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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 poisoned Regan?

2. Edgar stops in the middle of what area when he tells Gloucester that they are on a cliff?

3. The stage directions have the battle between the English and the French taking place where?

4. Cornwall says that Gloucester's villainy may be the cause of who's villainy?

5. Who was captured by the English army?

Short Essay Questions

1. Although Lear does not want to see Cordelia, what is Cordelia's goal?

2. How does Cornwall link the villainy in Edmund's family?

3. How does Edgar use his father's blindness to trick him?

4. When Goneril hears of Cornwall's death, what are her concerns?

5. Gloucester meets the news of Lear and Cordelia's capture with what?

6. What warning does Regan ask Oswald to give to Goneril?

7. Who opposes Albany's position with the King?

8. Albany already sympathizes with the King. What action by Goneril is likely to make him turn completely against her?

9. What caused Lear's madness?

10. What does Edgar mean when he says "Yet better thus, and known to be contemned, Than still contemned and flattered."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What character traits of King Lear appear in his daughters and how do these traits affect his relationships with his daughters? Use examples from the text to support your answers.

Essay Topic 2

What is the tone of the play's ending? Is the ending hopeful, dramatic, pessimistic, mysterious or something else? Why might Shakespeare have chosen to end the play in this manner? Please support your answer with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

How do the characters of Regan and Goneril change from the moment that they are first introduced until their deaths? Are their deaths just? Please support your answer with examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 500 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample