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

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

3. What was Wilkins' role in "Pericles"?
(a) He wrote the whole play.
(b) He wrote the first two acts.
(c) He wrote the play on which Shakespeare based his 'Pericles'.
(d) He made substantive changes to the only surviving manuscript of the play.

4. 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 copying was common practice.
(c) That he always improved on his sources.
(d) That Shakespeare had bought the rights to the other works.

5. What aspect of Nietzsche's philosophy does Iago embody, according to Bloom?
(a) The nihilism.
(b) The literariness.
(c) The playfulness.
(d) The evil.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whom does Shakespeare attack in "Timon of Athens"?

2. What does Bloom say Thebes in "Two Noble Kinsmen" refers to?

3. What does Bloom say is the moral of "All's Well That Ends Well"?

4. Whose philosophy does Bloom say Iago embodies?

5. What does critic Marc Shell say Shakespeare is criticizing in Angelo's strict enforcement of law in 'Measure for Measure'?

Short Essay Questions

1. What view does Bloom take on Iago's character?

2. What purpose does Bloom say "The Merry Wives of Windsor" serves among Shakespeare's plays?

3. What insight does Bloom say "All's Well That Ends Well" gives us into marriage?

4. What warning does Bloom say Emerson makes about ''King Lear"?

5. What does Bloom say is the difference between 'Othello' "Cymbeline"?

6. What does Bloom say is the flaw of "Coriolanus"?

7. What does Bloom say was Shakespeare's role in "Two Noble Kinsmen"?

8. What parallel does Bloom describe between characters Henry V and Alexander the Great?

9. What is Bloom's estimation of "Henry VIII"?

10. What does Bloom say is the political subtext of "Troilus and Cressida"?

(see the answer keys)

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