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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 darning socks in the opening scene of The Bald Soprano?

2. What does the fire chief have orders to do in The Bald Soprano?

3. Mr. Smith, in The Bald Soprano, notes that they always give the age of death of deceased persons, but not so of whom?

4. Who says, "times are bad. That's true all over. It's the same this year with business and agriculture as it is with fires, nothing is prospering"?

5. What does the maid enter to look for in the beginning of The Lesson?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss tension and satire thematically in The Bald Soprano.

2. Describe the distinguishing qualities of the set and the Smiths in The Bald Soprano.

3. How does the ending of The Lesson relate to the other plays' endings in the collection?

4. Discuss the differences between The Bald Soprano and the other plays in the collection.

5. What is Absurdism and how does it inhabit the four plays of the book?

6. What do the Smiths and Martins do after the fire chief has left?

7. Describe the professor's discourse on philology.

8. Why are the initial stage directions atypical in The Lesson?

9. What does the maid interrupt the professor and pupil for?

10. What happens in the beginning of The Lesson? What is the setting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare the settings of The Bald Soprano and The Chairs. How are they similar? How are they different? What symbols or motifs exist in each?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the Nazi armband in the play, The Lesson. What is the significance of this? How does its use break from typical absurdist style?

Essay Topic 3

Compare the characters of the professor in The Lesson to the old man in The Chairs. What similarities do they share? What differences?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 902 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample