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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Shakespeare use "As You Like It" to comment on his own politics?
(a) He cites Marlowe's political bravery as the reason for his outrageous dramas.
(b) He uses his characters to lament his political timidity.
(c) He implores Marlowe to forgive him for trying to survive in trying times.
(d) He uses allusions to Marlowe's death to assert his political cautiousness.

2. In what way does Bloom say Shakespeare departs from Marlowe's precursor "The Jew of Malta"?
(a) The Christians are as vicious as the Jew.
(b) The Jew is more monstrous.
(c) The play is more overtly anti-Semitic.
(d) The Jews are more caricaturist.

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

4. Which critic does Bloom say was overwhelmed by Caesar?
(a) T. S. Eliot.
(b) Hazlitt.
(c) Samuel Johnson.
(d) Ben Jonson.

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

6. How does C. L. Barber characterize "Twelfth Night"?
(a) A festive comedy.
(b) A screwball comedy.
(c) A battle of the sexes.
(d) A disguised political satire.

7. Bloom describes a Nietzschean tendency toward what, in "Twelfth Night"?
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Truth.
(c) Anarchy.
(d) Play.

8. What charge does Bloom defend the faeries in "Midsummer Night's Dream" from?
(a) That they are arbitrary.
(b) That they are proto-human.
(c) That they are archetypes.
(d) That they are super-human.

9. What does Bloom say is the purpose of Falstaff's philosophizing?
(a) Self-reflection.
(b) Amusement.
(c) Self-protection.
(d) Persuasion.

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

11. Who whom does Bloom compare Beatrice and Benedick from "Much Ado About Nothing"?
(a) The lovers in "Love's Labor's Lost".
(b) "Romeo and Juliet".
(c) Regan and Goneril in "King Lear".
(d) Orlando and Rosalind in "As You Like It".

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

13. How does Bloom characterize Faulconbridge?
(a) As the first of the renaissance men in Shakespeare's plays.
(b) As the most Shakespearean character in Shakespeare's plays.
(c) As the last Marlowe-type character in Shakespeare.
(d) As the first Shakespearean character.

14. Who is Queen Mab, according to Bloom?
(a) Queen Elizabeth I.
(b) Mercutio's wife.
(c) The powerful mobs of London.
(d) The whore Mab.

15. In what way has Shakespeare outdone Marlowe with Aaron the Moor?
(a) He is more hateful than Barabas.
(b) He is more believable than Barabas.
(c) He is more outrageous than Barabas.
(d) He is more compassionate than Barabas.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who saves "Two Gentlemen of Verona", in Bloom's opinion?

2. How does Bloom characterize Caesar?

3. What quality endears Faulconbridge to Bloom?

4. What does Bloom say is the relationship between "The Merchant of Venice" and "The Jew of Malta"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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