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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 says, "Whenever I leave you I feel a great emptiness and a kind of lump in my throat"?

2. What does the servant bring on the platters to serve to the mother, son and father?

3. What does the mother say she wishes to do with her granddaughters?

4. Where is the son going when he asks his mother for a knife?

5. Who is the mother talking about when she says, "He'd have found water. In our three years he planted ten cherry trees"?

Short Essay Questions

1. During the conversation between the bride and Leonardo just before her wedding day, what does Leonardo blame the bride for?

2. Why does the mother say she wishes her son was a girl?

3. What are some of the positive things the father says about his daughter to the son and his mother when they first meet?

4. How does the mother react when she learns her son's bride once dated a member of the Felix family?

5. What do the groom and the youth discuss in the forest in Act 3, Scene 1?

6. How does the mother act towards the bride when she first enters the house after the mens' deaths?

7. What does Leonardo tell the bride they're pretending by claiming to forget about their love and move on to other people? What has this really caused to happen?

8. What reasons do the mother and son give to the bride's father when he asks why they took the long way around to his home?

9. What reasons does Leonardo give his wife for going to the blacksmith so frequently?

10. What do the mother and her neighbor talk about when they first enter the house after they have learned of the son's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the play's portrayal of mourning. How do the characters in the play mourn similarly and differently? What does mourning bring to these characters?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the mother and son's view of forgiveness. How does each character handle their issues from the past? What role does forgiveness play when dealing with these issues?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the characters' struggles with being an individual versus being a member of society. What visible boundaries do the characters have for trying to do both?

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This section contains 800 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample