Purgatory Important Questions Answers Class 12

Q) Why did the old man kill his own son?

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Q) What is the old man’s motive in murdering the boy?

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Q) What were the circumstances which made the old man kill the boy?

The old man’s motive in murdering the boy is to stop the cycle of violence and sin. The old man had killed his own father when he was 16 years old. So, he is scared now that his son will also kill him in the same manner. Now, he doesn’t want to transmit this sinful action to the new generation. He thinks that the murdering tradition may continue on generation to generation. Thus, to stop the seed of sin and tradition the old man kills his own son.

Q) Sketch the character of the old man.

The old man, the main character of the play is superstitious, sceptical and mysterious. He has a bitter past full of ups and down. After giving birth to him, his mother died. After her death, he didn’t get anyone’s love, care and help. He was completely indifferent towards his father because his father was drunkard, irresponsible and unloving. Being not able to endure his father’s cruelty, he killed him when he was 16 years old and escaped from there. Now, he has become old, weak and poor. He has one young son, but the son doesn’t love him. Even being the father, he thinks of killing his own son because he fears that there will be the repetition of the evil deed as he had done earlier. Finally, he kills his son with the same knife that he had used while killing his father before. So, in this sense, the old man is rude, loveless and vagabond like a murder.

Q) Explain how this drama is connected with religious belief.

The drama has carried a religious belief because it deals with purgatory. Purgatory is a religious where sins are cleansed, and souls are purified. In the drama, the religious places like Hell, Heaven and purgatory are mentioned. So, it is connected with religion. Not only this, the spirit of the old man’s father and mother in the burnt house refers to a religious matter. In the drama, the old man sees his mother in the burnt house and hears hoof beats of his father’s horse. So, the old man struggles to be free from their sins and also releases them from the hell. For making them free, he kills his own son. Through the role of the old man, W.B Yeats says that physical body is like worn out clothes, which are needed to be changed for the purification of souls.