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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. Where is Pompey's house that serves as the setting for the beginning of Act 2?

2. What of Cleopatra's does Antony say repays him for the loss at Actium?

3. What, according to Enobarbus, ails Lepidus after the meeting with Pompey?

4. Towards where do the ships of the defeated flee?

5. To what does Antony challenge Caesar in his letter, read at the beginning of Act 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do his companions react to Antony's speeches in Act 4, Scene 2?

2. For what reasons are tensions brewing between Antony and Caesar in Act 3, Scene 4?

3. How does Menas propose to make Pompey the ruler of the world?

4. For what reason does Mecaenas imply that striking Antony while the beleaguered triumvir is in his rage is strategically sound

5. What characterizes the responses by Antony's subordinates to his announcement that he will fight Caesar by sea at Actium?

6. Why does Enobarbus tell Menas that that which has caused amity between Caesar and Antony will likewise "prove the immediate author of their variance"?

7. For what reason does Cleopatra fly into a rage in the fifth scene of the second act?

8. What characterizes the reports that the messenger gives to Cleopatra of Octavia?

9. Under what condition would Caesar grant lands in Sicily to Mark Antony?

10. For what reason does Antony spurn the news that has come from Rome at the play's beginning?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As Antony's rival, Octavius Caesar plays a vital role in the tragic story of Antony and Cleopatra. As the story's external antagonist, he helps to propel the action of the story. In a thoughtful essay, analyze the character of Caesar, being sure to contrast him with Mark Antony but nonetheless retaining focus on Caesar himself. What are his principal traits as a character? What are his motivations? How does he treat other characters in the story? What worldview does Caesar represent? How does Caesar correspond to a changing world dynamic?

Essay Topic 2

Although the external conflict with Caesar is what ostensibly brings Mark Antony to his fate, it is only as a result of Antony's failure to overcome the internal conflict between his desire for Cleopatra and his right reason that the conflict comes about. In a thoughtful essay, analyze the causes, events, and consequences of this internal conflict as it develops throughout the story. In what does the conflict consist? What actions are characteristic of the conflict? How does the conflict move the story's events? What commentaries are given on the conflict, and what insights are provided by characters other than Cleopatra and Antony? How is the conflict resolved? What affects the resolution of the conflict?

Essay Topic 3

A dominant means of exposition and plot movement in the play is through the unseen but contextually described battles. Being careful to read out from the play and not into the play, explicate the significance of the battles at Actium and Alexandria, analyzing in what ways the various victories and defeats occur and what the significance of each is. Who wins the battle? How does he win the battle? What are the consequences of the battle being won? What is revealed about the various involved characters through their reactions to the conclusions of the various battles?

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