MP Board Class 11th English A Voyage Solutions Chapter 7 Mercy (William Shakespeare)

Mercy Textual Exercises

Work Power

(A) Choose the words from the text, which are opposite in meaning to the words given here:
cruelty, above, spiritual, injustice, courage, hell, curse.
Answer:

cruelty — mercy
above — beneath
spiritual – temporal
injuice — justice
courage — fear
hell — heaven
curse — bless

(B) Mark the use of the word, enthrone. It is verb-form, derived from the noun, throne, using the prefix,en-. Make a list of prefixes! suffixes and give verb forms of the following nouns:
power, place, heart, justice, force, quality
Answer:

prefixes — cm-, dis-, un-, in-, in-s dc..
suffixes — cd, -en, -ishy, -al, -tion, -ize, -ous, -ful, ly.
power — empower
place — displace
heart —hearten
justice — justice
force — enforce
quality — qualify

(C) In the 7th line, show has been used as a verb. It can also be used as noun:
The show passed off peacefully.
Make sentences using the following words as noun and verb:
season, attribute, sway, force, drop, crown
Answer:

Season (noun)- The advent of summer season has made me upset
Season (verb)- Season the meat with garlic.
Attribute (noun)- Tolerance is the most important attribute human being.
Attribute (verb)- I attribute my wonderful success to hard work.
Sway (noun)- The jamindars always exploited those who came under their say.
Sway (verb)- The branches are swaying in the strong mind.
Force (noun)- We can’t achieve anything by force.
Force (verb)- You can’t force me to do that work.
Drop (noun)- While walking, I saw several dew drops on the green grass.
Drop (verb)- I dropped my son at the bus stand.
Crown (noun)- The king put the crown on his bead.
Crown (verb)- The prince was crowned on the occasion of his birthday.

(D)Mark the of the worth, mightiest. It is an adjective in the superlative degree. The other two forms in the positive and comparative degrees are: mighty, mightier. Give the forms of ie following adjectives in the comparative and superlative degrees.
gentle, good, unlikely, quick, light, bad, far.
Answer:

(E) Match the words in column A with those in column B.
Column A – Column B
(i) Renaissance – a. worldly
(ii) temporal – b. supreme authority
(iii) majesty – c. quality
(iv) attribute – d. power
(y) sway – e. fear
(vi) awe – f. rebirth.
Answer:
i—f,ii —a, iii— b, iv—c, v—d. vi — e

(F) Match words with their meaning, and use them in sentences of your own to bring out of the difference in their meanings. mercy the feeling of being sorry for somebody compassion used to show that you are disappointed about something pity the ability to understand another person’s feelings sympathy a kind or forgiving attitude towards somebody empathy the aim of giving money, food, help, etc. charity a strong feeling of sympathy for people.

For example,
(I) Mercy – (a kind or forgiving attitude towards somebody): The criminal pleaded for mercy from the judge
Answer:

Compassion ( a strong feeling of sympathy for people)—We must show compassion to those who arc in deep distress.
Pity (used to show that you arc disappointed about something)
The man look pit on me and extended his hand to help me,
Sympathy (the feeling of being sorry for somebody)—I have no sympathy for the wrong doers.
Empathy (the ability to understand another person’s feeling)—We should develop empathy for other people’s situations.
Charity (the aim of giving money, food, help. etc)-The bollywood stars ogranised a charity concert last night.

Comprehension

(A) (i) But mercy is above this sceptred sway . Explain.
Answer:
It is above the sceptred sway because it is enthroncd in the hearts of the kings.

(ii) Why does the poet believe that ‘earthly power then show likest God’s when mercy seasons justice…’?
Answer:
The poet tells so because it appears to be God when it administers justice

(iii) His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty,
(a) What is an attribute to awe and majesty?
(b) What does show the force of temporal power?
Answer:
(a) An attribute to awe and majesty is force.
(b) The scepter shows the force of temporal powers.

(iv) It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest.
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
(a) What is mercy compared above lines?
(b) How is mercy twice-blessed
Answer:
(a) Mercy is compared with the gentle rain that drops from heaven.
(b) Mercy is double blessings. On the one hand, it is a boon for the one who gives and a blessing for the other who takes.

(B) Write answer to the following questions in two or three sentences each.

Question 1.
What is the quality of mercy?
Answer:
Mercy is a super divine power.It is not forced.

Question 2.
What makes mercy twice-blessed?
Answer:
On the one hand mercy falls upon the giver as a gift of God and on the other it obliges the taker.

