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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. Who is it revealed has deserted Antony in Act 4?

2. With what word does Enobarbus describe his revolt in comparison to Antony's nobility?

3. What does Cleopatra say she will give to Scarus for his valor?

4. Upon what does Antony say he will look in line 9 of Act 4's tenth scene?

5. What does Cleopatra tell her messenger to report as her last word to Antony?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has the battle gone so far, in Act 4, Scene 7?

2. Why does Caesar insist upon being still with his land forces on the second day of Battle at Alexandria?

3. What does the sudden music expose within the soldiers of Antony before the battle at Alexandria?

4. Why does Enobarbus say he will seek out a ditch in which he may die?

5. What does Antony say will happen to Cleopatra if she does not vanish after his fleet has betrayed him?

6. What purpose does Act 4, Scene 3 serve, with its interlude of unnamed, minor characters?

7. For what reason does Caesar seek to preserve the life of Cleopatra after hearing that Antony has died?

8. In what way is Antony's disposition towards the battle at Alexandria changed on the second day?

9. How does Cleopatra comport herself towards Antony in Act 4, Scene 4?

10. What effect on Antony's disposition does the desertion by Enobarbus have?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout Antony and Cleopatra's stormy relationship in the play, it is shown that their love is always a hair's-breadth away from becoming hate, and vice-versa. In a well-developed analytical essay, examine the nature of Antony and Cleopatra's relationship insofar as it alternates from one extreme to another. What propels the characters to launch from one condition to another? How is hate assuaged and love incited? In what way are the two conditions similarly portrayed?

Essay Topic 2

Keeping in mind that a tragedy is a story of human action which, by the means of free will and fate, results in exceptional calamity and the death or disintegration of the life of an extraordinary man, analyze the relationship between the story of Antony and Cleopatra with the archetypal indications of tragedy in a well-thought-out essay. What indicates the story to be a tragedy? What is the significance of all the central elements of the story insofar as they relate to tragedy? In what does the play's tragedy specifically consist?

Essay Topic 3

A dominant means of exposition and plot movement in the play is through the unseen but contextually described battles. Being careful to read out from the play and not into the play, explicate the significance of the battles at Actium and Alexandria, analyzing in what ways the various victories and defeats occur and what the significance of each is. Who wins the battle? How does he win the battle? What are the consequences of the battle being won? What is revealed about the various involved characters through their reactions to the conclusions of the various battles?

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