View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the abbess intend to do when she confronts the wayward nun?

2. How does Frederigo waste his fortune?

3. When Rabatta and Bondone meet on the road to Florence, what happens to cause them to seek shelter?

4. What is Peronella's occupation?

5. When Gualtieri finally marries, what does he decide to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Peronella turn the situation around and get her husband inside the barrel.

2. Besides his homely countenance, describe what Messer Forese da Rabatta is noted for.

3. Explain the kind of work done by another ugly man by the name of Giotto di Bondone.

4. How does Don Gianni di Barolo have his way with the wife of Pietro da Tresanti while Pietro looks on?

5. How does the nun know that the abbess cannot punish her?

6. What plan does Caterina devise in order to be with Ricciardo?

7. When two of Brother Onion's friends see him in the village proclaiming he will show a feather from the angel Gabriel, what do they plan to do?

8. Why do several nuns come to the Abbess' door in the middle of the night?

9. What is the result of a man sneaking into an Abbess' cell after he has fallen in love with her?

10. When collecting alms from a nearby village, what does Brother Onion use to get the people to give freely?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Sexuality in THE DECAMERON. Select three examples of sexual behavior related in the tales told in THE DECAMERON. Discuss the manner in which these are presented made quite clear without going into graphic detail.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Man's Desire to Return from the Dead. In your essay point out that one reason for returning from the dead is to tell the living what it is like on the other side. Compare the pact made by Tingoccio Mini and Meuccio di Tura with the Twentieth Century magician, Harry Houdini who made a similar promise. Conclude with the fact that there is no evidence that anyone has ever succeeded in this return.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, The Value of Quick Thinking. Find at least two examples of how a person's quick thinking in THE DECAMERON averted a serious complication. Discuss the ability to think quickly in compromising situations and give an example or two of how it might work in a situation you set up for purposes of this essay.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 812 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample