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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Bloom say in response to the criticism that Shakespeare copied Hamlet from other sources?
(a) That Shakespeare was not even one person.
(b) That Shakespeare had bought the rights to the other works.
(c) That he always improved on his sources.
(d) That copying was common practice.

2. How does Bloom characterize Theseus in "Two Noble Kinsmen"?
(a) The summit of Shakespeare's poetic philosophy.
(b) Shakespeare's last poetic voice.
(c) An illegitimate child of Shakespeare's genius.
(d) Shakespeare's dying gasp.

3. What does Bloom say constitutes the darkness of "Cymbeline"?
(a) Cymbeline is still jealous, even after he repents sentencing his wife to death for betrayal.
(b) Posthumous is ineffective against Iachino's manipulations.
(c) Iachino is not killed off, but he can continue his evil ways.
(d) There is a suggestion that Imogen might be unfaithful at heart.

4. What makes "Winter's Tale" jarring, in Bloom's interpretation?
(a) Its hostility.
(b) Its originality.
(c) Its nihilism.
(d) Its piety.

5. Whom does Shakespeare attack in "Timon of Athens"?
(a) Alcibiades.
(b) Christopher Marlowe.
(c) Nietzsche.
(d) Geoffrey Chaucer.

6. What does Nietzsche say Hamlet's problem was?
(a) Fear.
(b) Thinking too well.
(c) Emasculation.
(d) Madness.

7. What does Fluellen's comparison mean for Henry V?
(a) He will be betrayed by his friends.
(b) He will avoid responsibilities.
(c) He will turn on his friends.
(d) He will enjoy great power.

8. What does Bloom say is the problem with the character of Coriolanus?
(a) We do not know Voluminia's thoughts about her son's treason.
(b) The viewer does not know Coriolanus' reasons for surrendering.
(c) Coriolanus does not explain why he fought against Rome.
(d) Coriolanus' death is not dramatized.

9. How does Bloom characterize the Falstaff of "The Merry Wives of Windsor"?
(a) A precursor to later villains.
(b) A false Falstaff.
(c) A bastardization of Henry IV.
(d) The genuine Falstaff.

10. Why was Caliban suffering, according to critic Browning?
(a) Because his nature is still too bestial.
(b) Because Prospero will not adopt him.
(c) Because he is incapable of attaining the beautiful things he imagines.
(d) Because he will never win Ariel for himself.

11. Whose riddle does Pericles solve at the beginning of the play?
(a) The Sphinx'.
(b) The Delphic Oracle's.
(c) King Antioch's.
(d) The Sibyl's.

12. How does Bloom characterize Coriolanus as a character of Shakespeare's?
(a) More powerful than most.
(b) Not passive at all.
(c) More doubtful than most.
(d) Not very introspective.

13. What character does Bloom say follows Shakespeare's "Pericles"?
(a) Melville's Ahab.
(b) Milton's Satan.
(c) Milton's Adam.
(d) Hawthorne's Hester Prynne.

14. What does Bloom say brings Anthony back to Cleopatra?
(a) Lust for power.
(b) Dependency on Cleopatra.
(c) Hostility to Caesar.
(d) Sexual lust.

15. What does Iago triumph over, in Bloom's interpretation?
(a) Conventional morality.
(b) Subordinate races.
(c) Himself.
(d) Shallower evil characters.

Short Answer Questions

1. What opera is based on "The Merry Wives of Windsor"?

2. How does A. C. Bradley describe Cleopatra?

3. What does Bloom say is the reason for Iago's persecution of Othello?

4. What does the character Timon of Athens do to his guests?

5. What does Iachino want from Imogen?

(see the answer keys)

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