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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. Who will bring the queen and princesses to the City of Ladies?

2. Who disputes the idea that women's weak bodies make them inferior and undermines moral qualities?

3. Who invents the arts of dying wool and weaving fine tapestries?

4. Whose birth and life does Erythrea foretell?

5. Who prophesies that the King of Thuringia will receive a vision if he remains chaste on his wedding night?

Short Essay Questions

1. How will the three ladies help Christine build the City of Ladies?

2. Once the buildings are finished, what does Rectitude tell Christine?

3. Describe Christine's opinion about being female before the three ladies appear to her, and explain why she feels this way.

4. Describe Almathea's interactions with King Tarquin in Rome.

5. How does Reason define good judgment?

6. Who are the Amazons, and how do they live?

7. When Christine asks if marriage is unbearable because women are impossible to live with, how does Rectitude respond?

8. In Section 1, Parts 28-36, what allusions to Greek and Roman mythology does Reason make?

9. Name and describe two stories that Reason tells to dispute the claim that women's weak bodies make them inferior and undermine moral qualities.

10. Who are the three ladies that appear to Christine, and why do they visit her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is foreshadowing used in "The Book of the City of Ladies"? Choose one major instance of foreshadowing and follow it through the book, finishing with how the event is fulfilled.

Essay Topic 2

What are the misconceptions Christine mentions about women, and how do Reason, Rectitude, and Justice dispute these?

Essay Topic 3

Investigate "The Book of the City of Ladies" as a feminist novel. How does it adhere to and differ from the typical feminist novel? What changes could be made to mark it more clearly as a feminist novel? What changes could be made to prevent critics from classifying the novel as a feminist novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,032 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample