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

2. What literally are "wassails" as used by Caesar to describe Antony's behavior?

3. When does Caesar say he will attack after receiving Antony's challenge?

4. Who does Antony say is approaching the ports of Rome in the play's first act?

5. Who does Caesar say thrives in the idleness of the triumvirs?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reason does Cleopatra send Alexas to Italy?

2. What causes Antony to experience a dramatic change at the play's beginning?

3. For what reason does Ventidius claim he leaves some soldiering undone?

4. What good does Caesar say that Octavia's letters had done, regarding Antony?

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

6. How does Caesar instruct Thyreus to win Cleopatra from Antony?

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

8. What causes Antony to flee the battle of Actium?

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

10. What characterizes Antony's speech after Actium, before Cleopatra arrives, at the palace in Alexandria?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Keeping in mind that a tragedy is a story of human action which, by the means of free will and fate, results in exceptional calamity and the death or disintegration of the life of an extraordinary man, analyze the relationship between the story of Antony and Cleopatra with the archetypal indications of tragedy in a well-thought-out essay. What indicates the story to be a tragedy? What is the significance of all the central elements of the story insofar as they relate to tragedy? In what does the play's tragedy specifically consist?

Essay Topic 2

One of the most complicated characters in the play, despite the brevity of his appearance, is the Clown who delivers the deadly asps to Cleopatra in the final scene. Though his phrasing is somewhat veiled and ambiguous, a multitude of arguments can be made for any number of interpretations of his character's significance. In a very carefully constructed essay, analyze the Clown's words to Cleopatra and make an argument for some definite interpretation of his meaning. What are the referents for the people and conditions to which the Clown alludes? What is the significance of his commentaries insofar as they relate to the actions and characters of the play? Why have a clown deliver such a message?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the play, there is a regularly occurring but never explicitly mentioned theme of tyrannical rule. Tyranny, in the modern conception, is defined as the rule of any authoritative figure or body for the sake of his or their own good, without consideration of those who are ruled. In a thoughtful essay, analyze the presence of this theme in all of the powerful rulers throughout the play. How do they rule for their own good? In what way does this rule affect those who are ruled, be it positive or negative? In what scenes or actions do the various rulers evince tyrannical tendencies?

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