Q1.
Thanks!
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers
Thou art the ruins of the noblest men
that ever lived in the tides of time
(a) Who is referred to as 'bleeding piece of earth'?
(b) When does the speaker say these lines?
(c) Who are the butchers referred to here? Why does the speaker call them
' butchers' ?
(d) Why is the speaker •meek and gentle' with the butchers?
Dear Student,
a) It is the Caesar's corpse which is referred as 'bleeding piece of earth'.
b) Mark Antony speaks these words after he makes peace with Caesar's murderers i.e. Brutus and Cassius.
c) The butchers are Brutus and his co-conspirators. They are called as butchers because they are responsible for Caesar's death.
d) Antony was meek and gentle with the butchers because he wanted to avenge Caesar's death. He pretended to be one among them. He also did this because he had promised the conspirators that he would not speak against them. However, he did convey the message to the crowd who were convinced about the real plan behind the murder. Therefore, it was only a technique that he devised to get a chance to speak.
Regards