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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. What doesn't the Third Priest see in "the art of temporal government?"
(a) Duplicity.
(b) Intrigue.
(c) Frequent Malversation.
(d) Violence.

5. What ruler of England does the Second Priest refer to as "the stubborn King?"
(a) James I.
(b) Edward III.
(c) Richard I.
(d) Henry II.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Thomas Beckett's thought end?: "If the Archbishop cannot trust the Throne/ He has good cause to trust none but _____________"

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

3. What is not one of the ways the Chorus, the priests and the Tempters describe an unexpected death?

4. What is it that the Second Tempter offers Becket?

5. What does the Messenger say were the last words of Thomas Becket to the King of England before the Archbishop's exile?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Becket ask his flock to remember?

2. Who does the Fourth Knight believe truly killed Thomas Becket? What is his proof that this is true?

3. According to Becket, what did God mean when he told his disciples "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."

4. Taking into consideration the many opportunities to escape his fate, his many followers begging him to change course, and Becket's own prideful nature, why would Becket choose the path of martyrdom?

5. How do the Four Tempters describe life?

6. Why might Becket pointedly ask the congregation to remember his words?

7. How does Becket believe a martyr should be defined?

8. What might be a reason Becket chose to do this speech?

9. What are the tactics that Eliot writes into the speech of the Second Knight to persuade the audience to see their point of view?

10. Why does Becket fear that giving into the Fourth Tempter would be doing "the right deed for the wrong reason?"

(see the answer keys)

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