View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. At the funeral, what does Merivel express toward Pearce?

2. What has happened to Katherine?

3. What calms Katherine down?

4. How has Merivel changed physically at Whittlesea?

5. Who are the two people Merivel says he has truly loved?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Merivel react to Katherine's death?

2. Describe the music at the dance.

3. What happens when Merivel illicitly visits Katherine?

4. How does Merivel treat Katherine on their journey?

5. Describe Edmund's dreams.

6. What does the staff of the hospital decide to do because of the plague?

7. Describe the signs that end up hanging outside Frances Elizabeth's house.

8. How does Merivel feel about Pearce?

9. What does Pearce wonder about flowers?

10. What act of bravery does Merivel commit?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Merivel experiences different types of lives in the novel. He lives in the King's Court. He lives in a manor as a Lord. He also lives in a mental hospital, and in Cheapside, an impoverished area of London. In these different ways of life, Merivel finds differnt kinds of fulfillment and happiness. Discuss fulfillment and happiness in the novel.

1) Where is Merivel most fulfilled and happiness? Why?

2) Compare Merivel's happiness in the presence of the King to his happiness in the presence of Pearce. What different types of fulfillment do Merivel's most valued friends provide him?

3) How does Merivel's perception of what will make him happy change over the course of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the values of the characters in the novel, and how the characters assign value to both material and immaterial things.

1) Discuss the valuation of the "nightingale." What gives it value to Merivel, Pearce, and Celia. Why?

2) How do the characters value immaterial things, such as love, friendship, family, tradition, and religion? What role do immaterial things play in the characters' lives?

3) How do the characters value other people? What is this valuation based on?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 686 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample