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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. Which god does Ajax ask for help in the first part of the play?

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

3. Tecmessa and Ajax's son leave the stage when Ajax shuts himself into what?

4. How does Athena first refer to Odysseus?

5. Where is Odysseus when Athena appears to him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the Chorus believe that Ajax would be better off dead?

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

3. Where, and why, does Tecmessa say that Ajax collapsed?

4. What does Teucer tell Tecmessa to do with Ajax's body, after he places Eurysaces besides the body?

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

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

7. What does Tecmessa think that Menelaus and Agamemnon will regret?

8. Who goes in search of Ajax in Part 3?

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

10. Why would Sophocles have the Chorus enter, in Part 4, complaining?

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

What is the symbolism of armor and swords in the play? Use examples from the play to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

What is the Chorus? What is the purpose of the Chorus in this play? Use examples from the play to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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