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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To whom does Bloom compare Puck unfavorably?
(a) Caliban.
(b) Falstaff.
(c) Hamlet.
(d) Prospero.

2. What quality has made "Julius Caesar" a favorite of the school curriculum?
(a) Its betrayal.
(b) Its love story.
(c) Its tight plot.
(d) Its dramatization of bullying.

3. What book does Bloom compare Shakespeare's plays to, in measuring their influence on Western culture?
(a) Moby Dick.
(b) The Bible.
(c) The Canterbury Tales.
(d) Paradise Lost.

4. What did "Titus Andronicus" accomplish for Shakespeare, according to Bloom?
(a) Purged his imagination of Marlowe.
(b) Showed him the limits of evil.
(c) Forced him to return to original material.
(d) Turned him toward poetry, and away from the stage.

5. Who does Bloom say steals the show in "Romeo and Juliet"?
(a) Mercutio and the Nurse.
(b) Lords Capulet and Montague.
(c) Tybalt.
(d) Romeo and Juliet.

6. Which term describes Kate's speech about the proper behavior of a wife toward a husband?
(a) Harangue.
(b) Liturgy.
(c) Soliloquy.
(d) Irony.

7. Whom do Antipholus and Dromio discover when they arrive in Ephesus, in "Comedy of Errors"?
(a) Their master.
(b) Their long lost twins.
(c) Their servants.
(d) Their wives.

8. Who is the center of the subplot in "Twelfth Night"?
(a) Olivia.
(b) Orsini.
(c) Cesario.
(d) Malvolio.

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

10. What are the men overcome by, in "Love's Labor's Lost"?
(a) Female wit.
(b) War.
(c) Evil manipulations.
(d) Their own desires.

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

12. What does Bloom reiterate about Christopher Marlowe?
(a) That he was older than Shakespeare.
(b) That he was a youngest son.
(c) That he drank heavily while writing.
(d) That he was murdered by English government agents.

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

14. What does Bloom say is King John's biggest problem?
(a) His brother.
(b) His son.
(c) His mother.
(d) His father.

15. What play does Bloom say "Henry VI" resembles?
(a) 'Tis Pity She's a Whore.
(b) Tamberlaine the Great.
(c) Doctor Faustus.
(d) The Tempest.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what later character does Bloom connect Brutus from "Julius Caesar"?

2. Who does Bloom say influenced his view of Shakespeare?

3. How does Bloom characterize Richard II's metaphors?

4. What first makes the character of Titus Andronicus unsympathetic?

5. What kind of play is "Taming of the Shrew"?

(see the answer keys)

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