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

2. What does Bloom say in response to Hamlet's claim that he was a prisoner in Denmark?
(a) That he is not in fact imprisoned, except in the metaphor of imprisonment.
(b) That imprisonment is a human condition.
(c) That he is only partly correct.
(d) That he is a free personality.

3. What does Bloom say "The Merry Wives of Windsor" might have been designed to do?
(a) Resolve personal quandaries of Shakespeare's.
(b) Make a lot of money for the theatre company.
(c) Propitiate the queen with light humor.
(d) Urge the government to make reforms.

4. Why does Janet Adelman say that Cordelia had to be murdered in "King Lear"?
(a) To protect the masculinity of the play.
(b) To preserve the play's philosophy consistently.
(c) To counter the demise of Regan and Goneril.
(d) To prevent love from being triumphant.

5. Whose greatness does "Henry VIII" prophecy?
(a) Anne Boleyn.
(b) Queen Victoria.
(c) Queen Elizabeth I.
(d) Joan of Arc.

6. What does Bloom say he prefers for representations of Caliban?
(a) A Native American.
(b) A half-human beast.
(c) A black slave.
(d) A pygmy.

7. What does Iachino want from Imogen?
(a) To make her queen.
(b) To seduce her or see her killed.
(c) To marry her.
(d) To convince her to betray her husband's political power.

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

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

10. According to Bloom, T. S. Eliot prefers "Coriolanus" to which other Shakespeare play?
(a) "Macbeth".
(b) "King Lear".
(c) "Hamlet".
(d) "Love's Labor's Lost".

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

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

13. What does Bloom say love causes in "King Lear"?
(a) Tragedy.
(b) Justice.
(c) Resolution.
(d) Harmony.

14. What does Bloom say Thebes in "Two Noble Kinsmen" refers to?
(a) Athens in 431.
(b) London in 1613.
(c) London in 1609.
(d) Paris in 1599.

15. How does Bloom say Macbeth allows himself to pursue the crown?
(a) By rationally defining his deserving.
(b) By lying to himself.
(c) By evilly plotting for his own power.
(d) By convincing himself of others' illegitimacy.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Whose riddle does Pericles solve at the beginning of the play?

3. How does the porter describe the effects of alcohol?

4. How does Auden describe Iago?

5. What important character does Bloom say Iago influenced?

(see the answer keys)

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