958
Welcome to our blog, In this post, we’re sharing the IGNOU MEG 2 Solved Question Paper of June 2021 examination, focusing on British Drama.
This guide is here to help you prepare for your exams with clear answers and explanations. Whether you’re just starting or revising for your exams, this resource will make studying easier and more effective.
In this post, we’ll discuss all the answers including the short and long answer questions.
You can also download all previous year question papers of MEG 2 from our website.
Price range: ₹129.00 through ₹499.00
Question 1
1. Critically comment on any four of the following passages with reference to the context in about 150 words each :
(a) To be or not to be : that is the question;
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them ?
Answer:
This soliloquy from Hamlet is one of the most profound reflections on life and death in literature. Hamlet contemplates whether it is better to endure life’s suffering (“the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”) or to actively resist it by choosing death (“to take arms against a sea of troubles”). The speech reveals Hamlet’s deep existential crisis, as he weighs the pain of life against the fear of the unknown after death. His indecision highlights the central theme of inaction in the play. The soliloquy not only explores mortality but also the complexities of human thought, fear, and inner conflict.
(b) I think a woman fetching a man’s slippers
is a disgusting sight … I think a good deal
more of you for throwing them in my face …
who cares for a slave ?
Answer:
This line is spoken by Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and marks a powerful assertion of her dignity and independence. Having undergone a social transformation, Eliza refuses to return to a life of servitude. Fetching slippers symbolizes submission, and she rejects the idea that love or gratitude requires her to become Higgins’ servant. Her statement challenges the traditional gender roles and power dynamics in relationships. By declaring “who cares for a slave?”, Eliza emphasizes her self-respect and autonomy. Shaw uses this moment to critique patriarchal expectations and highlight the importance of equality and emotional recognition in human relations.
(c) When I behold the heavens, then I repent,
And curse thee, wicked Mephistophilis
Because thou hast depriv’d me of those joys.
Answer: These lines are spoken by Doctor Faustus in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. Here, Faustus momentarily regrets his pact with Lucifer after looking at the heavens and remembering the joys of divine grace.
For Full Answer Get Access To Our MEG eBook
(d) Astride of a grave and a difficult birth.
Down in the hole, lingeringly, the
grave-digger puts on the forceps. We have
time to grow old. The air is full of our cries.
But habit is a great deadener.
Answer:
These lines from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot offer a bleak yet profound view of human existence. Life is depicted as a short, painful journey between birth and death—“astride of a grave and a difficult birth.”
For Full Answer Get Access To Our MEG eBook
(e) … as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing.
A local habitation and a name.
Answer:
These lines from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream celebrate the transformative power of imagination. The passage suggests that the poet can give form and identity to abstract ideas—“airy nothing”—through creative vision and language.
For Full Answer Get Access To Our MEG eBook
Question 2
2. Jonsonian comedy redirected attacks from persons towards follies and foibles. Discuss with reference to The Alchemist.
Answer:
Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist is a prime example of what came to be known as comedy of humours, where characters are not attacked as individuals but are mocked for their absurdities, vices, and affectations. Rather than focusing on personal vendettas or moral condemnation of individuals, Jonsonian comedy criticizes universal human weaknesses, redirecting the satirical lens towards folly, vice, and moral corruption. The Alchemist, written during the early 17th century, brilliantly demonstrates this shift through its vivid characters and their ridiculous obsessions.
Set in London during a time of plague, The Alchemist revolves around three con artists—Face, Subtle, and Dol Common—who exploit the greed, ambition, and gullibility of a variety of characters seeking magical solutions to worldly problems. Jonson does not criticize the victims personally but focuses on their foibles, such as greed, vanity, lust, and foolishness. For instance, Sir Epicure Mammon, a wealthy man who dreams of limitless pleasures and eternal youth through alchemy, is a representation of unchecked hedonism and materialism. Jonson mocks his desires rather than attacking Mammon as a person. Similarly, Ananias and Tribulation, the religious fanatics, are not condemned for their faith but are ridiculed for their hypocrisy and literal-mindedness.
Jonson’s redirection of satire serves a moral purpose: to correct behaviour through ridicule rather than through personal attack. Each character is portrayed as a type rather than an individual with complex psychology. This aligns with Jonson’s classical influences, particularly Horace and Juvenal, who emphasized that satire should reform society by highlighting its absurdities. Characters like Drugger, the naïve tobacconist, and Kastril, the “angry boy” trying to learn the ways of gentlemanly quarrelling, become embodiments of ignorance and social pretension rather than subjects of personal attack.
