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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. When Claire becomes frustrated with Elizabeth, what does Claire want to do?

2. What does Harry help Hattie to do when he returns during the second part of Act 1?

3. Why is Claire astonished when she enters the greenhouse during the second part of Act 1?

4. What does Claire say after Elizabeth exits?

5. In the second part of Act 1, who enters after Harry exits?

Short Essay Questions

1. Following the exchanges between Claire, Adelaide, and Harry, what does Claire do and how do other characters respond?

2. At the end of the play, Claire has lapsed into madness. Why does the playwright choose to end with Claire singing the verses to a religious hymn?

3. Why is Anthony upset when Dick rushes into the greenhouse for shelter?

4. Following Tom's rejection of her advances in the tower room, what does Claire do?

5. When the curtain opens for the second time in Act 1, what is the setting?

6. What is Anthony doing when the curtain opens for the second time in Act 1?

7. What does Harry realize when Claire runs to Dick?

8. Why is Claire angry about Tom's declaration?

9. What character is onstage alone at the beginning of Act 2, and which two characters join the first character?

10. What is the significance of the plant being called "The Breath of Life," and what is the symbolic importance of the act of blooming?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How are light and sound used to forward the plot and atmosphere of "The Verge"?

Essay Topic 2

Given Claire's disdain for traditional womanly roles such as being a good wife, a loving mother, or a proper hostess, what values might she admire in a woman and aspire to for herself? How do these values uphold the general tone of the play in which Claire's unrest represents the struggles of women in the early days of the Women's Movement?

Essay Topic 3

What Victorian values are represented by Harry and Adelaide in the play? Why are these values so distasteful to Claire?

(see the answer keys)

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