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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 Fontanelle complain about in Act 1, Scene 1?

2. Which character says, "I feel confidence in my bones. That's never failed me. If only I were a young man" in Act 1, Scene 2?

3. Who maniacally encourages the torture of Warrington?

4. Who says, "We won't chain ourselves to the dead, or send our children to school in the graveyard"?

5. Who stabs knitting needles into Warrington's ears?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lear prove he has undergone a change of character in the last act?

2. What does Warrington reveal about Bodice and Fontanelle in Act 1, Scene 2? What is his course of action?

3. Who do Thomas and Susan reflect from earlier in the play? How?

4. Why is the Farmer and his family leaving the land?

5. In Act 2, what character changes has Cordelia undergone since Act 1?

6. What does Lear say about the Farmer's Son joining the army? How does this show a change in his character?

7. What is the significance of the image of Bodice and Fontanelle as children in Lear's cell?

8. Why do the villagers come to hear Lear speak? What message is he telling them?

9. How does Fontanelle react to being taken prisoner? What does she say?

10. Why does the Ghost not go with Lear when Lear is taken from the cell?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the primary theme of Lear? How is this theme expressed through the characters and the actions of the play?

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of Lear's being blinded? How does this relate to actions in Shakespeare's Lear? What is the symbolism that this act illustrates?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the irony that is evident in Lear. What different forms of irony does Bond employ in the play? Define the terms in your answer.

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