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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. How does Bloom characterize the character of Richard III?

2. What kinds of interpretations of "Midsummer Night's Dream" does Bloom say he resents?

3. How does Bloom characterize Richard II's metaphors?

4. How does Shakespeare use "As You Like It" to comment on his own politics?

5. Who saves "Two Gentlemen of Verona", in Bloom's opinion?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does "Romeo and Juliet" prefigure, in Bloom's interpretation?

2. What does Bloom say distinguished Faulconbridge among Shakespeare's characters?

3. What similarity does Bloom say there is between "Twelfth Night" and a Ben Jonson play?

4. What is Marlowe's influence on "Titus Andronicus"?

5. Who are the prominent critics Bloom cites as the most influential critics of Shakespeare?

6. How does Bloom say Shakespeare confronts the viewer's personality in "Comedy of Errors"?

7. What step does Bloom say Shakespeare took, with "The Merchant of Venice", beyond Marlowe's style?

8. What was Nietzsche's influence on Bloom's view of Shakespeare?

9. What does Bloom say is the main action of "Two Gentlemen of Verona"?

10. What play does Bloom say influenced Shakespeare's "Henry VI"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Bloom's critical perspective. What matters to him, and what parts of Shakespeare's plays, and the commentary on them, is uninteresting? How does he justify his focus?

Essay Topic 2

How useful is the categorical breakdown Bloom uses--histories, comedies, tragedies, problem plays, etc.? Is there too much overlap between plays for these terms to be useful? What use does this schema of categorization have?

Essay Topic 3

Bloom credits Shakespeare with defining the interior development that we take as emblematic of modernity. Has anything happened, in art or in human culture, that has invented a different kind of human being, or invented different ways of being human since Shakespeare?

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This section contains 698 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample