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Welcome to our blog, In this post, we’re sharing the IGNOU MEG 2 Solved Question Paper of June 2022 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.
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Question 1
1. Critically comment on any four of the following passages with reference to the context in about 150 words each :
(a) There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself, which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that ?
Answer:
This comic observation highlights a key moment in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when the Mechanicals perform their play of Pyramus and Thisbe. The actor playing Bottom, as Pyramus, must draw a sword and kill himself — a scene that some fear might alarm or offend the delicate sensibilities of the ladies in the audience. To ease these worries, the Mechanicals propose adding a prologue or explanation to clarify that the killing is not real but a piece of theatre. They aim to assure everyone that Pyramus is “but an actor” and his death is imaginary, not literal, thereby making it more pleasing and less dramatic.
(b) When all your alchemy and your algebra,
Your minerals, vegetals, and animals,
Your conjuring, cozening, and your dozens of trades,
Could not relieve your corpse with so much linen.
Answer:
This extract from Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist underscores the ultimate failure of all the trickery and schemes employed by the con artists in the play. The speaker highlights how extensive their knowledge seemed — from alchemy and algebra to understanding minerals, plants, and animals — and how clever and numerous their deceptions were. Nevertheless, all these skills could not provide them with something as simple and essential as clean linen, symbolizing purity or a fresh start. The irony lies in their ability to manipulate people’s desires and beliefs, yet when it comes to a fundamental need, their elaborate schemes prove ineffectual.
(c) They know and do not know,
what it is to act or suffer
They know and do not know,
that acting is suffering
And suffering is action.
Answer :
This extract from T. S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral encapsulates a profound paradox about human knowledge and experience. The chorus highlights the confusion people face in understanding their own roles in life — they “know and do not know”— reflecting their inability to fully appreciate what it means to act and suffer.
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(d) I’m in the fire and I’m burning, and all I want is to die ! … But what does it matter — this is what he wanted from me !
Answer :
This dramatic expression underscores a moment of deep agony and submission in Look Back in Anger by John Osborne. The speaker finds herself emotionally consumed by a painful relationship — feeling as if she’s in a fire, burning alive from the suffering it brings.
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(e) Astride of a grave and 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:
This extract from Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett profoundly expresses the human condition — a state of suffering, inertia, and resignation. The speaker highlights a paradoxical image: people are “astride of a grave and a difficult birth”— suggesting that life itself is a liminal state, a painful transition from birth toward death.
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Question 2
2. Critically examine Doctor Faustus as a tragedy of human heroism.
Answer:
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe stands as a remarkable tragedy of human heroism — a story of a man whose ambitions, desires, and downfall reflect a deep human conflict between aspiration and limitation. The play explores the tragedy of a scholar who dares to challenge the boundaries of human knowledge and power, reflecting the Renaissance spirit of inquiry and the human ability to pursue knowledge beyond ordinary limits.
Faustus is presented as a profoundly ambitious person — someone who finds the conventional disciplines of logic, medicine, and law restrictive and uninspiring. His decision to pursue black magic signals a dramatic affirmation of human will and a rejection of traditional bounds. His soul’s selling to Lucifer in exchange for knowledge and power underscores his quest for ultimate control over earthly and supernatural forces. His tragedy lies not in cowardice or weakness, but in his ambitious resolve — a form of human heroism — to conquer the heavens and become more than a mere man.
This tragedy highlights the human tendency to overreach, to pursue goals that lie beyond human capacities. Faustus’ downfall is a direct result of his own choices; his downfall reflects the classical notion of hubris — a sin of excess — where human ambition disregards its proper place in the universal order. His tragedy underscores a fundamental paradox of human heroism: the very traits that make him great — curiosity, independence, boldness — also lead to his downfall when taken to an excess.
Furthermore, Doctor Faustus reveals the internal conflict within Faustus himself. His conscience repeatedly wrestles with the consequences of his actions; the Good Angel and the Bad Angel symbolize this internal division. His doubts and moments of regret show us that Faustus is not a monster but a flawed human — a person battling temptation and conscience. His eventual downfall highlights the human condition — the vulnerability to temptation, the ability to choose, and the tragedy that can arise from choosing incorrectly.
In this context, Doctor Faustus can be seen as a tragedy of human heroism in the sense that it traces the rise and fall of a great soul — a person who reaches for something greater than himself and fails, not because of a lack of ability or resolve, but because of a fundamental human limitation. Faustus’ tragedy resonates as a universal story — a dramatic exploration of human aspiration, temptation, conscience, and downfall — reflecting the human condition in all its complexity.
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Question 3
3. ‘‘To be, or not to be: that is the question.’’
Critically examine Hamlet in light of this statement.
Answer:
“To be, or not to be: that is the question.” — these iconic words from Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, lie at the core of the tragedy and illuminate Hamlet’s internal conflict. The prince finds himself stranded between action and inaction, between life and death, reflecting profoundly on the human condition.
In this moment, Hamlet considers whether it is more noble to suffer passively — “to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”— or to take action against suffering by choosing death — “to take arms against a sea of troubles”— thereby putting an end to pain. His words underscore the universal human predicament: we all face suffering, injustice, and tragedy, but we are unsure whether enduring it or attempting to conquer it is the better course.
This soliloquy reveals Hamlet’s deep philosophical doubts about life, death, and the afterlife. Death promises peace from earthly suffering; yet Hamlet hesitates because of the “dread of something after death”— the fear of the unknown. His conscience makes him cowardly, causing him to pause and reflect instead of acting decisively. His tragedy lies in this paralysis — his inability to resolve this moral and existential dilemma — which profoundly influences the course of the play.
Furthermore, Hamlet’s doubts reflect a larger moral conflict within him. His conscience wrestles with questions of revenge, justice, and ethics. To kill Claudius, the king, might be a fulfillment of duty, yet it also means descending into violence and sin. Hamlet finds himself stranded in a moral grey area — unsure whether killing to achieve justice is justifiable or if it will corrupt him in the process.
The “To be or not to be” monologue also highlights Hamlet’s awareness of human frailty and vulnerability. It underscores the universal human condition — the fear of suffering, the uncertainty of what lies after death, and the moral struggles we face when forced to make choices under pressure. Hamlet’s doubts illuminate the human soul’s deep, universal questions — questions about life’s purpose, death’s finality, and the ethics of action — making this soliloquy profoundly resonant across time.
Ultimately, Hamlet’s tragedy arises not from a lack of ability or conscience but from his ability to reflect profoundly on the human condition. His greatest strength — his deep, philosophical mind — becomes his greatest weakness, paralyzing him in a moment of decisive action and causing him to miss opportunities, suffer losses, and, in the end, pay with his own life.
Question 4
4. Examine Shakespeare’s presentation of women in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Answer:
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare offers a rich and complex portrait of women, reflecting both their vulnerabilities and their assertiveness within a predominantly patriarchal society. The principal women in the play — Hermia, Helena, Hippolyta, and Titania — emerge as strong, independent, and multifaceted individuals who challenge, conform to, and sometimes subvert the roles assigned to them.
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Question 5
5. Critically comment on Lucky’s speech in Waiting for Godot.
Answer:
Lucky’s speech in Waiting for Godot is one of the most remarkable and dramatic moments in Beckett’s play. It stands as a powerful embodiment of the human condition — a mixture of chaos, confusion, and a desperate search for meaning in a world that seems unintelligible and barren. The monologue occurs in Act I when Lucky, under Pozzo’s command, is told to “think”—and what emerges is a rush of words that blend disparate ideas, linguistic structures, and allusions into a dramatic tour de force.
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