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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. How does the speaker in Act 4's eleventh scene say the associated army shall be?

2. How many soldiers speak in Act 4, Scene 3?

3. Whom does Antony call a "great fairy"?

4. What happens to Cleopatra after Antony's death, in Act 4, Scene 15?

5. Whom does Caesar send to Antony to implore him to surrender in the first scene of the final act?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Antony mean by saying that his men have "shown all Hectors" and why is this significant?

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

4. What effect on Antony's disposition does the desertion by Enobarbus have?

5. What happens to Enobarbus after his speech in Act 4, Scene 9?

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

7. How does Cleopatra envision her shaming in Rome if she is taken there as a captive?

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

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

10. What is indicated by Cleopatra's refusal to come down to Antony in Act 4, Scene 15?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

In contrast to the more nuanced influences of the play, the direct cause of the play's tragic outcome is quite obviously the external conflict between Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar. However, the drastic importance of this conflict, its political and historical implications, have a drastic influence on the overall significance of the play. Why is the conflict important to the whole world? How is this indicated in the play? What is at stake in the conflict between the two triumvirs? What is the relationship between the greater significance of this conflict and the significance of the play as a tragedy?

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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