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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. Why is King Lear dividing up his kingdom?

2. Which character concocts a devious plot to break up a marriage in Much Ado Ado Nothing?

3. Which of the following characters does not die at the end of King Lear?

4. What news does the wicked Queen tell the King at the beginning of Cymbeline?

5. Where does Camillo offer to marry Perdita and Florizel to avoid Leontes' wrath in The Winter's Tale?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are Cordelia and Lear reunited?

2. Why does Claudio think Hero is cheating on him in Much Ado About Nothing?

3. How does Posthumus return to Britain at the end of Cymbeline?

4. How does Valentine becomes the leader of bandits in Two Gentlemen of Verona?

5. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, how does Oberon change the hearts of the Athenian youths?

6. How do Antonio and Shylock lend money differently in Merchant of Venice?

7. How does Portia save Antonio's life in Merchant of Venice?

8. Why does Belarius think Imogen is dead in Cymbeline?

9. What bad decision does Antonio make regarding borrowing money in Merchant of Venice?

10. Why is Posthumus banished at the beginning of Cymbeline?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many of Shakespeare's stories take place in the court of ruling people. In such stories - like Cymbeline, Macbeth, King Lear, or Hamlet - the acquisition power is the driver of conflict. Write an essay charting the way power changes hands in three such stories. Who loses power who should control it? What usurper or group of usurpers takes power, and how is this unnatural acquisition reighted by the end of the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

In many of his stories, Shakespeare juxtaposes two individuals who are close either as siblings or dear friends. He juxtaposes them through their actions, which reveal character. Write an essay about three of the stories in the collection in which pairs of characters are juxtaposed. What actions does Shakespeare use to juxtapose these characters? What is revealed through this juxtaposition? Do the characters become more or less similar as the story continues?

Essay Topic 3

Tales from Shakespeare contains stories based on Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies. Write a three part essay, discussing the difference between Shakespearean tragedy and comedy, citing specific examples of each in the three sections:

Part 1) What features make a tragedy in Shakespeare? How do they almost always end? Discuss which components of narrative are always the same in a tragedy. What type of lesson does Shakespeare intend for the writer to take away from the experience? How does he impart these themes?

Part 2) How does a comedy progress? What is the traditional ending to a Shakespearean comedy? Discuss how a comedy develops differently from a tragedy, and what it relates about humanity. What parts of the human existence does Shakespeare omit in writing a comedy?

Part 3) Compare the experience of reading a comedy and tragedy? How do protagonists in each of these differ in terms of their objectives and dynamic nature? Discuss what the reader is supposed to sympathize with in each case.

(see the answer keys)

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