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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 suffering.
(b) Living and partly living.
(c) Living and partly dying.
(d) Dying and partly dying.

2. What group of people does the Chorus consist of?
(a) The Ghosts of Canterbury.
(b) The Poor of Canterbury.
(c) The Women of Canturbury.
(d) The Hand of God.

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

4. What does the Messenger call the relationship between the King and the Archbishop?
(a) A peaceful affair.
(b) A violent affair.
(c) A patched-up affair.
(d) A silly affair.

5. How does the Fourth Tempter claim Beckett can have ultimate glory and power over the King of England?
(a) By becoming a martyr.
(b) By giving his money to the people.
(c) By becoming the Chancellor again.
(d) By killing the King.

6. 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.

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

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

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

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

11. How many visitors did Beckett expect?
(a) None.
(b) Four.
(c) One.
(d) Three.

12. 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 you shall see again as an angel.
(d) My Lord, I leave you as a man whom in this life I shall not see again.

13. Finish the thought of the First Tempter: "A man will often love what he ______."
(a) Hates.
(b) Spurns.
(c) Sees.
(d) Misses.

14. What does the First Priest believe was Becket's character flaw that ultimately brought an end to his friendship with the King?
(a) Laziness.
(b) Self-loathing.
(c) Cowardliness.
(d) Pride.

15. What does the First Priest compare the women of Canterbury to?
(a) Chickens in a coop.
(b) Worms in the belly.
(c) Horses in the stalls.
(d) Frogs in the treetops.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What doesn't the Third Priest see in "the art of temporal government?"

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

4. What is not one of the events of the past seven years that the Chorus describes?

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

(see the answer keys)

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