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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. What does Ajax compare living without honor to?

2. Who does Ajax tell Athena that he thinks he has captured, and will torture?

3. What role does the discussion between Odysseus and Athena, at the beginning of the play, serve?

4. Who does Ajax first ask to kill him to put him out of his misery?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How, and why, does Athena protect Odysseus when she brings Ajax out of his tent?

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

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

4. What is the purpose of the initial conversation between Odysseus and Athena?

5. What do Menelaus and Teucer use to support their positions about Ajax's burial?

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

7. What does Menelaus threaten Teucer with, if Teucer disobeys?

8. What is a soliloquy?

9. What does Ajax do with his armor, and why?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Cite examples from the play to support your answer to the following question: How does this play portray the relationship between the gods and man?

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.

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This section contains 636 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample