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ICSE Class 10 English Literature Question Paper 2017 Solved
**Answer is not provided due to change in the present syllabus.
Section – A (Drama)
The Merchant of Venice : Shakespeare
Question 1.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Why, look you, how you storm !
I would be friends with you and have your love,
Forget the shames that you have stain’d me with,
Supply your present wants, and take no doit
Of usance for my moneys, and you’ll not hear me:
This is kind I offer.
(i) Where does this scene take place ? Who is the speaker ? To whom is he talking ? [3]
(ii) What are the ‘shames ’which the speaker says have stained him ? [3]
(iii) What are the ‘present wants ’ ? Who is in need of the ‘present wahts ’ ? Why ? [3]
(iv) Explain “This is kind I offer. ” What does the speaker propose to do immediately after this? [3]
(v) What do you think of Antonio and of Shylock with regard to the signing of the bond ? [4]
Answers:
(i) This scene takes place in a public place in Venice. The speaker is Shylock. He is talking to Antonio.
(ii) He has been called an unbeliever and a murderous dog. He has been abused and kicked by Antonio. Antonio has spat on his Jewish robe and on his beard.
(iii) ‘Present wants’ are the need for three thousand ducats. Bassanio is in need of money because he wants to go to Belmont to present himself as a suitable suitor to Portia.
(iv) The speaker, Shylock, wants to be kind to Antonio by lending him three thousand ducats without interest. He proposes a bond to be signed by Antonio. The condition in the bond will be that Shylock will be entitled to have a pound of flesh from any part of Antonio’s body in case he fails to pay back the loan amount on a specified date and place.
(v) The bond to be sealed reveals that Shylock is revengeful and cruel in imposing the condition of the pound of flesh if Antonio fails to pay back the loan on a specified date. Antonio is very rash and over-confident. He is ready to sign the dangerous bond despite Bassanio’s warning against doing so..
Question 2.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
PORTIA : To these injunctions everyone doth swear That comes to hazard for my worthless self.
ARRAGON : And so have I address’d me. Fortune now To my heart’s hope! – Gold, silver and base lead.
(i) Who had tried his luck in trying to choose the correct casket before the prince of Arragon ? Which casket had that suitor chosen ? What did he find inside the casket ? [3]
(ii) What are the three things Arragon was obliged by oath to obey ? [3]
(iii) What was the inscription on the golden casket? How do the actions of the martlet illustrate this inscription ? [3]
(iv) Which casket does Arragon finally choose ? Whose portrait does he find inside ? Which casket actually contains Portia’s portrait ? [3]
(v) Who enters soon after ? What does he say about the young Venetian who has just arrived ? What gifts has the Venetian brought with him ? [4]
Answers:
(i) The prince of Morocco had tried his luck before the prince of Arragon. He had chosen the golden casket. He found inside the golden casket a human skull with a roll of paper on which it was written : ‘All that glitters is not gold.’ ‘
(ii) Arragon was obliged by oath to observe three things : he is never to reveal which casket he chose; if he fails to choose the right casket, he will never marry to any other girl in life; and if he does not choose the right casket, he will immediately leave and go away.
(iii) The inscription on the golden casket is : “Who chooses me shall gain what many men desire.” The martlet (a swallow) keeps its nest outside, exposed to all risks. Like the swallow, the foolish majority chooses only by outward show and never care to look inside, thus taking a grave risk. Arragon does not want to be one among such foolish men. Thus he rejects the golden casket.
(iv) Arragon finally chooses the silver casket. He finds inside the casket the portrait of a dull-eyed fool. It is the lead casket that actually holds Portia’s portrait.
(v) A servant enters soon after Arragon’s departure. He tells Portia that a young Venetian has arrived to announce that his lord is arriving shortly. He has brought from him many rich gifts.
Loyalties : John Galsworthy
Question 3.**
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
DE LEVIS : Social Blackmail ? H’m !
CANYNGE : Not at all – simple warning. If you consider it necessary in your interests to start this scandal – no matter how, we shall consider it necessary in ours to dissociate ourselves completely from one who so recklessly disregards the unwritten code.
