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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What, according to the First Tempter, "should be more than biting Time can sever?"
(a) Hope.
(b) Loyalty.
(c) Friendship.
(d) Death.

2. What are the priests eager to know once the Messenger has delivered his initial message?
(a) Where the Archbishop is staying.
(b) How much time they have before the Archbishop arrives.
(c) If the King has learned of the Archbishop's return from France.
(d) If the King and the Archbishop have made peace.

3. What does Becket call "the springtime fancy?"
(a) Acrimony.
(b) The impossible, the undesirable .
(c) Leave-well-alone.
(d) Ceremony.

4. "The wheel" is spoken of time and time again. In one instance Becket says that "Only the fool, fixed in his folly, may think he can turn the wheel on which he turns." What is the idea of a wheel supposed to symbolize?
(a) Fate.
(b) Love.
(c) Death.
(d) The Past.

5. In what year does Murder in the Cathedral take place?
(a) 1170.
(b) 1077.
(c) 1710.
(d) 1070.

6. According to the Third Tempter, what does friendship depend upon?
(a) Time.
(b) Peace.
(c) Happiness.
(d) Circumstance.

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

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

9. How does the Chorus describe itself?
(a) Poor folk.
(b) Lonely folk.
(c) Small folk.
(d) Representative of all people of Canterbury.

10. How does the Third Tempter describe himself?
(a) A man who is rich in spirit
(b) A rough, straightforward Englishman.
(c) A rough and angry follower of the king
(d) A surly English peasant

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

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

13. What character(s) opens the play with the first monologue?
(a) The Chorus.
(b) The Messenger.
(c) The Priests.
(d) Thomas Becket.

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

15. What does the Second Tempter tell Beckett he will be like if he continues on course?
(a) An old stag, circled with hounds.
(b) An old fox, circled with hounds.
(c) An old dog, circled with wolves.
(d) A young doe, circled with wolves.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the First Priest compare the women of Canterbury to?

2. What position did Becket resign when he was made Archbishop?

3. What does the First Priest believe was Becket's character flaw that ultimately brought an end to his friendship with the King?

4. What does the Messenger call the relationship between the King and the Archbishop?

5. How does the chorus define its time in Canterbury since the Archbishop left seven years previous?

(see the answer keys)

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