View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did "Titus Andronicus" accomplish for Shakespeare, according to Bloom?

2. What does Bloom say Samuel Johnson dreaded to see in Shakespeare's plays?

3. To what later character does Bloom connect Brutus from "Julius Caesar"?

4. Who is Berowne pitted against in "Love's Labor's Lost"?

5. Who dominates the "The Merchant of Venice", according to Bloom?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Marlowe's influence on "Titus Andronicus"?

2. How does Bloom say Shakespeare confronts the viewer's personality in "Comedy of Errors"?

3. What does Bloom say is the true subject of "Julius Caesar"?

4. What does Bloom say distinguished Faulconbridge among Shakespeare's characters?

5. How does Bloom characterize "Twelfth Night"?

6. What makes Rosalind a great character in "As You Like It"?

7. What is Bloom's estimation of "Richard III"?

8. What does "Romeo and Juliet" prefigure, in Bloom's interpretation?

9. Who are the prominent critics Bloom cites as the most influential critics of Shakespeare?

10. How does Bloom say the relationship between men and women 'Love's Labor's Lost' is emblematic of the relations between the sexes in other plays?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

Essay Topic 2

Is Shakespeare an everyman, whose talents are universal, or is he a unique individual whose gifts will never be repeated? Is he a type or a hero? How does Bloom describe him? How do you see him, as a result of reading this book?

Essay Topic 3

What is the role of society in Shakespeare's writing, and what is its role in Bloom's thinking? Is society meant to be entered, resisted, overcome, evaded? How do Shakespeare and Bloom understand the imaginative person's place in society?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 700 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample