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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. Cornwall says that Gloucester's villainy may be the cause of who's villainy?

2. Edgar stops in the middle of what area when he tells Gloucester that they are on a cliff?

3. What does the doctor prescribe to help cure Lear's madness?

4. Who says "Yet better thus, and known to be contemned, / Than still contemned and flattered"?

5. Where do Lear, The Fool, Kent, and Gloucester go when they leave the farmhouse?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Goneril hears of Cornwall's death, what are her concerns?

2. What warning does Regan ask Oswald to give to Goneril?

3. What does Cordelia consider her father to be suffering from?

4. Goneril and Regan dismiss Albany's desire to not hurt the King and say that what matters?

5. At the end of the play, why is Lear happy?

6. When Edgar sees that his father is blind, what does he offer to do?

7. Albany already sympathizes with the King. What action by Goneril is likely to make him turn completely against her?

8. How does Edgar use his father's blindness to trick him?

9. In terms of the plot, what is Act 5, Scene 2 designed to do?

10. What happens to Cordelia, Regan, and Goneril by the end of the play?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are several words that are repeated throughout King Lear. Choose two of the words from the list below and discuss what their use means to the play and the characters in the play.

-- nature

-- natural

-- nothing

-- bond

-- love

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the book, how does King Lear move toward a greater knowledge of the world and himself through his actions and experiences? Please use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

How do the characters of Regan and Goneril change from the moment that they are first introduced until their deaths? Are their deaths just? Please support your answer with examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 522 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample