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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year does the novel begin?

2. Who does Merivel visit after leaving Whitehall?

3. What does Merivel hear Celia doing the night he returns?

4. How does Merivel think Celia looks when she arrives?

5. What animal does the King ask Merivel to cure?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what Pearce tells Merivel about the present Finn brings.

2. What does the King tell Merivel in his dream?

3. What is Merivel's job at the palace?

4. How does Merivel's message to Celia differ from what the King told him to say?

5. How does Merivel imagine the representation of his astrological sign?

6. How does Merivel set about the job given to him by the Justice of the Peace?

7. Why has Celia come to the mansion?

8. What does Merivel do after he leaves Celia on their wedding night?

9. What is Merivel's response to the King summoning him with a letter?

10. What does the King order Merivel to do for him at the end of the first chapter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss poverty and social class in the novel.

1) What different social strata exist in the novel? What determines what social class the people in the novel live in?

2) What allows characters in the novel to change social status, for better or worse? Why?

3) How does Merivel treat people of different social classes?

Essay Topic 2

Religion and the presence of God is a strong motif throughout the novel. Discuss religion in the novel.

1) Compare the King to God. How are they similar? How are they different?

2) What relationship do the Quakers at the mental hospital have with God? What affect does this relationship have on Merivel?

3) What relationship does Merivel have with God and religion?

Essay Topic 3

Both Merivel and other characters have meaningful dreams in the novel. Discuss the meaning of dreams throughout the novel.

1) Merivel dreams of the King. Is the King of Merivel's dreams the King he knows in life, or does the King represent something different in Merivel's dreams?

2) What does Merivel learn from his dreams? What could Merivel learn that he is not recognizing?

3) What meanings do other characters dreams have? Why does the Quaker hospital worker dream of God, and what do his dreams mean to him?

(see the answer keys)

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