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

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

3. At the beginning of King Lear, Cordelia says she loves her father to what extent?

4. Why does the French duke of As You Like It move to Arden?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How is Paulita saved from death at a young age in The Winter's Tale?

3. How does Oliver try to kill Orlando in As You Like It?

4. How does Prospero find Ariel in The Tempest?

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

6. How does Proteus betray his friend Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona?

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

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

9. In The Tempest, how does Prospero bring his enemies to the island?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

In much of Shakespeare's canon, death is not necessarily a complete end to an individual's influence over human events. Using The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, and Macbeth as subjects, write an essay discussing the role of ghosts and reincarnation in Shakespeare. Who returns to the realm of the living after death? When these characters return, how do they affect the world of the living? What is the nature of this return?

Essay Topic 3

In much of Shakespeare's writing, the natural and the supernatural interact, with mysticism coloring and driving the course of human events. Write an essay about three such instances, discussing the function and form of supernatural events:

Part 1) What is the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream before the introduction of the fairy world? How do the fairies affect the human world? Is this effect intentional or incidental to their business? Discuss how the events of this fairy world color the events of the Athenian youths.

Part 2) How does the realm of magic come into play in The Tempest? Who is reacting and fighting against magic, and who is controlling it? Discuss the way magic is used in the narrative as a driver of story. What magical figures are central to this story, and what specific actions do they undertake?

Part 3) What do the witches of Macbeth represent? How are they catalysts for the action, driving human interaction and rash action? Chart their appearances throughout the story. What promises do they make to the main character, and how do these promises prove false in the end?

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