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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. What does Tybalt carry away in triumph?

2. What saves Constance from being smothered?

3. Of what does Romeo inform Desdemona?

4. What does Constance ask a servant?

5. When Constance is whisked back to her office, what is laying on her desk?

Short Essay Questions

1. Upon what deal do Juliet and Constance agree?

2. What is Desdemona's response to Romeo revelation that he is a man? Do you think the Desdemona of Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, would have said something like this?

3. What is significant about several objects that appear in Constance's office in the "real" world and also in the fantasy world of Verona and Cyprus?

4. What is humorous about the ghost's appearance?

5. What is Juliet's response to learning of Constance's true gender?

6. What is the irony of the scene where Juliet stands beneath Constance's balcony and woos her?

7. How is Constance's return to her office with her head stuffed in a waste basket metaphorical?

8. How is it again intimated that Constance is playing the role of the Fool?

9. How are the three women, Desdemona, Juliet, and Constance, different and what is the same about them?

10. What is Tybalt's reaction to Romeo and Juliet's fascination with Constance?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Act 3, Scene 6, the conversation between Constance and the ghost in the boneyard seems like two ships that pass in the night. Answer the following questions in a well-developed essay using examples from the book as well as personal experience:

1. Explain the conversation between Constance and the ghost in the boneyard. What is satirical about it? Do you find it ironic? How so? Give specific examples.

2. What is a boneyard? What do you think is the significance of Constance having to pass through a boneyard to find the answer to her quest? Is the boneyard symbolic of something to Constance (whether she knows it or not)?

3. What is humorous about the ghost's appearance? Do you think this is a conscious effort at comic relief? What is comic relief? Do you see it appearing in other conversations with the ghost or the Chorus?

Essay Topic 2

Another figurative "alchemical process" takes place as Constance attempts to turn Shakespearean tragedies into farcical comedies. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-organized essay using detailed examples from the text, your research and personal experience to support your statements.

1. Define tragedy and comedy as it relates to the genre of drama. What are their similarities and differences? Do tragedies have a different purpose from comedies? What? Do you prefer to watch a tragedy or comedy? Explain why.

2. Where does Constance first mention the possibility of the tragedies becoming comedies? Do you as a reader think she is right? Why would she want to change the nature of the plays? Do you think Othello and Romeo and Juliet are more interesting as tragedies or comedies? Why?

3. What is the means that Constance thinks will change the tragedies of ROMEO AND JULIET and OTHELLO into a comedy? Do you think she is successful in her attempt? Give specific examples. Does Constance herself think she is successful? Why or why not.

Essay Topic 3

Feminism and woman's place in culture is addressed numerous times both overtly and subtly in Goodnight Desdemona. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-organized essay using detailed examples from the text, your research and personal experience to support your statements.

1. Discuss the rampant sexism that Professor Night exhibits. How could Constance have stopped it? Do you think Constance will stand for Night's behavior after her experience as part of the two Shakespeare's dramas?

2. The academic world has had a notorious record and reputation for sexism in the past. Research sexism in the academic world (colleges) and write a brief history of the problem and evaluate whether you think it still exists today.

3. Discuss the sexism that is evident in the time of Shakespeare's plays in Verona and Cyprus. Cite specific examples and discuss why you think the examples you cite are sexism.

(see the answer keys)

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