Question 3.
What does quality a monarch more-mercy or throne? Why?
Answer:
It is mercy that qualifies a monarch more. A monarch, by showing mercy, can win the hearts of his subjects.

Question 4.
What does the scepter show?
Answer:
It shows the force of temporal power.

Question 5.
What is an attribute of God himself?
Answer:
It is mercy itself.

Question 6.
What happens when mercy is tempered with justice?
Answer:
When mercy is tempered with justice, it becomes divine.

Question 1.
How does mercy bless the given and the take alike?
Answer:
Mercy is a poem which occurs in Shakespeare’s famous comedy’ The Merchant of Venice’. In these lines Shakespeare through his famous character Portia explains the value of mercy. It drops as a gentle rain from heaven. It is the mightest of all the powers. It is greater than the monarch’s crown. It is above all-fears. It is tribute to God himself.

As a human virtue mercy not only transcends the worldly power but also becomes divine grace when combined with justice.It is a bliss for the giver and the taker as well because the one who gives it is blessed by God and the one who takes it is blessed by the give. So it glorifies the giver and the taker alike.

Question 2.
Give the central idea of the poem.
Answer:
The poem ‘Mercy’ is an extract from a famous Shakespearean comedy. ‘The Merchant of Venice’. These lines highlight the value and characteristics of ‘mercy’. ‘Mercy’ is not forced. It drops as a gentle rain directly from heaven. It is double blessing. On the one hand, it is a boon for the one who gives and a blessings for the other who takes. It is a super divine power. It is throned monarch greater than the crown. There is the quality of fear of monarch But ‘mercy’ is above all a super quality which lives in the heart of kings. It is a godly quality and an earthly power parallel to God when it is demonstrated with justice.

Poetic Devices

Notice the comparison of mercy with rain. It is a poetic device, called simile. A simile is a comparison of two unlike things, using ‘like’ or ‘as’. Another important device is metaphor. The comparison is hidden in metaphor whereas it is obvious in simile.

For example,
(a) (i) The colonel roars like a lion, (simile)
(ii) The colonel is a lion, (metaphor)

(b) (i) He is cunning as a fox. (simile)
(ii) He is fox. (metaphor)

(A) Frame three such pairs of sentences, showing the difference between simile and metaphor.
Answer:
Examples of similes and metaphors.

Kalidas was like Shakespeare of India. (Simile)
Kalidas was the Shakespeare of India, (metaphor)
Camel is like a ship of the desert. (Simile)
Camel is the ship of the desert (metaphor)
Toanay is like the sun of the family (Simile)
Toanay is the seen of the family, (metaphor)

(B) Notice the repetition of the same sound in the 10th line,’sceptred sway’. This is an example of alliteration. Alliteration is a figure of speech, in which the same sound or letter is repeated at the beginning of words that are close together.
For example,
Three thousands did I see at a glance ! (sound’t)
Every time the slide or sprang, (sound’s)
Answer:
Tis Mightiest in the Mightiest.
His Scepter Shows the force of temporal power But mercy is above this Sceptred Sway

Speaking Activity

(A) Read aloud parts of the poem in groups, observing the stress- pattern. (Consult and English Pronunciation Dictionary)
Answer:
Do yourself

(B) Under the Indian law, the President of India can show mercy and commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. Do you think this provision should be continued? Give your arguments (for, or against). .
Answer:
There is a provision in the Indian law that one who is convicted to
death sentence can make a plea for mercy to the President of India The President has been designated to annual the court’s judgment of death sentence convert into lesser punishment. But as I feel this is not a good practice. Recently we have seen that a person who has been convicted to death sentence for his terrorist activity, his plea for mercy on compassionate ground to the President.

The President handed over the case to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Still the case isn’t decoded. In this situation the fate of a convicted person hangs in uncertainty. The system of Indian law is so clumsy that the person dies before it is decoded by the law. So such provision should be stopped.

Writing Activity

(A) Develop a story on the moral of mercy with the help of the following outlines: there lived a saint-visitor to the river- a scorpion bit, him-he was asked to kill it-the saint refused-wisdom prevailed
Answer:
There was a saint. The was having his bath in a river He saw a scorpion drowning) He tried to save it. His other fellows asked him to kill it. But the saint refused to do so. Every time he took the scorpion on his palm to save it, it but him. But the saint did not leave his effort. Finally he held the scorpion and threw it out of water. It was saved. The wisdom prevailed. The saint said that as it was nature of scorpion to bite, so it bit him. In the same way the saint was to show mercy as per his nature. So he saved it.

