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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. In what two locations does the play take place?

2. What article of clothing does Bannett mention specifically when describing Tzara to Carr?

3. In this section Carr comments that is entirely reasonable for the exploited classes of Russia to turn against whom?

4. Which of the following Dada artists in not mentioned by mentioned by Carr in his monologue?

5. The Zimmerwaldists believe the workers of the world need to oppose what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Joyce's business at the house at the end of the play?

2. What request is made of Carr by the British government at the end of the scene?

3. What final words of wisdom does Carr offer at the end of the play?

4. What quandary is Carr facing in this section?

5. How did Tristan Tzara discover the word Dada?

6. How does Henry Carr change at the end of his monologue?

7. What caveat does Cecily have for loving Carr/Tristan?

8. What new revelation regarding Bennett is revealed in the final moments of the play?

9. How does Carr explain Tzara's appearance?

10. How is Lenin devastated and frustrated listening to a Beethoven symphony?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Travesties is a homage and subversion of Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest. He steals certain characters and scenes outright and transposes them to a different era. Write an essay about the connection between these two plays in three parts:

Part 1) The two love interests in The Importance of Being Earnest are also called Cecily and Gwendolen. They, too, have odd caveats for their love. What conditions do the two women give in this play regarding their hearts and how do they reflect a world in flux?

Part 2) Mistaken identity plays a major role in Wilde's farce like in Stoppard's. Why do characters in Travesties assume false identities? What is the meaning of the switched folders? How do both represent something more political than personal?

Part 3) Earnest is a product of the Victorian Era, an era of certitude and stricture. Travesties transposes this story to the Edwardian era, when certainty died in the trenches. How does Stoppard undermine Wilde's pat farce injecting it with the madness of the First World War?

Essay Topic 2

In the confusion and madness of 1917, the characters of Travesties seem to find their only solace in art. Write an essay examining art as a constant, an anchor that secures individuals buffeted by war and revolution. Focusing on three endeavors in the play, describe the character attitude toward them. Why do they undertake them? What importance do they serve in the mad world of the play?

Part 1) Tristan Tzara and his poetry.

Part 2) James Joyce and Ulysses.

Part 3) Henry Carr and The Importance of Being Earnest?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the character of Bennett. He is far an away the most cultivated and best-informed person in the play, but he is a manservant. Stoppard, in his cast notes, says that he should be "quite a weighty presence" (vii). What is Bennett's function int he script at the beginning of the play? How does Carr's leaving him in charge of the consulate affect Lenin's situation? What new revelations about his character are revealed in the final moments of the play?

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