View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Bloom say almost overwhelms him about "Richard III"?
(a) The Marlovian influence.
(b) The soliloquies.
(c) The seduction scene.
(d) The battle scene.

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

3. How does Bloom characterize characters like Hamlet and Falstaff?
(a) Creations of language itself.
(b) Pure fiction.
(c) Purely literary.
(d) Larger than life.

4. What gets better as the king's fate gets worse in "Richard II"?
(a) The king's insight.
(b) The king's poetry.
(c) The king's heart.
(d) The king's patience.

5. Who does Julia look for, while she is disguised?
(a) Valentine.
(b) Silvia.
(c) Proteus.
(d) Proteus' dog.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are the relationships in "Love's Labor's Lost" motivated by?

2. To what later character does Bloom connect Brutus from "Julius Caesar"?

3. Whom do Antipholus and Dromio discover when they arrive in Ephesus, in "Comedy of Errors"?

4. How does Bloom characterize the marriage between Beatrice and Benedick?

5. How does Bloom characterize "Richard III"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What similarity does Bloom say there is between "Twelfth Night" and a Ben Jonson play?

2. What does Bloom say is the primary rival for Romeo and Juliet's affections?

3. What play does Bloom say influenced Shakespeare's "Henry VI"?

4. What makes Rosalind a great character in "As You Like It"?

5. How does Bloom characterize the character Shylock?

6. Who are the prominent critics Bloom cites as the most influential critics of Shakespeare?

7. What is Bloom's estimation of "Richard III"?

8. What does "Romeo and Juliet" prefigure, in Bloom's interpretation?

9. What aspect of Nietzsche's philosophy is present in "Richard II", in Bloom's interpretation?

10. What is Bloom's estimation of "Julius Caesar"?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 646 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample