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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. Who brings news to Antony that Cleopatra is not dead?

2. What is the "rumor" about of which the Second Soldier speaks in Act 4, Scene 3?

3. In the concluding lines of Act 4, Scene 8, Antony says heaven and earth will do what to Antony and his companions?

4. Whom does Cleopatra name as her treasurer?

5. What does Cleopatra say she will give to Scarus for his valor?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Cleopatra feign submission to Caesar at the end of the play?

2. What is meant by Charmian's statement that "The soul and body rive not more in parting / Than greatness going off"?

3. For what reason does Caesar seek to preserve the life of Cleopatra after hearing that Antony has died?

4. What purpose does Act 4, Scene 3 serve, with its interlude of unnamed, minor characters?

5. What attitude grips Antony and his soldiers in Act 4, Scene 7?

6. What characterizes the reactions of those present in Act 4, Scene 1, to the news of Antony's death?

7. How does Cleopatra comport herself towards Antony in Act 4, Scene 4?

8. How does Antony react to the desertion by Enobarbus?

9. How does Caesar gain an advantage by holding his land forces still?

10. Why does Caesar insist upon being still with his land forces on the second day of Battle at Alexandria?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout Antony and Cleopatra's stormy relationship in the play, it is shown that their love is always a hair's-breadth away from becoming hate, and vice-versa. In a well-developed analytical essay, examine the nature of Antony and Cleopatra's relationship insofar as it alternates from one extreme to another. What propels the characters to launch from one condition to another? How is hate assuaged and love incited? In what way are the two conditions similarly portrayed?

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

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?

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