IGNOU MEG 3 Solved Question Paper | June 2023
- Last Updated On August 12, 2025
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Welcome to our blog, In this post, we’re sharing the IGNOU MEG 3 Solved Question Paper of June 2023 examination, focusing on British Novel.
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 3 from our website.
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Question 1
1. Discuss the importance of the structure of Tom Jones in the context of its episodic form.
The structure of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones plays a crucial role in shaping its thematic development and narrative technique. Its episodic form—divided into eighteen books and three broad sections (The Country, The Road, and The City)—not only reflects the picaresque tradition but also supports the novel’s exploration of human nature, morality, and social criticism. Fielding’s episodic structure mirrors the unpredictable journey of life and contributes significantly to the development of Tom’s character.
The episodic structure allows Fielding to create a panoramic view of 18th-century English society. As Tom travels from Somersetshire to London, he encounters characters from all social classes—landowners, servants, soldiers, innkeepers, and rogues—each representing different vices and virtues. These episodes are not merely digressions; they serve as moral tests for Tom, shaping his growth and helping readers assess his inherent goodness, despite his youthful follies. The wide variety of incidents reinforces Fielding’s belief in experience as the best teacher and underscores the theme of self-discovery.
Moreover, the structure permits Fielding to intersperse his narrative with authorial commentary. The introductory chapters of each book, where the narrator directly addresses the reader, allow for philosophical reflections, satire, and moral critique. This technique invites readers into a dialogue with the text, making them active participants in Tom’s journey. The digressive quality of the novel may seem to disrupt the narrative flow, but it actually enhances the depth of the novel by offering insights into Fielding’s worldview—especially his advocacy for virtue based on sincerity and good-heartedness, rather than rigid social codes.
Each segment—The Country, The Road, and The City—marks a different phase in Tom’s development. In The Country, Tom’s youthful passions and romantic entanglements are introduced; on The Road, he faces challenges that test his character and virtues; in The City, he is exposed to the corrupting influence of urban life, culminating in a final reckoning with his identity and moral growth. This progression mirrors the classical journey of a hero from ignorance to wisdom, structured not in a tightly plotted narrative but in a sequence of revealing encounters.
Question 2
2. Pride and Prejudice represents love as an impossibility in marriage. Do you agree ? Give relevant examples.
While Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen critiques the socio – economic constraints that often make love and marriage incompatible, it ultimately champions the idea that the true love can triumph over these obstacles. Therefore, the novel does not portray love in marriage as an impossibility but rather as a rare and hard – earned achievement, often obstructed by pride, prejudice, and societal pressures.
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Question 3
3. How does Emily Bronte depict suffering in Wuthering Heights ? Substantiate through the role of Heathcliff and the circumstances of his life.
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a profound exploration of human suffering, and much of this suffering is embodied in the character of Heathcliff. From his mysterious arrival at Wuthering Heights to his bitter end, Heathcliff’s life is marked by emotional, social, and psychological torment. His suffering is both inflicted upon him and, eventually, perpetuated by him, making him a deeply complex figure through whom Brontë examines the cyclical and destructive nature of pain.
Heathcliff’s suffering begins early. As an orphan of unknown origins, he is brought into the Earnshaw family but never fully accepted, especially by Hindley Earnshaw. Hindley’s mistreatment — demoting him from a member of the household to a servant after Mr. Earnshaw’s death — initiates Heathcliff’s alienation and deep resentment. This humiliation is compounded by his passionate yet thwarted love for Catherine Earnshaw. When Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton for his social status, despite loving Heathcliff, it devastates him. Her betrayal is the emotional core of his anguish and fuels his obsessive desire for revenge.
Heathcliff’s suffering manifests in his transformation from a wronged outsider to a cruel and vengeful man. Instead of healing, he chooses to inflict pain on others, perpetuating the cycle of suffering. He manipulates Isabella Linton into a loveless and abusive marriage, treats Hareton — the son of his enemy — as an illiterate servant, and orchestrates the union of Linton and young Catherine purely to gain control over Thrushcross Grange. These actions show how deeply his early suffering has twisted his soul, turning him into a figure who finds satisfaction in others’ misery.
Brontë also uses Heathcliff’s suffering to explore themes of existential anguish and longing. His grief after Catherine’s death is so profound that it borders on the supernatural. He desires to be haunted by her and yearns for reunion in death, suggesting that his pain is rooted in a love that transcends earthly boundaries. His eventual decline — marked by hallucinations, detachment from material concerns, and an obsession with the afterlife — reveals how suffering ultimately consumes him entirely.
Question 4
4. Great Expectations merges the notions of respectability and criminality. Discuss with examples.
Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations masterfully blends the ideas of respectability and criminality, challenging Victorian assumptions about class, morality, and personal worth. Through the lives and experiences of characters like Pip, Magwitch, Jaggers, and Compeyson, Dickens reveals how the lines between criminality and respectability are often blurred, and how societal judgments may not always align with moral truths.
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Question 5
5. Bring out the role of the community in determining character and behaviour in Middlemarch.
In Middlemarch, George Eliot places great emphasis on the role of community in shaping individual character and behavior. The novel portrays a wide range of characters whose personal decisions, desires, and identities are continually influenced, restrained, or guided by the social structures and communal expectations of the provincial town of Middlemarch. Eliot masterfully presents the interconnectedness of private and public life, showing how individuals are shaped by the collective consciousness of their society.
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Question 6
6. Bring out the significance of the description “He died as he lived”, in the context of Kurtz in The Heart of Darkness.
The phrase “He died as he lived” captures the complex and ambiguous nature of Kurtz’s character in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Kurtz is a man who, from the start, is portrayed as both extraordinary and terrifying — an embodiment of European imperialism’s extremes. This description, spoken by the Russian trader who admires Kurtz, can be interpreted in multiple layers, each contributing to the understanding of Kurtz’s role in the novel.
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