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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 whose "prepared nails" does Antony refer?

2. What is the meaning of "scotches" as used by Scarus?

3. Who arrives to announce Antony's death to Caesar?

4. Whom does Cleopatra name as her treasurer?

5. Who accompanies Antony at the outset of Act 4, Scene 12?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is revealed by Antony's immediate blame of Cleopatra for the surrender of his fleet?

2. Why does Cleopatra tell Mardian to inform Antony that she has died?

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

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

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

6. In what way are the places of the two armies shown to be exchanged in Act 4, Scene 8?

7. How does the course of the battle change in Act 4, Scene 10?

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

9. How has the battle gone so far, in Act 4, Scene 7?

10. What does Antony say will happen to Cleopatra if she does not vanish after his fleet has betrayed him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A seldom explicitly mentioned theme throughout the play is the fidelity and infidelity of minor characters despite maltreatment and disregard for their more fundamental rights. Thoughtfully explicate this theme in a well-developed essay. How do the various minor characters demonstrate their fidelity and to whom? For what reasons do the characters evidently remain loyal? Contrariwise, which characters forsake their obligations to fidelity, and for what reasons are they motivated to do so? What do these various relationships of disparate levels of fidelity indicate about the fundamental human tendencies regarding loyalty?

Essay Topic 2

Compose a carefully crafted and well-planned analytical essay on the character of Mark Antony. As the story's protagonist, he is regarded as an extraordinary man whose life ends in exceptional calamity and disintegration. What are his principal character traits? In what ways does Antony stand out from the rest of the characters in the story? How do these contribute to his being an extraordinary man? What affects his downfall? What characterizes the disintegration of Antony's life? How does Antony's life drive the lives of others and the plot of the story? What way of life does Antony represent?

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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