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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. Why does Gratiano not attend the masquerade?

2. Why does Shylock hate Antonio?

3. What reason does the guest at Belmont give for his choice of caskets?

4. Why does Bassanio need to borrow something from Antonio at the beginning of the book?

5. What does Lorenzo apologize for when he arrives at the masquerade?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Gratiano decide to not attend the masquerade he has been looking forward to?

2. How has Portia felt about some of her past suitors?

3. Why does Shylock hate Antonio?

4. What and how does Antonio compare life on earth to while he is speaking to Gratiano?

5. What does the letter Jessica wrote to Lorenzo say?

6. What does Shylock ask for if Antonio defaults on the loan for Bassanio?

7. What does Jessica ask Launcelot to do before he leaves Venice?

8. What must a suitor do in order to win Portia's hand in marriage?

9. What do the inscriptions on each of the caskets say?

10. What does Launcelot do when he sees his father on the streets?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Love is a theme that is displayed by a few different relationships. Choose two of these relationships and compare and contrast these relationships with each other.

Essay Topic 2

Friendship is a strong theme throughout the play. Where are some places that this theme appears, and how do the characters touched by it react? How do certain friendships change over the course of the play, and what causes these changes?

Essay Topic 3

Valor was a theme of this play that is very important to many of the characters involved. Where does this theme of valor present itself and how do these occurrences affect the characters involved in those scenes?

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This section contains 734 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample