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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 does Jack say the brilliant light helped him to understand?

2. What does Jack appear in the bedroom riding?

3. Who does Jack say he is?

4. Who does Charles say agrees with his idea?

5. What does Herder tell Charles was illegal?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Charles and Grace try to convince Jack that Grace is Marguerite?

2. Why can Charles initially do nothing about the Earl's will?

3. Why does Dinsdale say he in concerned by Jack's illness?

4. Why did Charles want Grace to marry the 13th Earl?

5. Why does Herder think Jack was lucky?

6. What part of upperclass life does Claire tell Jack she finds difficult?

7. How does Jack kill Grace at the end of the play?

8. What does Dr. Herder say is wrong with Jack?

9. What are the characters' opinions in declaring Jack insane?

10. What does the prologue establish?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine upper class life.

1) How do people in the British upper classes view life?

2) What influence have the British upper classes had on popular culture?

3) How does the author express both the negative and positive aspects of British upper class life?

Essay Topic 2

In 1972, THE RULING CLASS was made into a film starring Peter O'Toole. Why do you think the themes and ideas in the book were still relevant six years later? How did the filmmakers adapt the themes to fit in with the new environment? How did these changes affect the meaning of the story?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss elements of the narrative structure: exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the novel's themes?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 650 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample