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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Rosencrantz's answer please Guildenstern?
(a) It assures him that the law of self interest is still working.
(b) It tells him that no natural laws are at work at the moment.
(c) It tells him that he will soon start winning.
(d) It tells him that Rosencrantz is hiding a secret.

2. What is the source of the sounds Rosencrantz had heard?
(a) Six travellers who claim they saw a unicorn
(b) Six milkmaids heading for the market
(c) Six "Tragedians" or traveling actors, musicians, and their leader
(d) Six men on white horses with bells

3. What is the Player's apology to Guildenstern and Rosencrantz?
(a) He says that he was desparate to make money so they could eat.
(b) He says that he had only been joking with them just for the fun of it.
(c) He says that he had mistaken them for bawdy actors.
(d) He says that they should have seen his troupe in better times.

4. What does Gertrude tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
(a) They should get Ophelia to help them.
(b) Hamlet will talk to them because they are strangers.
(c) There are two of them and Hamlet is alone.
(d) Hamlet has spoken of them and that she knows how fond of them he is.

5. How does Gertrude respond when she hears Guildenstern's prayer?
(a) She says, "Praise the Lord."
(b) She says, "Amen."
(c) She says, "You need more than prayer."
(d) She says, "Thy will be done."

6. In what way is Rosencrantz defensive as he discusses the game with Guildenstern?
(a) He offers to give back all the coins.
(b) He points out that Guildenstern has done all the spinning.
(c) He declares that he always has good luck at gambling.
(d) He suggests that guildenstern is trying to lose.

7. Leaving Claudius and Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are met by which character?
(a) Hamlet
(b) Romeo
(c) Polonius
(d) Ophelia

8. Why is the Player so happy to see the two men?
(a) To put on a show because they were forgetting their lines
(b) To borrow their cloaks for a show
(c) To sell them the musical instruments
(d) To get them to tell tales they can act on the stage

9. What is Rosencrantz's emotional condition as a result of his encounters?
(a) Rosencrantz continues to feel stressed and seems to feel a death is coming.
(b) He understands everything that is happening around him.
(c) He is confident that everything will now turn out all right.
(d) He is apologetic for winning all of Guildenstern's money.

10. When the troupe runs out of money, what do they offer Guildenstern?
(a) A show
(b) Bread
(c) Musical instruments
(d) Alfred

11. What is Rosencrantz's reply when Guildenstern asks if he contradicts himself?
(a) Rosencrantz pretends he doesn't hear Guildenstern.
(b) Rosencrantz asks if he is talking to him.
(c) Rosencrantz asks what they have to go on.
(d) Rosencrantz assures him he is not.

12. Who are the well-dressed Elizabethan gentlemen at the opening of the play?
(a) Claudius and Polonius
(b) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
(c) Hamlet and Horatio
(d) Procter and Gamble

13. What question does Guildenstern put to Rosencrantz about language?
(a) If ordinary words often sound strange to him.
(b) If he feels more comfortable speaking French.
(c) If he sometimes forgets what he wanted to say.
(d) If he knows the word for housewife in Danish.

14. What assumption does the Player make about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
(a) The Player says that they are notable patrons of the arts.
(b) The Player states that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are surely fellow artists.
(c) The Player says that they are runaway criminals and he has seen their pictures.
(d) The player says that they are Lords and he recognizes them.

15. How does Guildenstern win money from the Player and the troupe?
(a) He bets they cannot guess his birthday.
(b) He calls all coin tosses as heads.
(c) He plays a shell game.
(d) He calls all coin tosses as tails.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Guildenstern see the way the game keeps going?

2. What does the Player do when Rosencrantz tosses a coin on the ground in front of the Player?

3. When Guildenstern insists their meeting must have been chance, how does the Player reply?

4. What does Claudius request of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

5. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern practice questioning one another, how do they keep score?

(see the answer keys)

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