If I Were You

 

If I Were You

Thinking about the Text

I. Answer these questions.

Question 1. “At last, a sympathetic audience.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) Why does he say it?

(iii) Is he sarcastic or serious?

Answer:

(i) Gerrard says this.

(ii) He says it when the intruder tells him that they shall have a nice talk about himself.

(iii) He is sarcastic.

Question 2. Why does the intruder choose Gerrard as the man whose identity he wants to take on?

Answer: The intruder chooses Gerrard as the man whose identity he wants to take on because he finds himself similar in build to Gerrard. In addition to this, he also likes the way Gerrard does his work like ordering things on the phone and sometimes going away suddenly and comes back just the same.

Question 3. “I said it with bullets.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) What does it mean?

(iii) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?

Answer:

(i) Gerrard says this.

(ii) It means that when he was in trouble, he shot someone with his gun and ran away from there.

(iii) No, it is not the truth. Gerrard says in order to avoid being killed by the intruder.

Question 4. What is Gerrard’s profession? Quote the parts of the play that support your answer.

Answer: Gerrard’s profession is that he is a playwright.

The parts of the play that support the answer are:

“In most melodramas, the villain is foolish enough to delay his killing long enough to be frustrated”.

“Sorry I can’t let you have the props in time for rehearsal…”

“I think I’ll put it in my next play.

Question 5. “You’ll soon stop being smart.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) Why does the speaker say it?

(iii) What according to the speaker will stop Gerrard from being smart?

Answer:

(i) The intruder says this statement.

(ii) The intruder says this to make Gerrard frightened and know all the answers about him.

(iii) According to the speaker, Gerrard will soon stop being smart when he comes to know that he has come there to kill him and then spend his whole life as Gerrard stealing his identity.

Question 6. “They can’t hang me twice.”

(i) Who says this?

(ii) Why does the speaker say it

Answer:

(i) The intruder says this statement.

(ii) The speaker says this because he had already murdered someone; and so if he kills some other person, he can’t be hanged twice.

Question 7. “A mystery I propose to explain.” What is the mystery the speaker proposes to explain?

Answer: The mystery that the speaker proposes to explain to the intruder is the mystery about himself. He says that he himself is a crook and that is why he is never visited by tradespeople.

He further says that he is continuously being searched by the police as he has murdered someone. The police has also got an important evidence against him, and that is why he is on the run. Tonight he is expecting trouble, and so his bag is packed ready to clear off.

Question 8. “This is your big surprise.”

(i) Where has this been said in the play?

(ii) What is the surprise?

Answer:

(i) This statement has been said when the intruder prepares to shoot him, and gets bored of the conversation between them.

(ii) The intruder becomes surprised to know that he himself is a crook. He is also a murderer and the police is after him, and so he will have no benefit if he kills him and steal his identity.