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

Short Answer Questions

1. How much money does Joyce request of Carr after the play for tickets?

2. In this section, Tzara tells Gwen that her most perfect attribute is her what?

3. What is the name of the man in whose house Lenin stay in Zurich?

4. Why does Cecily dislike Oscar WIlde?

5. What accessory does Lenin intend to wear as he steals out of Switzerland?

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

Tristan Tzara's hat is a central symbol of the play. From it is drawn, and its very significance seems to mystify Gwendolen and Henry Carr and James Joyce. Write an essay about the significance of the hat as a symbol. Who handles it besides Tzara and what surprises emerge from it? What role does it play in Tristan's wooing of Gwendolen? What does it represent in the world of the play?

Essay Topic 3

At the beginning of the play, Carr provides a long explanation of the events that are to progress. Throughout the monologue he has difficulty getting his facts straight. As related by Carr, many of the seemingly-absurd assertions later crop up in the play. In three parts, write about the way in which Stoppard brings these absurdities to life. Why do they initially seem impossible? How do they manifest themselves in the action later?

Part 1) Carr's description of Joyce vacillating between gregarious gentleman and horrid miser.

Part 2) Placing a bet on the success of Lenin.

Part 3) Lenin the Scandinavian.

(see the answer keys)

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