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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. In The Winter's Tale, what does Leontes want his counselors to ask the oracle at Delphos?

2. Where do Belarius and her two brothers, Polydore and Cadwal, live?

3. What is the root of Oberon and Titania's feud in A Midsummer Night's Dream?

4. At the end of Much Ado About Nothing, Hero pretends to be her own what?

5. What does Hermione disguise herself as at the end of The Winter's Tale?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the end of As You Like It, what happy news arrives concerning the banished duke?

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

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

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

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

6. How does Leontes respond to his new daughter at the beginning of The Winter's Tale?

7. How does Lady Macbeth convince Macbeth to kill Duncan?

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

9. Who does Valentine offer Silvia to Proteus at the end of Two Gentlemen of Verona?

10. How does Prospero find Ariel in The Tempest?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many Shakespearean stories involve an individual attempting to subvert a social structure: Macbeth, Othello, Shylock, Hamlet, Katharine. Write an essay about three such characters and discuss how this attempt progresses in the story. Why does this character choose to subvert this system? What does he or she want to achieve, and what subversive actions does he or she take? How does this character end up as a result?

Essay Topic 2

The tragic figure of Shakespeare's stories suffer because they make rash decisions without considering the full ramifications of their actions. Write an essay discussing three tragic figures from the collection and the decisions they make. What drives the most destructive of these choices? What does the character want to accomplish, and what does he or she not consider regarding the ramifications of these choices? How do these choices undo this character, and what is Shakespeare saying about the human condition with this reversal?

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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