Question

Boatswain :

None that I love more than myself. You are a councilor; if you can command these elements to silence and work the peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more;

use your authority. If you cannot, give thank you have lived so long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. [To the mariners ]- Cheerly, good hearts! [To the courtiers [-Out of the way, I say]

(i) To whom is the Boatswain speaking? What does he mean in this way? 

(ii) What were the conditions that made the boatswain react in this way? 

(iii) What hope does the person speak taking from the attitude of the Boatswain? 

(iv) How can they ‘make yourself ready in your cabin’? For what are they asked to make themselves ready? 

(v) What opinion do you form of the Boatswain from the above extract?

Answer 1

(i) The boatswain addresses Gonzalo : “None that I love more than myself’ he means that he loves himself more than he cared for the king. 

(ii) As a severe storm was raging, the ship could be wrecked at any moment. The courtiers were interfering in the sailors’ efforts who were trying their best to save the ship. These were the ghastly conditions that made the boatswain to react in this way. 

(iii) The rude attitude of the boatswain convinces the person that the boatswain had no drowning mark upon him and that he will be hanged if he is alive later. 

(iv) They were asked to make themselves ready for death as the ship would certainly wreck and they would all drown. Thus they can make themselves ready to meet their death. 

(v) The boatswain is a sincere worker though a bit coarse in manner. He is seriously concerned about the safety of all.