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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. What blunder does Rosencrantz make with the introductions?

2. When Rosencrantz collects the coin, why does he say Guildenstern was lucky?

3. What is odd about the gambling game Guildenstern plays with Rosencrantz?

4. Leaving Claudius and Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are met by which character?

5. How much does the Player say it will cost for them to perform a gory romance?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of show does the Player attempt to offer Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

2. What appears to be the relationship between the two men?

3. Describe Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as the play opens.

4. What rather unusual encounter do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then have in the undisclosed location?

5. What is Claudius' request of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

6. Guildenstern asks Rosencrantz if he appears to be contradicting himself. What is Rosencrantz's odd reply?

7. How does Guildenstern continue trying to analyze the situation?

8. Describe the somewhat bizarre entrance of Hamlet and Ophelia.

9. How does Guildenstern attempt to change the subject away from the coins?

10. How does the subject of fear affect both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper on how reading a play is different from reading a novel. In a play, how much depends on the imagination of the reader? What is included in a novel that is missing from a play? What part does "seeing" play in the reading of a drama?

Essay Topic 2

Do some research on the Elizabethan theater and write a paper on how Stoppard's staging of his play borrows from staging during Shakespeare's time. In your paper include how the Player and his troupe were able to stage plays as they moved from place to place.

Essay Topic 3

Write a paper contrasting chance and destiny. Do you believe in destiny or fate? If so, why, and if not, why not?

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This section contains 687 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample