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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who are the first two characters who speak of "the wheel" on separate occasions?
(a) The First Priest and the First Tempter.
(b) The Chorus and Thomas Becket.
(c) The Third Priest and Thomas Becket.
(d) The First Priest and the Second Priest.

2. What is not one of the ways the Chorus, the priests and the Tempters describe an unexpected death?
(a) Taking a shock to the skull.
(b) Attacked by dogs.
(c) Slipping on a step.
(d) Drowning in a ditch.

3. According to the Four Tempters, what is man's life?
(a) A viscious cycle.
(b) An inconvenience to God.
(c) A fleeting moment.
(d) A cheat and a disappointment.

4. What does Beckett claim the Fourth Tempter offers?
(a) Dreams to Damnation.
(b) An End to Suffering.
(c) Hopes that Die.
(d) Promises of Nothing.

5. In Part One, where does the action of the play take place?
(a) The Cathedral.
(b) Outside the gates of the Cathedral.
(c) The King's palace.
(d) The Archbishop's hall.

6. When will the First Tempter remember Becket?
(a) At night when the fires are lit.
(b) On Christmas Day.
(c) On ChristmasEve.
(d) At kissing time below the stairs.

7. What is it that the Second Tempter offers Becket?
(a) A new life.
(b) His former political position.
(c) The English throne.
(d) A new love.

8. What does the Messenger say were the last words of Thomas Becket to the King of England before the Archbishop's exile?
(a) My Lord, I leave you as a man, whom you shall not see again for seven years.
(b) My Lord, I leave England, a land I shall not see again.
(c) My Lord, I leave you as a man whom in this life I shall not see again.
(d) My Lord, I leave you as a man, whom you shall see again as an angel.

9. Why does Beckett believe that the local bishops would not support a power move like regaining his Chancellorship?
(a) Because the Pope excommunicated Beckett.
(b) Because the Pope would not allow it.
(c) Because the King would not allow it.
(d) Because he excommunicated them.

10. How does Thomas Beckett's thought end?: "If the Archbishop cannot trust the Throne/ He has good cause to trust none but _____________"
(a) Himself alone.
(b) God alone.
(c) The Pope alone.
(d) His people alone.

11. What does the First Tempter predict for Becket if he does not "leave well alone?"
(a) Everything will be set right.
(b) His fat lady will sing.
(c) HIs goose may be cooked.
(d) God will show his wrath.

12. What does the Chorus claim is their purpose in the action of the play?
(a) To warn Thomas Becket.
(b) To witness the events and take no action.
(c) To serve the Priests of the Cathedral.
(d) To prevent a murder.

13. Why is the fourth visitor the most successful Tempter?
(a) He voices Beckett's own desires.
(b) He represents the people.
(c) He makes peace between Beckett and the King.
(d) He helps Beckett find peace.

14. What is the first word that Becket speaks on his first entrance?
(a) No.
(b) Wait.
(c) Stay.
(d) Peace.

15. What metaphor does the Third Priest use to compare the relationship between the King and the Archbishop?
(a) Fire and water.
(b) A rock and a hard place.
(c) A hammer and an anvil.
(d) A wolf and a sheep.

Short Answer Questions

1. What idea does the Fourth Tempter repeat that Beckett voiced on his first entrance?

2. How does the structure of the dialogue change during Becket's first temptation?

3. What does Becket call "the springtime fancy?"

4. Who states that "Power is present. Holiness hereafter?"

5. Fill in the blank: "I leave you to the pleasure of your __________, Which will have to be paid for at ______________."

(see the answer keys)

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