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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 does Ghismunda do when she sees her father will not look for another husband for her?

2. Why is Masetto sleeping in the garden when the abbess finds him and begins to lust after him?

3. What is Monna Lisetta's character like?

4. Who determines who will tell the stories on each successive night?

5. Where does Ser Ciappelletto find lodging in Burgundy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Alatiel after she is taken to safety?

2. What do the village women tell Alibech after she explains how she put the devil back into hell with Rustico.

3. Why is it so easy for Berto della Massa to take on the persona of Brother Alberto, a minor friar?

4. How does Ghismunda end her life?

5. What ultimately happens after Ciappelletto dies?

6. What bothers Brother Alberto about one of the women who comes to him for confession?

7. What means of entertainment do the young people devise?

8. After becoming a widow shortly after her marriage, what does Ghismunda see her father, Tancredi, has no plans of doing?

9. How does Ciappelletto become aware of the brothers' situation?

10. What are the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Lorenzo, the lover of Isabetta?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Sexuality in THE DECAMERON. Select three examples of sexual behavior related in the tales told in THE DECAMERON. Discuss the manner in which these are presented made quite clear without going into graphic detail.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, The Absurdity of Applying Double Standards. Using the tale of the abbess who is caught with a man's pants on her head instead of her veil, write about applying double standards. Use both religious and political examples from the modern world as other examples in your essay.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, The Value of Quick Thinking. Find at least two examples of how a person's quick thinking in THE DECAMERON averted a serious complication. Discuss the ability to think quickly in compromising situations and give an example or two of how it might work in a situation you set up for purposes of this essay.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 742 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample