Question

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow: But must I confess how I liked him, How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough And depart peacefully, pacified, and thankless, Into the burning bowels of this earth? (a) What is the poet’s instinctive reaction on seeing the snake? (b) How does he treat the snake? (c) Why was the snake pacified?

Answer 1

Answer:

(a) The incident referred to here is the time when the conspirators stabbed Caesar one by one.

(b) The cut wound that Brutus’ stab caused Caesar was the unkindest cut’ because Caesar could not believe that Brutus, whom he considered his true friend, had betrayed him and joined hands with the conspirators.

(c) The speaker (Mark Antony) is addressing the Roman citizens.