What strengthens this redirection is Jonson’s own preface to the play, where he claims to be a moralist, not a mere entertainer. By creating caricatures driven by dominant “humours”—or ruling traits—Jonson makes a broader comment on human society and its moral failures. His characters are exaggerated for comedic effect, yet their follies are rooted in real societal flaws, allowing the audience to laugh at them while also reflecting on their own shortcomings.
In conclusion, The Alchemist is a stellar example of how Jonsonian comedy targets the vices and weaknesses of humanity, not individuals. The satire is constructive rather than destructive, aiming to reform rather than insult. Through the laughter generated by characters’ follies, Jonson subtly educates his audience on moral and social improvement.
Price range: ₹129.00 through ₹499.00
Question 3
3. Trace the development of Beckett’s martyrdom in T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral.
Answer:
T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral dramatizes the final days of Archbishop Thomas Becket and his journey toward martyrdom. The play, set in 1170, explores the moral and spiritual evolution of Becket as he prepares to face death at the hands of King Henry II’s knights. Eliot presents Becket not as a passive victim, but as an active agent who consciously embraces martyrdom for a higher spiritual purpose. This development is marked by inner struggle, reflection, and ultimately, transcendence.
At the beginning of the play, Becket returns to Canterbury after years of exile, aware of the political tension between him and the king. He is warned by the chorus and his priests of impending danger, but he remains calm and composed. His early dialogues suggest a man who is inwardly wrestling with pride, fear, and the desire for earthly recognition. The tempters—four allegorical figures—play a critical role in revealing Becket’s inner conflict. The first three tempt him with safety, power, and alliance with the king, while the fourth tempter, representing spiritual pride, challenges him to seek martyrdom for the sake of personal glory.
This fourth temptation is crucial in Becket’s spiritual development. He recognizes that seeking martyrdom for self-glorification would be a sin equal to denying God’s will. His rejection of this final temptation marks a turning point. Becket chooses to submit completely to divine will, making peace with the idea that true martyrdom must be selfless, free of personal ambition, and grounded in obedience to a higher moral order.
Becket’s Christmas sermon, delivered between Part I and Part II of the play, reflects his matured understanding of martyrdom. He explains to the congregation that martyrs are not made by men, but by God. He emphasizes the paradox of celebrating martyrdom on a day of Christ’s birth, revealing his awareness of sacrifice as part of the Christian journey. He now sees his potential death not as a tragedy, but as a necessary act of witness to faith and divine justice.
In Part II, when the knights arrive to kill him, Becket does not resist. He forbids his followers from using violence and walks calmly to his death. His martyrdom is presented not as defeat, but as spiritual triumph—a conscious act of submission to God’s will that affirms the eternal over the temporal.
In conclusion, Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral presents martyrdom not as passive suffering but as a profound moral choice. Through Becket’s inner struggle and final acceptance, Eliot transforms a historical event into a spiritual allegory. Becket’s development from a man caught in political conflict to a willing martyr embodies the Christian ideal of sacrifice, purity of intention, and obedience to divine order.
Question 4
4. “Hamlet’s character is the prevalence of the abstracting and generalizing habit over the practical.” Discuss with reference to the play as a revenge tragedy.
Answer:
This observation, famously made by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, captures a crucial aspect of Hamlet’s personality and highlights what distinguishes Shakespeare’s Hamlet from conventional revenge tragedies. In traditional revenge plays, such as Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, the protagonist is swift and focused in avenging a wrong. However, in Hamlet, the central character is marked not by action but by introspective reflection, philosophical pondering, and a tendency to abstract and generalize, which delays his pursuit of revenge.
For Full Answer Get Access To Our MEG eBook
Question 5
5. “Unlikely conversions, miraculous transformations and providential assistance are inseparable from comedy.” Discuss with reference to Shaw’s Pygmalion.
Answer:
George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion exemplifies many conventions of classical comedy, including unlikely conversions, miraculous transformations, and elements resembling providential assistance. However, as a modern dramatist, Shaw uses these elements not simply for entertainment but to critique social structures, gender roles, and class divisions. Through the transformation of Eliza Doolittle and the ironic dynamics between characters, Shaw blends traditional comedic tropes with biting social commentary.
For Full Answer Get Access To Our MEG eBook
Price range: ₹129.00 through ₹499.00