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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. After Tingoccio dies, what does he do that he had promised Meuccio in life?

2. Who are Calandrino, Bruno and Buffalmacco?

3. As they travel along, what do Rabatta and Bondone begin to do?

4. What warning does Don Gianni give the couple before he casts his spell?

5. What is Ricciardo's plan after Caterina makes her bed on the balcony?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

4. How does Calandrino learn that the magic has gone out of the rocks?

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

6. How does the affair between Caterina and Ricciardo work itself out?

7. Explain how Peronella gets away with having a lover.

8. What happens that Don Gianni declares has broken the spell to change Pietro's wife into a mare?

9. What unusual thing causes Peronella and her lover to look for a place to hide him?

10. What is the result of Frederigo's attempts to impress Monna Giovanna?

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, Attitudes About the Morality of the Clergy. In your essay point out from THE DECAMERON how it is assumed that many if not most of the clergy are morally remiss in having affairs. Compare this to modern times when clergy have been brought down because of their moral indiscretions.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Women as the Weaker Sex in THE DECAMERON. Use at least three different examples of how women are seen as inferior to men and more susceptible to moral transgression than men as seen in the book. Discuss how this idea not only plays out in the tales but also in the acceptance of the women gathered in the group of story tellers.

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)

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