(i) Where are the speakers at present ? What is referred to as Social Blackmail? [3]
(ii) Who is Canynge ? What scandal is being referred to ? Why will it be a scandal ? [3]
(iii) Which race does De Levis mention later ? What is his opinion about society ? [3]
(iv) What does Canynge do soon after and what does he find? What was his reaction ? What does the discovery prove? [3]
(v) What is De Levis going through at this point of time ? What light does it throw upon his character ? What change do we see in his character later in the play ? Give a reason to justify your answer. [4]
Question 4.**
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
DE LEVIS.. Confront me with Dancy and give me fair play.
WINSOR. [Aside to CANYNGE] Is it fair to Dancy not to let him know?
CANYNGE. Our duty is to the Club now, Winsor. We must have this cleared up. [COLFORD comes in, followed by BORRING and DANCY.]
ST ERTH. Captain Dancy, a serious accusation has been made against you by this gentleman in the presence of several members of the Club.
DANCY. What is it ?
ST ERTH. That you robbed him of that money at Winsor’s.
DANCY. [Hard and tense] Indeed! On what grounds is he good enough to say that?
(i) How does De Levis respond to Dancy’s last question in the extract ? [3]
(ii) How did Dancy wish to settle the matter ? What was St Erth s suggestion ? [3]
(iii) Why did Dancy’s friends wish him to take legal action against De Levis ? What reasons did Dancy give for not wanting to do so ? [3]
(iv) When Mabel Dancy later requests De Levis to withdraw the charge, how does he respond ? What declaration does Dancy wish De Levis to sign ? [3]
(v) What information does Gilman give to Twisden? Why did Twisden decide to withdraw from the case ? [4]
Section – B (Poetry)
A Collection of Poems
Question 5.**
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
‘Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.’
(A Psalm of Life — H.W. Longfellow)
(i) Explain- ’Tell me not in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! ’ What should not be considered the goal of life? [3]
(ii) What is the beating of the heart compared to? How is the heart described ? What does the beating of the heart remind us of? [3]
(iii) What does the poet mean when he compares the world to a battlefield ? What should our role be in this battle ?[3]
(iv) How should we view the past and the future? What advice does the poet give in this context? [3]
(v) What do we learn from the lives of great men? What is the final message of the poem ? Give one reason why the poem appeals to you. [4]
Question 6.**
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls.
(Where the Mind is Without Fear: Rabindranath Tagore)
(i) To whom is the poet praying ? Whose mind is the poet referring to in the beginning of the poem ? Why ? [3]
(ii) In which situation is the head held high ? What does he mean by ‘knowledge is free’? What are ‘narrow domestic walls’? [3]
(iii) What does the poet mean by ‘tireless striving ’? What does ‘clear stream ‘refer to ? Explain. [3]
(iv) What is meant by ‘dead habit ’ ? What is ‘dead habit ’ compared to and why ? [3]
(v) What does the poet wish for at the end of the poem ? What does the poem tell the readers about the poet ? Give a reason to justify your answer. [4]
Section – C (Prose)
Collection of Short Stories
Question 7.**
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
“He was not accustomed to facing the entire class and speaking out aloud. He knew that he did not have a flair for making speeches. However, he had worked hard on his assignment and had written it from the depth of his heart.”
(India’s Heroes : Anonymous)
(i) Who was ‘he’ ? What evidence is there that he was not used to facing the entire class ? [3]
(ii) What was the assignment ? How was ‘his ’ assignment different from the others ? [3]
(iii) Who was the first person to feature in ‘his ’assignment ? What did ‘he ’say about him ? [3]
(iv) Who was the General Manager of the Taj Hotel? What role did he play ? [3]
(v) What, according to this speaker, is the only true religion in the world ? What human qualities have been highlighted through ‘his’ speech ? [4]
Question 8.**
Describe the first meeting and the last meeting between the Kabuliwala and Mini. What realization dawns upon the Kabuliwala after the last meeting with Mini. [16]