In this short story, Dorris Lessing describes a fifteen year old boy who goes hunting every morning. One day the boy notices a buck that is wounded. It was about to die. This scene continues in the story with the following sentences: "It came into his mind that he should shoot it and end its pain; and he raised the gun. Then he lowered it again."
In Shakespeare’s time people believed in witches. They were people who had made a pact with the Devil in exchange for supernatural powers. If your cow was ill, it was easy to decide it had been cursed. If there was plague in your village, it was because of a witch. If the beans didn’t grow, it was because of a witch. Witches might have a familiar – a pet, or a toad, or a bird – which was supposed to be a demon advisor. People accused of being witches tended to be old, poor, single women. It is at this time that the idea of witches riding around on broomsticks (a common household implement in Elizabethan England) becomes popular.
There are lots of ways to test for a witch. A common way was to use a ducking stool, or just to tie them up, and duck the accused under water in a pond or river. If she floated, she was a witch. If she didn’t, she was innocent. She probably drowned. Anyone who floated was then burnt at the stake. It was legal to kill witches because of the Witchcraft Act passed in 1563, which set out steps to take against witches who used spirits to kill people.
King James I became king in 1603. He was particularly superstitious about witches and even wrote a book on the subject. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth especially to appeal to James – it has witches and is set in Scotland, where he was already king. The three witches in Macbeth manipulate the characters into disaster, and cast spells to destroy lives. Other magic beings, the fairies, appear in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Elizabethans thought fairies played tricks on innocent people – just as they do in the play.
The word prodigious means Immense.
The word desponding means Hopeless.
Answer:
LAHORE, PAKISTAN
Dated 10th February 2020
To
The Editor,
Dawn news
Subject: Request for immediate repair of deplorable roads.Respected Sir,
Through the columns of your esteemed daily newspaper, I wish to highlight the deplorable condition of the main road in liberty market.
The road is full of pot holes since it was never repaired for several years. During the Monsoon season the road gets flooded like a river. During Winter it gets dry and dusty. We have no other option but to breathe the dusty air which causes respiratory diseases. There is also grave danger of road accidents which may cause lost of precious life.
The residents are suffering untold hardships due to the bad and dangerous condition of the road.
Therefore, I request the Municipal Corporation and the higher authorities to survey the road of liberty market and repair the roads at the earliest.
Yours sincerely,
X.Y.Z
