Question

Base your responses on the passage provided below:

"During the greater part of the day, the guillotine had been kept busy at its ghastly work... Every aristocrat was a traitor... For two hundred years now, the people had sweated, and toiled, and starved to keep a lustful court in lavish extravagance; now the descendants of those who had helped to make these courts brilliant had to hide for their lives".

Which option best summarises the views of the author of this passage?

• A. The common people of the nation deserved to be punished for violating the country’s laws.
• B. In response to past abuses by the clergy and nobility, the common people staged a bloody revolt.
• C. The nobility was being punished for bringing benefits to the nation.
• D. The goals of fraternity, equality, and liberty were achieved in the period of absolute monarchy.

Answer 1

The correct option is B In response to past abuses by the clergy and nobility, the common people staged a bloody revolt.

The clergy and nobility together owned 60% of the land in France. They led a luxurious life, and were corrupt and immoral. They exploited the common people with giant taxes. The peasants had to pay various taxes to the government, to the nobles, and to the Church.

Peasants were subjected to forced labour. About 81% of their income went to the Church, the State, and the nobles. The peasants received only 19% percent of the income. Thousands of people starved to death. This extreme level of oppression made the common people launch a bloody revolution against their oppressors.