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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kinds of interpretations of "Midsummer Night's Dream" does Bloom say he resents?
(a) Interpretations that minimize the war of the sexes.
(b) Interpretations that turn the play into a dark spectacle.
(c) Interpretations that over-sexualize the play.
(d) Interpretations that treat the play as a political drama.

2. To what later character does Bloom connect Brutus from "Julius Caesar"?
(a) Regan and Goneril.
(b) Caliban.
(c) Macbeth.
(d) Iago.

3. What does Bloom say makes Caesar fascinating?
(a) His power.
(b) His humility.
(c) His bombast.
(d) His violence.

4. How does Bloom characterize "Romeo and Juliet"?
(a) Top-heavy.
(b) Absurd.
(c) Bittersweet.
(d) Heart-breaking.

5. What quality do Faulconbridge and Hamlet have in common, according to Bloom?
(a) They are both paralyzed by doubts.
(b) They are both sons of kings.
(c) They are both unsuccessful contenders for thrones.
(d) They are both larger than life.

6. Who claims that Shakespeare invented the human personality?
(a) T. S. Eliot.
(b) Harold Bloom.
(c) Samuel Johnson.
(d) Hamlet.

7. What did Shakespeare create with pain, in Bloom's interpretation?
(a) Poetry.
(b) History.
(c) Memory.
(d) Culture.

8. How does Bloom characterize "Two Gentlemen of Verona"?
(a) As weak.
(b) As inaccurate.
(c) As fantasy.
(d) As convoluted.

9. Who does Julia look for, while she is disguised?
(a) Proteus' dog.
(b) Proteus.
(c) Valentine.
(d) Silvia.

10. What does Bloom say is the relationship between "The Merchant of Venice" and "The Jew of Malta"?
(a) An inversion.
(b) A reaction formation.
(c) A transference.
(d) A turning away.

11. What does T. S. Eliot say overwhelms "Romeo and Juliet"?
(a) The tragic ending.
(b) The power of the love between Romeo and Juliet.
(c) The improbability of the deaths.
(d) The conservatism of the feuding families.

12. For what reason does Hal curse Falstaff in "Henry IV"?
(a) For debasing his character.
(b) For losing the throne for him.
(c) For corrupting his youth.
(d) For inconsistency.

13. Who dominates the "The Merchant of Venice", according to Bloom?
(a) Jessica.
(b) Portia.
(c) Shylock.
(d) Antonio.

14. To whom does Bloom compare Hamlet and Falstaff?
(a) The Old Testament God.
(b) Adam in 'Paradise Lost'.
(c) Melville's Captain Ahab.
(d) The Knight in Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale'.

15. What does Bloom say characterizes the play "Julius Caesar"?
(a) Virtue.
(b) Morality.
(c) Heroism.
(d) Ambiguity.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Berowne's narcissism opposed by?

2. How does "Taming of the Shrew" begin?

3. In what way does Bloom say Shakespeare departs from Marlowe's precursor "The Jew of Malta"?

4. In what way has Shakespeare outdone Marlowe with Aaron the Moor?

5. What does Bloom say "Love's Labor's Lost" has in common with other plays?

(see the answer keys)

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