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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What gives "Winter's Tale" its supernatural quality, according to Bloom?
(a) Polixenes' ubiquity.
(b) Hermione's resurrection.
(c) Leontes' madness.
(d) Leontes' visions.

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

3. M. C. Bradbrook describes "Pericles" as half spectacle and half what?
(a) Prophetic vision.
(b) Satyr play.
(c) Tragedy.
(d) Farce.

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

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

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

7. What does the character Timon of Athens do to his guests?
(a) Eat them.
(b) Treat them to lavish entertainments.
(c) Torture them.
(d) Throw stones at them.

8. How does Bloom characterize the match between Helena and Bertram in "All's Well That Ends Well"?
(a) As a rare exception to the rule that love is generally destructive.
(b) As one of many marriages that plays games with gender roles.
(c) Typical mismatch.
(d) As a rare, normal marriage.

9. Why does Bloom say "Timon of Athens" was never performed?
(a) Shakespeare used the play to denounce contemporary London.
(b) Shakespeare died before he finished it.
(c) Shakespeare felt the play was too personal.
(d) Shakespeare's patron was offended by the play.

10. Whose marriage does Bloom say is happiest in all of Shakespeare's plays?
(a) Ferdinand and Miranda.
(b) Beatrice and Benedick.
(c) The Macbeths'.
(d) Romeo and Juliet's love-death.

11. What was Shakespeare's contribution to "Two Noble Kinsmen"?
(a) Act I through Act IV.
(b) Act III and Act V.
(c) Act I and parts of Act III and V.
(d) He wrote the whole play.

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

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

14. What opera is based on "The Merry Wives of Windsor"?
(a) "Carmen".
(b) "Falstaff".
(c) "Tosca".
(d) "The Barber of Seville".

15. What does Bloom say is the reason for Iago's persecution of Othello?
(a) Othello's failure to be promoted.
(b) Othello's blackness.
(c) Jealousy.
(d) Iago's evil heart.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Bloom say is the problem with the character of Coriolanus?

2. How does Bloom characterize Anthony's death?

3. What was John Fletcher's role in "Henry VIII", according to Bloom?

4. Whose philosophy does Bloom say Iago embodies?

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

(see the answer keys)

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