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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. In Act 3, Scene 5, who delivers news to Enobarbus?
2. Whom does Cleopatra send to report on the features of Octavia?
3. Whose body is borne before the triumphant victor in Parthia?
4. About what age does the messenger report his guessing of Octavia's age to Cleopatra?
5. With what weapon does Cleopatra threaten the messenger from Italy?
Short Essay Questions
1. In what way does Antony compose himself in Act 4, Scene 2?
2. For what reason does Cleopatra send Alexas to Italy?
3. For what reason does Antony spurn the news that has come from Rome at the play's beginning?
4. For what reason does Ventidius claim he leaves some soldiering undone?
5. How does Cleopatra expose her true self in Act 3, Scene 13?
6. What is the result of Antony's fleeing from Actium?
7. What causes Antony to experience a dramatic change at the play's beginning?
8. Why does Enobarbus tell Menas that that which has caused amity between Caesar and Antony will likewise "prove the immediate author of their variance"?
9. What characterizes Antony's speech after Actium, before Cleopatra arrives, at the palace in Alexandria?
10. What is the meaning and significance of "a Lethe'd dulness" as Pompey uses the phrase in line 27 of Act 2, Scene 1?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
In contrast to the more nuanced influences of the play, the direct cause of the play's tragic outcome is quite obviously the external conflict between Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar. However, the drastic importance of this conflict, its political and historical implications, have a drastic influence on the overall significance of the play. Why is the conflict important to the whole world? How is this indicated in the play? What is at stake in the conflict between the two triumvirs? What is the relationship between the greater significance of this conflict and the significance of the play as a tragedy?
Essay Topic 2
Though not an antagonist in the traditional sense of the word, Cleopatra acts as a catalyst for the internal conflict that contributes to Mark Antony's disintegration. This makes Cleopatra a somewhat unique character in literature. Compose an analytical essay that examines the peculiarities of her character, including how they affect Antony, but focusing principally on Cleopatra. What characterizes her personality? What traits does she habitually evince in the play? What are her motivations throughout the play? Does her behavior, by the final act, change from how she comports herself in the play's first act?
Essay Topic 3
Throughout the play, there is a regularly occurring but never explicitly mentioned theme of tyrannical rule. Tyranny, in the modern conception, is defined as the rule of any authoritative figure or body for the sake of his or their own good, without consideration of those who are ruled. In a thoughtful essay, analyze the presence of this theme in all of the powerful rulers throughout the play. How do they rule for their own good? In what way does this rule affect those who are ruled, be it positive or negative? In what scenes or actions do the various rulers evince tyrannical tendencies?
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This section contains 831 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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