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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 was the subject of much of Oscar Wilde's correspondence in the period when he was writing the Ballad of Reading Gaol?
(a) His finances.
(b) His reunion with his lover.
(c) Executing his wife's parents' estate.
(d) The fate of his illegitimate children.

2. Where does Oscar Wilde go after his first trial?
(a) He returned to Ireland.
(b) He fled from London to Paris.
(c) He traveled to America to lecture.
(d) He was arrested and taken to prison.

3. What is the title Oscar Wilde gave to "The Duchess of Padua" when he produced it anonymously?
(a) "Guido Ferranti."
(b) "Lady Windermere's Fan."
(c) "The Importance of Being Earnest."
(d) "The Critic as Artist."

4. What was the punishment for homosexuality in England in the late 1800s?
(a) Flogging.
(b) Hanging.
(c) Imprisonment.
(d) Fines.

5. Where did Oscar Wilde take a rest cure?
(a) Bad Homburg.
(b) Aix.
(c) Chamonix.
(d) Berlin.

Short Answer Questions

1. To whom did the Marquis of Queensberry leave a large inheritance?

2. How did prison affect Oscar Wilde's view of human nature?

3. Where did Oscar Wilde go for homosexual sex?

4. Who was Lord Alfred Douglas' father?

5. How did Oscar Wilde come across at his first trial?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Oscar Wilde's allowance from his mother after he leaves prison?

2. How is "The Picture of Dorian Gray" seen as a work about homosexuality?

3. What is the plot of Oscar Wilde's novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"?

4. What happened when Oscar Wilde sued his lover's father, Lord Queensberry, for libel?

5. Were Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, faithful to each other?

6. What disturbing incidents does Oscar Wilde witness before leaving prison?

7. Describe the conditions under which Oscar Wilde was writing "The Importance of Being Earnest."

8. How do conditions change for Oscar Wilde when Major Nelson takes over at Reading jail?

9. How did Lord Alfred Douglas' father feel about his son's relationship with Oscar Wilde?

10. How did the English see the crime of sodomy?

(see the answer keys)

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