Raj Inder Singh asked 7 years ago
Give an account of the crowd’s disapproval and displeasure with the patriot in the poem “The Patriot, an old story” by Robert Browning?
The patriot is tied, convicted and is being led to the scaffold. He is fated to be hanged. This is the reward he is getting from the people for his so-called misdeeds. A long rope has been used to tie up his hands to his back. The rope is so tightly tied that it cuts both his hands. Some callous and cruel people have thrown stones on him because of which his forehead bleeds.
There is no one on the house roofs now. Only some crippled persons at the window set are watching him. People have gone to the shambles’ gate or are standing very close to the scaffold to have the best view of his execution.
This is how they are showing their displeasure and disapproval.
The crowd has now detached themselves from the patriot whose achievement they celebrated just a year ago. As a result of their displeasure with him, the patriot has now been tried, convicted and is being led away to be put to death. This is a brilliant portrayal of the frailty of public adulation and memory and fickleness of praise and glory. A year ago, roses and fame, but today he is left with nothing but shame and death.
Now, no one is on the house-tops to cheer for him, apart from a few palsied faces at the window set. He is walking in the rain, with his hand tied tightly with a rope. Some angry people are throwing stones at him. His forehead is bleeding. Finally he is taken to the scaffold and hanged to death.