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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Bloom say he prefers for representations of Caliban?

2. How does Bloom characterize the Falstaff of "The Merry Wives of Windsor"?

3. How does the porter describe the effects of alcohol?

4. What does Bloom say is the center of "The Tempest'?

5. How does Bloom characterize Theseus in "Two Noble Kinsmen"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the role of love in "King Lear", according to Bloom?

2. What does Bloom say is the heart of "The Tempest"?

3. How does Bloom characterize the play "Pericles"?

4. Where does Bloom see comedy in "Antony and Cleopatra"?

5. What does Bloom say is the political subtext of "Troilus and Cressida"?

6. What parallel does Bloom describe between characters Henry V and Alexander the Great?

7. What is the moral of "Measure for Measure", in Bloom's account?

8. Why does Bloom say "Timon of Athens" was not performed in Shakespeare's lifetime?

9. What does Bloom say makes "Hamlet" so fascinating?

10. What does Bloom say was Shakespeare's role in "Two Noble Kinsmen"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a character sketch of the Nietzsche whom Bloom describes as a presence in Shakespeare's plays. How does Bloom delineate Nietzsche's philosophy and his character?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Bloom's critical perspective. What matters to him, and what parts of Shakespeare's plays, and the commentary on them, is uninteresting? How does he justify his focus?

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