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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. What does Bloom say constitutes the darkness of "Cymbeline"?

2. What important character does Bloom say Iago influenced?

3. How does Helena conceive Bertram's child?

4. Whose skepticism does Bloom describe behind Hamlet's philosophizing?

5. What does Bloom say "The Merry Wives of Windsor" might have been designed to do?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What flaws does Bloom say complicate "Cymbeline"?

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

7. How does Bloom say "Henry V" has been used in its history?

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

9. What is the role of love in "King Lear", according to Bloom?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

Is Shakespeare an everyman, whose talents are universal, or is he a unique individual whose gifts will never be repeated? Is he a type or a hero? How does Bloom describe him? How do you see him, as a result of reading this book?

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