience. Her descent into madness underscores the heavy price she pays for her ambition, highlighting her humanity.
Moreover, Lady Macbeth's isolation and despair in her final moments also evoke sympathy. In Act V, Scene 5, Macbeth receives news of her death with a sense of inevitability, reflecting on the futility of life. Her tragic end, marked by overwhelming guilt and loneliness, contrasts sharply with her earlier strength and ambition. This contrast makes her a more complex and pitiable character, as she ultimately succumbs to the very forces she sought to control.
In conclusion, while Lady Macbeth is often seen as a manipulative and ambitious figure, moments of vulnerability and psychological torment reveal her human side. Her initial determination can be admired, and her eventual downfall elicits sympathy, making her one of Shakespeare's most complex and tragic characters.
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Thinking about the Poem
Which country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to?
What is Behrman’s masterpiece? What makes Sue say so?
The poem is about a brook. A dictionary would define a brook, as a stream or a
small river. Read the poem silently first. After the first reading, the teacher will
make you listen to a recording of the poem. What do you think the poem is all
about?
I come from haunts of coot and hern;
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.
Till last by Philip's farm I flow
10 To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
15 I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.
With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
20 With willow-weed and mallow.
I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
25 I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,
And here and there a foamy flake
30 Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak
Above the golden gravel,
And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river
35 For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
40 That grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.
45 I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;
And out again I curve and flow
50 To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.
About the Poet
Lord Tennyson (1809-92) was born in Lincolnshire. Poet Laureate for over 40 years, Tennyson is representative of the Victorian age. His skilled craftsmanship and noble ideals retained a large audience for poetry in an age when the novel was engrossing more and more readers. Tennyson's real contribution lies in his shorter poems like The Lady of Shallot, The Princess, Ulysses, The Palace of Art etc. His fame rests on his perfect control of sound, the synthesis of sound and meaning, and the union of visual and musical.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see___
These things he plants who plants a tree.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
Explain the line, “And years that fade and flush again.”
Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,
Tinkling,luminous,tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Besides visual imagery the poet also uses auditory imagery.Pick out the lines.
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The Screams and yells,the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week ot two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start - oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
Read the lines given above and answer the question given below.
What does Dahl ask the parents to do?
And is mine one?' said Abou.
'Nay, or not so,'Replied the angel,
Abou spoke more low,
But cheery still; and said ,'I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves His fellow men.'
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
What did the angel tell Adhem?
It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridge head 3 beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.’’Where do you come from?” I asked him.
“From San Carlos,” he said, and smiled.
That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.
“I was taking care of animals,” he explained.
“Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.
“Yes,” he said, “I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.”
He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, “What animals were they?”
“Various animals,” he said, and shook his head. “I had to leave them.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What did the narrator see on the bridge when he returned?
After considering the matter, and talking it over with his wife, farmer Jones said that he would take John, and do well by him, now that his mother was out of the way; and Mrs. Ellis, who had been looking out for a bound girl, concluded that it would be charitable in her to make choice of Katy, even though she was too young to be of much use for several years.
“I could do much better, I know,” said Mrs. Ellis; “but as no one seems inclined to take her, I must act from a sense of duty expect to have trouble with the child; for she’s an undisciplined thing—used to having her own way.”
But no one said “I’ll take Maggie.” Pitying glances were cast on her wan and wasted form and thoughts were troubled on her account. Mothers brought cast-off garments and, removing her soiled and ragged clothes, dressed her in clean attire. The sad eyes and patient face of the little one touched many hearts, and even knocked at them for entrance. But none opened to take her in. Who wanted a bed-ridden child?
“Take her to the poorhouse,” said a rough man, of whom the question “What’s to be done with Maggie?” was asked. “Nobody’s going to be bothered with her.”
“The poorhouse is a sad place for a sick and helpless child,” answered one.
“For your child or mine,” said the other, lightly speaking; “but for tis brat it will prove a blessed change, she will be kept clean, have healthy food, and be doctored, which is more than can be said of her past condition.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Who took Katy? Why?
So after that, dimly, dimly, she sensed it, she was different and they knew her difference and kept away. There was talk that her father and mother were taking her back to Earth next year; it seemed vital to her that they do so, though it would mean the loss of thousands of dollars to her family. And so, the children hated her for all these reasons of big and little consequence. They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her possible future. “Get away 1” The boy gave her another push. “What’re you waiting for?”Then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him. And what she was waiting for was in her eyes. “Well, don’t wait around here !” cried the boy savagely. “You won’t see nothing!” Her lips moved. “Nothing 1” he cried. “It was all a joke, wasn’t it?” He turned to the other children. “Nothing’s happening today. Is it ?”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why did the children hate her?
Complete the following sentences.
(i) Toto climbed up the curtains when ————————————————————————————————
(ii) _________________________________________________———————————————————————, I became one of the tiger’s favourites.
iii) Timothy had clean habits, ___________________ ————————————————————————————————————
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Trying to hide beneath the tray of chillies, Mahendran________________________________.
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Mum Warned Dad to
Word in the box given below indicates a large number of… For example, ‘a herd of cows’ refers to many cows. Complete the following phrase with a suitable word from the box.
a _______________ of cattle
Read the newspaper report to find the following facts about Columbia’s ill-fated voyage.
Number of astronauts on board: ____________
Multiple Choice Question:
The child wants to make sure whether his teacher also had ________.
Complete the following sentences from memory choosing a phrase from those given in brackets.
____________ was held at the time of the Eid festival.
What was Rasheed’s fault at the fair?
Speak to five adults in your neighbourhood. Ask them the following questions (in any language they are comfortable in). Then come back and share your findings with the class.
- Do they buy their provisions packed in plastic packets at a big store or loose, from a smaller store near their house?
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