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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 Katherine give Richard to wear at his next meeting, so his contact will recognize him?

2. What is Lord Horn's position on swordsmen's right to refuse a job?

3. Where has Lord Ferris promised Katherine she won't have to go again?

4. Who does Lord Horn ask Richard to kill in a letter?

5. What time of day is it when Richard wakes at the beginning of Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. What interferes with Ferris speaking privately with Basil after their dinner together?

2. What is the most common assumption about who hired St. Vier for the fight?

3. How does Lord Horn end up angry at Michael during the Duchess's party?

4. Why does Michael originally decide that he will sleep with Lord Horn?

5. Why are Lady Mary Halliday and Duchess Tremontaine annoyed when Lady Godwin and her son arrive?

6. What do the houses in Old Market look like?

7. What do Richard and Alec say about the Duchess, as they watch the party?

8. Describe what Michael overhears between Michael's casual male lover and the woman Michael has just slept with.

9. How does Richard describe his relationship with Alec to Katherine?

10. How does Basil look in comparison to Michael?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the setting of the novel.

1) How is the geographical layout of the town important to the novel? How do the different locations relate to and reveal different social classes?

2) What importance do different areas of Riverside have in the novel? What does the Old Market add to the story as a setting? What about the taverns in the novel?

3) What importance does the Duchess's barge have in the novel as a setting? What does the setting of the river add to the novel?

Essay Topic 2

In the novel, Richard seeks revenge for Alec. Discuss revenge in the novel.

1) Why does Richard want to hurt those who have hurt Alec? What motives are mixed with a desire for revenge?

2) What other characters want vengeance in the novel? How do they seek revenge? How do characters hurt others who have hurt them?

3) What is Michael's attitude toward revenge? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Swordsmanship is central to the novel. Discuss sword fighting in the novel.

1) What changes about Michael after he studies sword fighting? What causes him to change?

2) What does sword fighting require? Is it a laudable occupation? What drives Richard to be a swordsman?

3) Basil believes hiring swordsmen is barbaric. Explain his point of view. Why does he think it is barbaric? How true is his depiction?

(see the answer keys)

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