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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. What are Trinculo, Stephano and Caliban arguing about in their drunken stupor?

2. What does Caliban ask Stephano to do?

3. What does Alonso wonder about when he sees that Trinculo, Stephano and Caliban are intoxicated?

4. Under what circumstances will Prospero curse Ferdinand's and Miranda's marriage?

5. What does Prospero tell the spirits to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What spirits does Prospero summon for the magical performance when he sees Ferdinand getting too close to Miranda?

2. How does Ariel instill remorse in some of the characters when he appears following the banquet?

3. How does a tempest begin with the Trinculo, Stephano and Caliban subplot?

4. In Prospero's soliloquy after the magical performance, what is the significance of his reference to the nature of being and the nature of life?

5. In Act V, Scene I, what is a clue that Antonio and Sebastian are not as repentant of their past misdeeds as Alonso?

6. How does Caliban reveal his humane side in Act III, Scene II?

7. How does Ariel meddle with the Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban trio in Scene II of Act III?

8. What does Prospero do following his revelation about the futility of revenge and his self realization?

9. How does Gonzalo's understanding about Antonio's and Sebastian's plan reveal a similarity between himself and Ferdinand and Miranda?

10. Who does Prospero refer to as "the rabble" prior to the magical performance with the dancing spirits?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the significance of the title "The Tempest"? What does it symbolize? Cite specific examples of how this symbolism is used in the play.

Essay Topic 2

Antonio used Prospero and took advantage of him fifteen years prior to the play in Milan. Can it be argued that Alonso was as much a victim of Antonio's manipulation as Prospero was? What about Sebastian? Support your argument with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

What is the purpose of the musical scenes in The Tempest? What do they do for the plot? The characters? The audience? Cite examples from the play and bear in mind Shakespeare's contemporary period.

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