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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 comes back to Aiaia with Telegonus after he leaves Ithaca?

2. What does Odysseus ask Telemachus to do with the slave girls who had laid with the suitors?

3. Who was it that first suggested Penelope and Telemachus should come back to Aiaia?

4. What does Telemachus actually do with the slave girls who had laid with the suitors?

5. How does Circe feel after defeating Scylla?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Circe's most significant act of transformation, which she preforms on herself in Chapter 27, meant to achieve?

2. What does Circe suspect the gods of doing to torment her during childbirth?

3. What does Circe teach Penelope before she and Telemachus set off on their journey to find Scylla?

4. What does Odysseus learn through the prophecy about how he will die?

5. In Chapter 22, what does Telemachus tell Circe he and his mother, Penelope, had to endure while Odysseus was away at the wars?

6. What does Penelope teach Telegonus to do that he had never been able to do before?

7. What does Circe think Athena must feel when her son Telegonus says he will go to Italy in Telemachus's place?

8. In Chapter 24, why do Telemachus and Penelope need some time to talk and walk alone?

9. Which god comes to Aiaia to give a prophecy about Odysseus to Circe, and what does she tell him?

10. Who does Telegonus bring back to Aiaia with him after visiting Ithaca?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing how both Aetees's and Helios's indifference to Circe contributes to her own expectations for how she deserves to be treated by other men she meets later in life.

Essay Topic 2

After some initial and understandable awkwardness, Circe and Penelope, Odysseus's wife, cultivate something that approaches affection and friendship. Write an essay comparing and contrasting Circe's and Penelope's traits, and explain why the two women were able to find common ground despite the difficulties of their connection.

Essay Topic 3

Circe's sister Pasiphae contrives deliberately to give birth to the monster, the Minotaur, and then insists Circe be the one to attend her at the birth. Why does Pasiphae do both of these things, and what does the Minotaur symbolize? Write an essay explaining your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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