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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happened to the play after it was first printed?
(a) It took years to produce in the complete form.
(b) There were mass book-burnings for the script.
(c) It was banned in Europe.
(d) It was produced immediately and became a huge hit.

2. How does Bentley describe Moritz and Melchior in relationship to each other?
(a) Extremely alike.
(b) The result of one person's love not being reciprocated.
(c) Complete opposites.
(d) A surrogate fatherly relationship.

3. What does Mrs. Bergmann wonder about Wendla in the first scene?
(a) She wonders what sort of mother Wendla will make.
(b) She wonders if Wendla is aware of her changing body.
(c) She wonders what Wendla will look like in a few years.
(d) She wonders if Wendla will survive her adolescence.

4. What form does the play evolve into?
(a) Experimental.
(b) Expressionism.
(c) Absurdism.
(d) Realism.

5. What theatrical genre is combined with tragedy as part of this play's complexity?
(a) Theater of the poor.
(b) Theater of cruelty.
(c) Comedy.
(d) Absurdism.

6. What are Melchior, Moritz, and the boys doing outside in Act 1, Scene 2?
(a) Singing.
(b) Digging holes.
(c) Studying.
(d) Playing.

7. In Act 1, Scene 2, what does Moritz dream about?
(a) Dying.
(b) Hell.
(c) Sex.
(d) God.

8. What is one of the first things presented in the introduction?
(a) A pie chart depicting the average number of sexually active teenagers.
(b) A graph showing the correlation between sexual activity and suicide.
(c) A timeline of the play's publication and productions.
(d) A timeline of Wedekind's life with emphasis on events that inspired A Children's Tragedy.

9. Why did Martha, after being punished for the ribbon, come back inside?
(a) She was lonely.
(b) She was too clothed for the heat.
(c) She was being chased by boys.
(d) She was naked and it was cold.

10. What does Wendla claim about the thoughts her mother finds offensive in the first scene?
(a) She says that she overhears her mother expressing these thoughts.
(b) She says she hears the girls at school expressing similar thoughts.
(c) She says her sister tells her these thoughts.
(d) She says they come to her at night.

11. What do the boys in Act 1, Scene 2 complain about?
(a) Girls.
(b) Parents.
(c) Homework.
(d) Church.

12. In the brief summary given in the introduction, what concept is Melchior struggling with?
(a) Nationality.
(b) Political unrest.
(c) Sexual preference.
(d) Morality.

13. How does Moritz react when being told about sex?
(a) He becomes aroused.
(b) He tries to argue with the points being made.
(c) He does not want to listen.
(d) He wants to know more.

14. Who wrote A Children's Tragedy?
(a) Peter DeBerg.
(b) Frank Wedekind.
(c) Bertolt Brecht.
(d) Georg Buchner.

15. What is Eros according to Bentley?
(a) Romantic love.
(b) An instinct for life.
(c) An instinct for death.
(d) Sexual love.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Bentley, what group of people does not like this play?

2. According to the summary, who is raped in A Children's Tragedy?

3. What is Wendla's mother doing to her daughter's dress in the beginning of the play?

4. Who does Bentley believe is the inspiration for the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Gabor?

5. Why does Wendla die?

(see the answer keys)

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