ISC 2019 English Paper II Suggestions (New Syllabus)

Section A

(Answer any one question)

Tempest-Shakespeare

Question 1

Choose two of the passages (a) to (c) and answer briefly the question that follows:

       a)       Miranda : How came we ashore?

Prospero: By providence divine

Some food we had and some fresh water that

A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, who being then appointed

Master of this design, did give us, with

Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries,

Which since have steaded much. So, of his gentleness,

Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me

From mine own library with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

i)        Who are Prospero and Miranda? Where are they at this moment?                                          

ii)       Give a brief character sketch of the person who helped Prospero and Miranda.

iii)     Why have they come to the place they are at present?

iv)     Why was Prospero expelled?

v)      What idea can you form of Miranda?

vi)     What idea can you form of Prospero?                                                                  (1+2+2+2+2+1)

b)   Prospero: This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child

And here was left by th' sailors. Thou, my slave,

As thou report’st thyself, wast then her servant.

And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorred commands,

Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,

By help of her more potent ministers

And in her most unmitigable rage,

Into a cloven pine, within which rift

Imprisoned thou didst painfully remain

A dozen years; within which space she died

And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans

As fast as mill wheels strike. Then was this island—

Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp hag-born—not honored with

A human shape.

            

i)        Who is Prospero talking to?

ii)       Give the context of the conversation.

iii)    Explain “thou wast a spirit too delicate”.

iv)    Who is the “blue-eyed hag”?

v)      What idea do you form of the relationship between Prospero and the “spirit”?

vi)     vi)  Who is the “son” referred to here?                                  (1+2+2+2+2+1)

c)  Caliban: “'Ban, 'Ban, Ca-caliban

 Has a new master. Get a new man.

 Freedom, high-day, high-day, freedom, freedom, high-day, freedom!”

i) From where the extract has been taken?

ii) Who is the “new master” ?

iii) Give an account of Caliban’s use of words like “master” and “freedom” .

iv)  Who is Caliban?

v) How does Caliban look like?

vi)  Whom is Caliban talking to?                                                                             (1+2+2+2+2+1)

Candida- George Bernard Shaw

Question 2

Choose two of the passages (a) to (c) and answer briefly the question that follows:

a) Morell: “And remember; we are friends, and need not fear that either of us will be anything but patient and kind to the other, whatever we may have to say.”

Marchbanks:  (twisting himself round on him): “Oh, I am not forgetting myself: I am only (covering his face desperately with his hands) full of horror. (Then, dropping his hands, and thrusting his face forward fiercely at Morell, he goes on threateningly.) You shall see whether this is a time for patience and kindness. (Morell, firm as a rock, looks indulgently at him.) Don't look at me in that self-complacent way. You think yourself stronger than I am; but I shall stagger you if you have a heart in your breast.”

i) Where are Morell and Marchbanks? What is their relationship?

ii) What is the “horror” of Marchbanks?

iii) Give a brief context of this conversation.

iv) Who is Marchbanks?

v) What is Marchbanks proposing to say?

vi) Define “I shall stagger you”.                                                                                  (1+2+2+2+2+1)

b) Candida: “…Wouldn’t you like to present me with a nice new brush, with an ivory back, decorated with pearls? “

Marchbanks: (softly and musically, but sadly and longingly) “No, not a scrubbing brush, but a boat: a tiny boat to sail away in, far from the world, where the marble floors are washed by the rain and dried by the sun…”

i) Who is Candida?

ii) What is the relationship that Candida shares with Marchbanks?

iii) What is the significance of the “boat”?

iv) How is Marchbanks’s narrative different from that of Morell?

v) Define the romantic elements in Marchbanks’s speech and how it complies with his identity of a poet?

vi) Where are the two characters?                                                                 (1+2+2+2+2+1)

c) Morell: “(with proud humility)I have nothing to offer you except my strength for your defence, my honesty for your security , my ability and hard-work for your livelihood, and my authority and position for your respect in society. “

i) Who is Morell?

ii) Where does the scene take place?

iii) Whom is Morell talking to and what is the context?

iv) Explain “nothing to offer”.

v) What does Marchbanks say in this very context?

vi) Explain Candida’s reaction to this statement of Morell.                                                 (1+2+2+2+2+1)

Section B

(Answer four questions on at least three textbooks which may include either The Tempest or Candida)

The Tempest- Shakespeare

Question 3

(a) Describe the opening scene of Tempest.                                                                           (8)

(b) Give a vivid description of Miranda’s first meeting with Ferdinand.                             (6)

(c) Sketch the character of Ariel.                                                                                                (6)

Question 4

Explain the critical master-slave relationship that exists in The Tempest.                         (20)

Candida- George Bernard Shaw

Question 5

(a)  Explain the appropriateness of the title ‘Candida’.                                                           (8)    

(b) How does Marchbanks’s character highlight the character of Candida?                       (6)

(c) Define the ending of Candida.                                                                                                (8)

Question 6

How does Shaw bring forth his iconoclastic ideas in Candida?                        (20)

Things Fall Apart- Achebe

Question 7

(a) How is the society presented in Things Fall Apart?                                              (8)

(b) How is the character of Unoka different from that of Okonkwo?                     (6)

(c) Depict the arrival of the white man.                                                                        (6)

Question 8

How is the theme of colonization depicted in the novel Things Fall Apart?             (20)

Question 9

Describe the treatment of women and children in Things Fall Apart.                        (20)

Contemplations

Question 10

(a) Explain Tagore’s idea of education in The Voice of Humanity.                                   (8)

(b) Describe the boon and bane of Europe according to Tagore.                                     (6)

(c) Does Tagore applaud the rise of science? Substantiate.                                               (6)

Question 11

Analyse Bacon’s art of writing with reference to the text in the syllabus.                                       (20)

Question 12

Bring out the appropriateness of the title On the Decay of the Art of Lying by Mark Twain.      (20)

Echoes

Question 13

(a) Briefly describe Dahl’s art of narration in the short story ‘The Sound Machine’.             (8)

(b) Give a brief note on Klausner’s obsession with his machine.                                                (6)

(c) Comment on the ending of the story.                                                                                        (6)

Question 14

Explain how Ray’s narrative manages to amaze and puzzle the reader at the same time. Substantiate your idea of Fritz’s identity.                                                                                                                (20)

Question 15

How do a number of themes inter-cross in Jeffrey Archer’s ‘The Chinese Statue’?                 (20)

Reverie

Question 16

(a) How does the narrator seem to have acquired knowledge through nature in ‘Birches’?            (8)

(b) Analyse Frost’s usage of imageries in ‘Birches’.                                                                                    (6)

(c) How does the poem oscillate between truth and imagination?                                                    (6)

Question 17

Analyse Sarojini Naidu’s ‘The Gift of India’ to be both a war poem as well as an Indian poem.         (20)

Question 18

Comment on the loss of faith as reflected in the poem ‘Dover Beach’ by Mathhew Arnold.              (20)

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