Which of the following is correctly depicted in one of the cartoons published in the pages of Punch, “The Clemency of Canning”?
(A) Canning is shown as a looming father figure.
(B) Canning’s protective hand is over the head of a sepoy.
(C) The sepoy holds a sheathed sword in one hand.
(D) The sepoy holds a dagger in the other hand.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B) and (D) only
(A) Canning is shown as a looming father figure. Correct. The Punch cartoon shows the Governor General as a looming father figure, to mock his plea for mercy towards the sepoys.
(B) Canning’s protective hand is over the head of a sepoy. Correct. Canning has his protective hand over the head of a sepoy.
(C) The sepoy holds a sheathed sword in one hand. Incorrect. The sepoy still holds an unsheathed (naked) sword, dripping with blood, not a sheathed one; the cartoon shows him as dangerous even while Canning protects him.
(D) The sepoy holds a dagger in the other hand. Correct. In his other hand the sepoy holds a dagger, also dripping with blood.
NCERT (2026-27): “5.5 No time for clemency … At a time when the clamour was for vengeance, pleas for moderation were ridiculed. When Governor General Canning declared that a gesture of leniency and a show of mercy would help in winning back the loyalty of the sepoys, he was mocked in the British press. In one of the cartoons published in the pages of Punch, a British journal of comic satire, Canning is shown as a looming father figure, with his protective hand over the head of a sepoy who still holds an unsheathed sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, both dripping with blood (Fig.10.17) – an imagery that recurs in a number of British pictures of the time.…”
Fig. 10.17 “The Clemency of Canning”, Punch, 24 October 1857 |
