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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. Which character is not killed by Hamlet?

2. What does Petruchio declare he will do if he does not wed Katharine by Sunday?

3. What does the King of France suspect Bertrand of in All's Well That Ends Well?

4. In All's Well That Ends Well, what is Helena's father's profession?

5. In Comedy of Errors, where do the twins of Syracuse seek shelter in Ephesus?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Romeo and Juliet's meeting and courtship.

2. Why does the Duke of Vienna give up power at the beginning of Measure for Measure?

3. How does Timon of Athens lose faith in mankind?

4. What challenge does Bertram make to Helena in All's Well That Ends Well?

5. How does Helena become betrothed to Bertram in the beginning of All's Well That Ends Well?

6. Why cannot Bianca get married in Taming of the Shrew?

7. How is the opening of Twelfth Night similar to the story that begins Comedy of Errors?

8. Why can Orsino not woo Olivia successfully in Twelfth Night?

9. How are both twins married at the end of Twelfth Night?

10. How is Angelo corrupted in Measure for Measure?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tales from Shakespeare translates the plays of William Shakespeare into a series of twenty stories intended for children. In this process, Charles Lamb has kept some of the more adult themes that were present in the plays. Write an essay in three parts dealing with the prevalence of adult themes in the collection:

Part 1) In comedies like The Winter's Tale and Much Ado About Nothing and tragedies like Othello, Shakespeare deals with infidelity and mistrust between lovers. How do these themes manifest themselves? Which characters suffer as a result, and what is learned from this painful experience?

Part 2) In King Lear and Hamlet, in particular, Shakespeare deals with the duty a child owes his or her parents. Discuss the strained relationships at the center of these stories. What sense of neglect or betrayal exists in them? How are these relationships more intense forms of everyday struggles?

Part 3) Shakespeare deals fairly unsparingly with intolerance in The Merchant of Venice and Othello. What types of intolerance are discussed in these stories? Which characters subjugate which? What is learned about this type of racial and religious intolerance over the course of the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Shakespeare's comedies are driven often by a sense of confusion and mistaken identity. People are not who they appear to be. In an essay, compare three comedies that make frequent use of mistaken identity to drive the plot. Is the confusion manufactured or accidental? Does it cause pain to anyone involved? How is it resolved, and are all the mysteries solved?

Part 1) Much Ado About Nothing

Part 2) Comedy of Errors

Part 3) Twelfth Night

(see the answer keys)

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