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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 claims he has been blind for seven years on the stand at Lear's trial?

2. Who advises the king to refuse the war?

3. Who has been captured in Act 1, Scene 4?

4. What has killed one of the workers on the wall?

5. What is the name of the wife of the Gravedigger's Boy?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Lear's reaction to the mirror in the court scene.

2. How does Susan's conversation with Thomas about Lear echo that of the Gravedigger's Boy and his Wife early in the play?

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

4. What do Bodice and Fontanelle plan for Lear's future at the trial? How do they go about this plan?

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

6. What does the Orderly say about his imprisonment to Lear in Act 2?

7. What does Lear tell Fontanelle to do in order to be treated well? What does he tell her to refrain from?

8. Why do Fontanelle and Bodice capture their husbands and keep them imprisoned?

9. Who appears to Lear in prison? How was this character known to Lear before this point?

10. What does the Councillor tell Lear and the others is the fate of the Small Man? How does Lear react?

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 does Fontanelle's execution and subsequent on-stage autopsy contribute to the play? What change comes about because of this scene? Do you agree or disagree with the choice to put this scene on stage? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Who is the Ghost? What purpose does this character have in the play? How does he relate to Lear? How does this character compare with Warrington?

(see the answer keys)

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