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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Bloom say "Henry V" has been used in England?
(a) As propaganda for the socialist state.
(b) As a patriotic statement.
(c) As anti-communist propaganda.
(d) As a criticism of the French.

2. What does Theseus give away in "Two Noble Kinsmen"?
(a) His daughter.
(b) His wife.
(c) His throne.
(d) His lands.

3. What does Bloom say is the heart of "Antony and Cleopatra"?
(a) The battle between East and West.
(b) The battle between the sexes.
(c) The battle between Rome and Egypt.
(d) The battle between love and politics.

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

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

6. How does Bloom characterize Anthony's death?
(a) As a tragedy.
(b) As a form of self-indulgence.
(c) As unnecessary.
(d) As a historic event.

7. What does Bloom say is the center of "The Tempest'?
(a) Prospero's restoration.
(b) Prospero's development.
(c) Ariel's liberty.
(d) Caliban's punishment.

8. What does Bloom say he suspects Shakespeare of, in "Henry V"?
(a) Patriotism.
(b) Disloyalty.
(c) Fear for his own safety.
(d) Irony.

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

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

11. Whom does Bloom say Iachino in "Cymbeline" resembles?
(a) Macbeth.
(b) Iago.
(c) Othello.
(d) Lady Macbeth.

12. For whom did Cressida betray Troilus?
(a) Ulysses.
(b) Thersites.
(c) Achilles.
(d) Diomedes.

13. What does Bloom say T. S. Eliot says about "Hamlet"?
(a) That it is the masterpiece of our culture.
(b) That it is too long.
(c) That it is improbable and stagey.
(d) That it is too confusing.

14. Whose philosophy does Bloom say Iago embodies?
(a) Aristotle's.
(b) Nietzsche's.
(c) Plato's.
(d) Hegel's.

15. What does Ben Jonson say "Winter's Tale" unites with the dark fears of Leontes?
(a) The spectral possibility of spiritual rebirth.
(b) The fresh hope of spring.
(c) A feverish vision of eternity.
(d) The dire reality of mortality.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was Caliban suffering, according to critic Browning?

2. What does Bloom say in response to Hamlet's claim that he was a prisoner in Denmark?

3. What does Bloom say the reader needs to know about "Henry V"?

4. How does Auden describe Iago?

5. What pleased Ben Jonson about Shakespeare's "Henry VIII"?

(see the answer keys)

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