(B) Write a letter to your friend, narrating one such event when your act of mercy was highly appreciated.
Answer:
For self attempt

Think Over

(A) Mercy ennobles mankind. Think of other values which contribute to the development of human personality.
Answer:
The other values which contribute to the development of human personality are:

Forebearance
tolerance
truthfulness
honesty
benevolence
generosity
kindness
sympathy

(B) Every religion insists on showing mercy to fellow creatures. Think of the other noble values fostered by religions.
Answer:
The other noble values fostered by religion are:

palience
berevalence
secularism
purity
devotion
sacrifice

Things To Do :

(A) Prepare a list of William Shakespeare’s comedies.
Answer:

The Merchant of Venice
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
The Comedy of Errors
Love’s Labour’s Lost
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

(B) Have you read any other 14-line poem in rhyme-scheme? It is known as sonnet. Shakespeare has written 154 sonnets in all, based on his own life. Read some of the sonnets and examine their rhyme-scheme.
Answer:
Do yourself.

(C) Read the following extract-from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet and underline the lines that are well-known and out-quoted. (See Text book page-50)
Answer:
The well-known as out-quoted lines in the given form are:

Give thy thoughts no tongue
Give every man there ear; but few thy voice
Take each man’s censure: but reserve thy judgment
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy
The apparel of proclaims the man
Neither a borrower nor a lender be
Loan oft loses both itself and friend.

(D) What do you understand by these lines explain in two to three sentences.
(a) Give every man thine ear; but few thy voice
(b) Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy
(c) Apparel off proclaims the man
(d) Neither a borrower nor a lender be
Answer:
(a) This line means we should listen to all but speak our view only to the resemble persons.
(b) Here the poet means to say that we should not cultivate costly habits which we can not fulfill by our means.
(c) This line means that we can recognise the character of a man through his dress what he wears.
(d) Here, the poet suggests as not to get a loan nor we should lend money to others.

Mercy Summary in English

The poem ‘Mercy’ is an extract from a famous Shakespearean comedy. ‘The Merchant of Venice’. These lines highlight the value and characteristics of ‘mercy’. ‘Mercy’ is not forced. It drops as a gentle rain directly from heaven. It is double blessing. On the one hand, it is a boon for the one who gives and a blessings for the other who takes. It is a super divine power. It is throned monarch greater than the crown. There is the quality of fear of monarch But ‘mercy’ is above all a super quality which lives in the heart of kings. It is a godly quality and an earthly power parallel to God when it is demonstrated with justice.

Mercy Summary in Hindi

प्रस्तुत कविता शेक्यपीयर के प्रसिद्ध कॉमेडी ‘दि मर्चेन्ट ऑफ वेनिस’ से लिया गया है। कविता की पंक्तियाँ ‘दया’ के मूल्य को दर्शाती हैं। कवि कहता है कि ‘दया’ किसी पर लादी नहीं जा सकती। यह स्वत: बारिश की तरह स्वर्ग से सीधी गिरती है। यह दोहरा आशीर्वाद है। एक तरफ यह दाता के लिए वरदान है, तो दूसरी तरफ लेने वाले के लिए आशीर्वाद है। यह अलौकिक शक्ति है। यह सिंहासन पर बैठे राजा के मुकुट से भी महान और बड़ा है। ‘दया’ डर और भय से ऊपर है। यह अलौकिक गुण है जो राजाओं के हृदय में वास करता है। यह ईश्वरीय गुण है। यह ईश्वर के समानांतर लौकिक शक्ति है लेकिन तब जब साथ न्याय का समावेश होता है।

Mercy Word Meanings

Mercy Comprehension

Read the following stanzas carefully and answer the questions the follow:

1. The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven .
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.

Questions:
(i) What is talked about is these lines?
(ii) How does the poet qualify, mercy?
(iii) For whom is the mercya bliss?
(iv) rive a word from the stanza similar is meaning to ‘forced’?
Answers:
(i) Mercy is talked about here is these lines.
(ii) The poet qualifies mercy as gentle rain from heaven.
(iii) Mercy is a bliss both for the giver and the taker.
(iv) ‘Strained’

2. It is enthroned in the hearts of Kings,
It is an attribute to God himself.
And earthy power then show likest
God’s When mercy seasons justice.

Questions:
(i) What does mercy do with the king?
(ii) What is mercy?
(iii) When it becomes a divine grace?
(iv) Give a word from the above stanza which is opposite in meaning to ‘dethroned’.
Answers:
(i) Mercy is enthroned in the hearts of kings.
(ii) Mercy is an attribute to God. It is unearthly power.
(iii) It becomes divine grace when combined with justice.
(iv) ‘enthroned’.