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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. Why can't the second house guest enter the greenhouse?

2. What does Claire say after Elizabeth exits?

3. Which is the best description of Hattie?

4. What are Anthony's specific instructions?

5. Why didn't Anthony answer the buzz from Harry?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Describe what the audience sees when the curtain first opens in Act 1.

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

4. At the end of Act 2, what does Claire ask of Dick while they embrace?

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

6. What are the names and conditions of the two special plants in the greenhouse?

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

8. What is Dr. Emmons' diagnosis and recommendation regarding Claire?

9. What does Harry tell Claire he plans to do regarding her mental health?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Susan Glaspell would have been a contemporary of Claire's. For what possible reason or reasons did the playwright choose madness as the means for Claire to find freedom and peace?

Essay Topic 2

Research and discuss the historical context of this play. What rights were denied to women at the time, and what rights or choices did some women of the time seek to gain?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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