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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the First Priest compare the women of Canterbury to?
(a) Worms in the belly.
(b) Chickens in a coop.
(c) Frogs in the treetops.
(d) Horses in the stalls.

2. What ruler of England does the Second Priest refer to as "the stubborn King?"
(a) Richard I.
(b) James I.
(c) Edward III.
(d) Henry II.

3. What does Beckett claim the Fourth Tempter offers?
(a) Dreams to Damnation.
(b) An End to Suffering.
(c) Promises of Nothing.
(d) Hopes that Die.

4. What is not one of the ways the Chorus, the priests and the Tempters describe an unexpected death?
(a) Slipping on a step.
(b) Attacked by dogs.
(c) Taking a shock to the skull.
(d) Drowning in a ditch.

5. According to the information in the opening monologue, how many years have passed since the Archbishop has left the city?
(a) Seven.
(b) Twelve.
(c) Five.
(d) Twenty.

Short Answer Questions

1. What idea does the Fourth Tempter repeat that Beckett voiced on his first entrance?

2. What does Becket call "the springtime fancy?"

3. How does the structure of the dialogue change during Becket's first temptation?

4. In what city of England does the story take place?

5. What is the first idea that Becket relates to his audience and what does he insist that the Chorus "know and do not know?"

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the Priests continually attempt to save Becket from the Knights even after orders from him to allow fate to take its course?

2. What is the initial and more general accusation the Knights' hold against the Archbishop?

3. How does the Chorus perceive the actions of the play and its part in it?

4. How does Becket believe man can "mourn and rejoice at once for the same reason?"

5. What is the opinion of the Messenger of the relationship between the King and the Archbishop?

6. According to Becket, what did God mean when he told his disciples "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."

7. What is a method that Becket uses to outline his sermon in the Interlude?

8. What does the First Tempter use to entice Thomas Becket?

9. What is the meaning of the urgency behind the Knight's demands upon entering the scene?

10. Why is it that Becket believes a martyr is never an accident?

(see the answer keys)

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