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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Bloom characterize the Falstaff of "The Merry Wives of Windsor"?

2. What does Bloom say he prefers for representations of Caliban?

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

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

5. Who whom does Fluellen compare Henry V?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Bloom say is the focus of "Antony and Cleopatra"?

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

3. What does Bloom say is the heart of "The Tempest"?

4. Where does Bloom see comedy in "Antony and Cleopatra"?

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

6. What interpretation does Bloom say he favors for Caliban in "The Tempest"?

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

8. What is the moral of "Measure for Measure", in Bloom's account?

9. How does Bloom characterize the play "Pericles"?

10. Why does Bloom say "Timon of Athens" was not performed in Shakespeare's lifetime?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate your own reading of "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human"--did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 2

What is the role of love in Shakespeare's plays? How does Bloom describe the benefits and consequences of love?

Essay Topic 3

Bloom credits Shakespeare with defining the interior development that we take as emblematic of modernity. Has anything happened, in art or in human culture, that has invented a different kind of human being, or invented different ways of being human since Shakespeare?

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