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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. During Ajax's long speech in Part II, what does he feel has been destroyed?

2. What is the antistrophe?

3. What will happen to Ajax's wife if he dies?

4. Who are the Greeks trying to rescue in this war?

5. What does Ajax compare living without honor to?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the tone of Ajax's long speech about his honor in Part 2?

2. Who does the Chorus condemn, after Ajax has died, and why is the Chorus condemning them?

3. Why does Ajax list the ways he thinks his honor has been destroyed?

4. How does Ajax plan to use the sword to kill himself?

5. What is the Chorus?

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

7. According to Teucer, why did Ajax join the Greeks in the Trojan War, and what effect does that have?

8. What does Teucer, after seeing Ajax's dead body, say his father will do?

9. Ajax says that the rules of nature must be obeyed, and so must what?

10. What does Ajax tell Eurysaces when he is brought out of hiding by his mother and two attendants?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does Telamon have in the play? What function does she serve in it, for Ajax? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Does Ajax deserve his fate? Why or why not? Use examples from the play to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss whether you agree or disagree, and why, with the following statement: The play just peters out at the end without a true ending.

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