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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What sort of characters are the women in A Children's Tragedy?
(a) Secondary characters.
(b) Cameos.
(c) Stock characters.
(d) Primary characters.

2. How wide is Moritz's knowledge of maturation?
(a) He knows more about sex than the rest of his class.
(b) He has already had sex.
(c) He has read a book with a sex scene.
(d) He is completely ignorant.

3. What fantasy does Wendla admit to having to Melchior?
(a) Having sex.
(b) Marrying Melchior.
(c) Running away.
(d) Being beaten.

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

5. Why does Wendla die?
(a) Abortion pills.
(b) She is taken into custody and dies in prison.
(c) Suicide.
(d) She is murdered to cover up her rape.

6. Who keeps Melchior from committing suicide?
(a) A masked man.
(b) Moritz.
(c) Wendla.
(d) Ernst.

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

8. In their first encounter, what question does Melchior pose to Wendla?
(a) He asks if she enjoys visiting poor people.
(b) He asks if she likes him.
(c) He asks if she believes in God.
(d) He asks if she understands sex.

9. With whom was Wedekind finding conflict while writing his play?
(a) His lover.
(b) His father.
(c) The government.
(d) His mother.

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

11. How do all the boys in Act 1, Scene 2 two know each other?
(a) They are all related to each other.
(b) Government-sanctioned parties.
(c) Church.
(d) School.

12. When was the play produced in America?
(a) 1927.
(b) 1917.
(c) 1907.
(d) 1897.

13. What do Melchior and Moritz talk about when they are alone in Act 1, Scene 2?
(a) Homework.
(b) God.
(c) Parents.
(d) Sex.

14. How many years after the initial publication was the play performed in America?
(a) 20.
(b) 25.
(c) It has never been produced in America.
(d) 35.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What is interesting about realism and expressionism in regards to this play?

3. How was the rape scene censored in reissues of A Children's Tragedy?

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

5. Where does Moritz sneak to in Act 1, Scene 4?

(see the answer keys)

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