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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Odysseus examining when Athena appears?
(a) The ground.
(b) The stars.
(c) The trees.
(d) The sky.

2. Which side is Ajax fighting on?
(a) Greek.
(b) Spartan.
(c) Menelian.
(d) Athenian.

3. When does honor first appear as a theme in the play?
(a) In the Chorus' last lines.
(b) In the Chorus' second lines.
(c) In the Chorus' first lines.
(d) In the Chorus' third lines.

4. What did Ajax do in the middle of the carnage that he wrought?
(a) Die.
(b) Sleep.
(c) Cry.
(d) Collapse.

5. What role does the discussion between Odysseus and Athena, at the beginning of the play, serve?
(a) As the climax.
(b) As the exposition.
(c) As the rising action.
(d) As the falling action.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Ajax's mother's name?

2. Who is the only warrior greater than Ajax?

3. What does Ajax tell his son that he must become?

4. How does Ajax's wife try to talk him out of killing himself?

5. What device is used, in Part II, to indicate that Ajax will die?

Short Essay Questions

1. Before he dies, what are some of the things that Ajax prays for?

2. What is the general purpose of a messenger in Classical Greek theater?

3. Why does Odysseus pity Ajax?

4. What does Ajax pray for before leaving the Chorus onstage?

5. When the Chorus unsuccessfully attempts to calm Ajax, what does Ajax bemoan?

6. What preparations did Ajax make to the sword so that he can use it to kill himself?

7. Why does Ajax tell the Chorus that he is prepared to make peace with Agamemnon and Menelaus?

8. What does the Chorus lament, now that Ajax is dead?

9. What does Ajax's betrayal earn him, according to Menelaus?

10. What does Agamemnon tell Teucer he had no right to do?

(see the answer keys)

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