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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. Who does the Third Tempter represent?
(a) English Merchants.
(b) The King.
(c) The People of Canterbury.
(d) English barons.

2. What does the Messenger call the relationship between the King and the Archbishop?
(a) A violent affair.
(b) A patched-up affair.
(c) A peaceful affair.
(d) A silly affair.

3. What is the feeling of the general public in regard to the Archbishop's return?
(a) Apprehension.
(b) Indifference.
(c) Fear.
(d) Enthusiasm.

4. Finish the thought of the First Tempter: "A man will often love what he ______."
(a) Misses.
(b) Sees.
(c) Spurns.
(d) Hates.

5. What is the first word that Becket speaks on his first entrance?
(a) Stay.
(b) Peace.
(c) No.
(d) Wait.

Short Answer Questions

1. "The wheel" is spoken of time and time again. In one instance Becket says that "Only the fool, fixed in his folly, may think he can turn the wheel on which he turns." What is the idea of a wheel supposed to symbolize?

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

3. What character(s) opens the play with the first monologue?

4. What ruler of England does the Second Priest refer to as "the stubborn King?"

5. What does the First Priest compare the women of Canterbury to?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Becket see as being ironic about the peace God offered?

3. What does Becket decide to do by the end of Part I?

4. Looking at the Interlude, how was the Fourth Tempter successful? How was he unsuccessful in his aims?

5. Why does the Chorus fear the "love of God?"

6. What is a literary tool that Becket uses in writing the interlude?

7. Why might Becket pointedly ask the congregation to remember his words?

8. What are the tactics that Eliot writes into the speech of the Second Knight to persuade the audience to see their point of view?

9. What is one of the more specific crimes the Knights bring up in their accusations?

10. Describe how the town of Canterbury feels about Becket's return and why.

(see the answer keys)

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