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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 has Claire delayed her flight back home?

2. At the end of the scene what doesn't Robert want Catherine to do?

3. Why can't Robert concentrate in the house?

4. What is the time period in Act 2, Scene 1?

5. What are the subjects of the proof?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Robert so excited about working?

2. What do Robert and Catherine decide to do for dinner?

3. How does Catherine react when Claire and Hal do not believe her?

4. Does Claire believe that Catherine wrote the proof? Why or why not?

5. How does Catherine get Hal to leave?

6. Why or why not does Catherine want to attend the University of Chicago?

7. Is Hal personally conflicted about taking the notebook?

8. Is Robert upset that Catherine plans to leave? Why or why not?

9. When did Catherine write the proof?

10. What does Claire think is the problem with mathematicians in emotional situations?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

PROOF is a play, not a novel, and is meant to be viewed and performed in front of an audience. Discuss the structure of the play and why or why not it is effective.

1.) What do you think an audience is meant to take away from the play? What major elements of the play make it different from a novel?

2.) Did you notice a difference between reading the play by yourself and hearing it read aloud?

3.) How do stage directions play a role in understanding the play?

Essay Topic 2

What are Catherine's arguments that she wrote the proof? What are Claire's arguments that she did not write the proof? Why is Hal skeptical? What is Catherine's explanation for her advanced understand of mathematics? At the climax of Act 1, Catherine tries to destroy the proof, though it is of extreme mathematical importance and she has poured her heart and soul into it. Why, at that point, is her only option to destroy it? Why does Claire stop her?

Essay Topic 3

While Hal is a mathematician and a doctoral candidate, he mishandles almost his entire relationship Catherine.

1.) Describe Hal and Catherine's relationship in chronological order, starting with their first meeting and moving through the end of Act 2.

2.) Does Hal really care for Catherine, or is he only interested in her proof?

3.) Could Hal's attraction to Catherine also be tangled up with his sorrow over Robert's death?

(see the answer keys)

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