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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. Guildenstern is aware that the game defies _________________________.
(a) The law of probability
(b) The law of geometry
(c) The law of the land
(d) The law of gravity

2. Who are the well-dressed Elizabethan gentlemen at the opening of the play?
(a) Procter and Gamble
(b) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
(c) Hamlet and Horatio
(d) Claudius and Polonius

3. What is the ridiculous conversation Rosencrantz initiates about fingernails and beards?
(a) Whether they grow at the same rate
(b) Whether they should be worn long or short
(c) Whether they grow before birth and after death
(d) Whether they are like toenails

4. What does Guildenstern mean when he says he is afraid, too?
(a) He is afraid that he has run out of coins.
(b) He is afraid that the weather is causing the results.
(c) He is afraid that someone is coming.
(d) He is afraid that it really is his day.

5. What is the Player's reaction when Guildenstern says he may be able to use his influence at the court to get them shows?
(a) The Player runs away.
(b) The Player doubts his word.
(c) The Player offers to put on a free show for them.
(d) The Player falls at his feet.

Short Answer Questions

1. After everyone else has left the stage, how does the speech of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern change?

2. When Rosencrantz collects the coin, why does he say Guildenstern was lucky?

3. How are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern identified in Stoppard's script?

4. How many times does Rosencrantz say he has won the game?

5. Why is the Player so happy to see the two men?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Guildenstern's comment that he is afraid today is his day mean?

2. How does Guildenstern come across as the more intelligent of the two men?

3. Guildenstern asks Rosencrantz if he appears to be contradicting himself. What is Rosencrantz's odd reply?

4. What type of show does the Player attempt to offer Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

5. Throughout the play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern never leave the stage. What stops them from following the Queen's attendants to go find Hamlet?

6. Trying to make sense of their situation, to what does Guildenstern think back?

7. Why do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern speak differently to Claudius and Gertrude?

8. How does Guildenstern test the oddity of the coin game?

9. Describe the somewhat bizarre entrance of Hamlet and Ophelia.

10. Why is Guildenstern so repulsed by the Player's immoral suggestions for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

(see the answer keys)

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