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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. The Soothsayer tells Antony he ought to go where?

2. What does Caesar's companion say indicates Antony is ready to fall in the beginning of the fourth act?

3. Who does Cleopatra want to send to find Antony in Act 1, Scene 3?

4. Where does Antony, through Euphornius, request to live if Egypt is denied to him by Caesar?

5. Whose presence does Enorbarbus say must puzzle Antony?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the result of Antony's fleeing from Actium?

2. What is the significance of the discussion between Enobarbus and Agrippa in the first part of Act 3, Scene 2?

3. What characterizes Antony's speech after Actium, before Cleopatra arrives, at the palace in Alexandria?

4. For what reason does Cleopatra fly into a rage in the fifth scene of the second act?

5. For what reason does the Soothsayer tell Antony he must go back to Egypt?

6. What does the sight of Thyreus kissing Cleopatra's hand provoke in Mark Antony?

7. For what reasons are tensions brewing between Antony and Caesar in Act 3, Scene 4?

8. Why does Octavius Caesar lament the absence of Mark Antony?

9. Why is it suggested by Agrippa that Mark Antony be married to Octavia?

10. For what reason does Antony spurn the news that has come from Rome at the play's beginning?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Although the external conflict with Caesar is what ostensibly brings Mark Antony to his fate, it is only as a result of Antony's failure to overcome the internal conflict between his desire for Cleopatra and his right reason that the conflict comes about. In a thoughtful essay, analyze the causes, events, and consequences of this internal conflict as it develops throughout the story. In what does the conflict consist? What actions are characteristic of the conflict? How does the conflict move the story's events? What commentaries are given on the conflict, and what insights are provided by characters other than Cleopatra and Antony? How is the conflict resolved? What affects the resolution of the conflict?

Essay Topic 2

Compose a carefully crafted and well-planned analytical essay on the character of Mark Antony. As the story's protagonist, he is regarded as an extraordinary man whose life ends in exceptional calamity and disintegration. What are his principal character traits? In what ways does Antony stand out from the rest of the characters in the story? How do these contribute to his being an extraordinary man? What affects his downfall? What characterizes the disintegration of Antony's life? How does Antony's life drive the lives of others and the plot of the story? What way of life does Antony represent?

Essay Topic 3

One of the most complicated characters in the play, despite the brevity of his appearance, is the Clown who delivers the deadly asps to Cleopatra in the final scene. Though his phrasing is somewhat veiled and ambiguous, a multitude of arguments can be made for any number of interpretations of his character's significance. In a very carefully constructed essay, analyze the Clown's words to Cleopatra and make an argument for some definite interpretation of his meaning. What are the referents for the people and conditions to which the Clown alludes? What is the significance of his commentaries insofar as they relate to the actions and characters of the play? Why have a clown deliver such a message?

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