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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the first action that the Second Priest wants to take to welcome the Archbishop back to Canterbury?
(a) Have a feast.
(b) Lead a prayer.
(c) Throw a celebration in his honor.
(d) Have the fires lit in his rooms.

2. What is one thing the Third Tempter and his party want from Beckett?
(a) Favor from the Church.
(b) Happiness for the People of England.
(c) The blessing of God.
(d) Money.

3. What is the feeling of the general public in regard to the Archbishop's return?
(a) Indifference.
(b) Enthusiasm.
(c) Fear.
(d) Apprehension.

4. Who does the Third Tempter represent?
(a) The King.
(b) English barons.
(c) The People of Canterbury.
(d) English Merchants.

5. What position did Becket resign when he was made Archbishop?
(a) Chancellor.
(b) Ambassador.
(c) Bishop.
(d) King.

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

7. How does the structure of the dialogue change during Becket's first temptation?
(a) All of the characters other than Beckett fall silent.
(b) The play becomes one monologue.
(c) All of the characters speak in riddles.
(d) The First Tempter speaks in verse.

8. What month does the Second Tempter say Beckett will have power?
(a) The last to the last.
(b) The first.
(c) The first to the second.
(d) The last from the first.

9. What does Becket claim is the "substance of our first act?"
(a) God and his mercy.
(b) Shadows, and the strife with shadows.
(c) Temptation, and the life with temptation.
(d) God and his greatness.

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

11. According to the information in the opening monologue, how many years have passed since the Archbishop has left the city?
(a) Seven.
(b) Five.
(c) Twenty.
(d) Twelve.

12. How does the Second Tempter claim real power is purchased?
(a) At price of a certain submission.
(b) At price of his immortal soul.
(c) At price of his devotion to God.
(d) At price of an uncertain quantity.

13. Who states that "Power is present. Holiness hereafter?"
(a) The Second Tempter.
(b) The Second Tempter.
(c) Thomas Beckett.
(d) The Fourth Tempter.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What, according to the First Tempter, "should be more than biting Time can sever?"

2. What is the first word that Becket speaks on his first entrance?

3. Finish the thought of the First Tempter: "A man will often love what he ______."

4. After the first scene featuring the three Priests, the Chorus speaks again. What do they wish the Archbishop to do?

5. What is not one of the things that the Tempter describes in his flashback of the "good time" Becket used to enjoy in his service to King Henry?

(see the answer keys)

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