View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does the chorus define its time in Canterbury since the Archbishop left seven years previous?
(a) Living and partly living.
(b) Dying and partly dying.
(c) Living and partly suffering.
(d) Living and partly dying.

2. After the first scene featuring the three Priests, the Chorus speaks again. What do they wish the Archbishop to do?
(a) Bless them.
(b) Return to France.
(c) Turn the wheel.
(d) Make peace with the King.

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

4. What idea does the Fourth Tempter repeat that Beckett voiced on his first entrance?
(a) Action is suffering and suffering is action.
(b) Suffering is life and life is action.
(c) Everything is suffering and suffering is everthing.
(d) Life is suffering and suffering is death.

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

6. What does the First Tempter tell Becket he remembers?
(a) The hard times of the poor.
(b) The good time past.
(c) The danger he is in.
(d) His loyalty to the king.

7. Who does Becket say saved him from the wrath of his enemies?
(a) King Henry II.
(b) The King of France.
(c) The Pope.
(d) John, the Dean of Salisbury.

8. What does the Third Tempter believe upon his arrival?
(a) He was unexpected.
(b) He was expected.
(c) He is in danger.
(d) He is there to cause confusion.

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

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

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

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

13. "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) The Past.
(b) Death.
(c) Fate.
(d) Love.

14. 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 in this life I shall not see again.
(b) My Lord, I leave England, a land I shall not see again.
(c) My Lord, I leave you as a man, whom you shall not see again for seven years.
(d) My Lord, I leave you as a man, whom you shall see again as an angel.

15. Fill in the blank: "I leave you to the pleasure of your __________, Which will have to be paid for at ______________."
(a) piety; reckoning.
(b) life; your strife.
(c) lies; the end.
(d) higher vices; higher prices.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Beckett believe to be the last temptation and what he fears the most?

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

3. What month does the Second Tempter say Beckett will have power?

4. What group of people does the Chorus consist of?

5. In what city of England does the story take place?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 697 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample