View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In Much Ado About Nothing, what does Hero do when accused of infidelity?

2. Which of the following characters dies at the end of Cymbeline?

3. For what purpose does Proteus hire the disguised Julia in Two Gentlemen of Verona?

4. How does Valentine meet Silvia in the wood in Two Gentlemen of Verona?

5. How does Lady Macbeth convince her husband to kill Duncan?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are Orlando and Oliver reconciled in As You Like It?

2. How does Proteus betray his friend Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona?

3. Why is Cordelia banished at the beginning of King Lear?

4. At the end of As You Like It, what happy news arrives concerning the banished duke?

5. How does Oliver try to kill Orlando in As You Like It?

6. How are Cordelia and Lear reunited?

7. How does Lady Macbeth convince Macbeth to kill Duncan?

8. How is Paulita saved from death at a young age in The Winter's Tale?

9. How are Hero and Claudio reunited at the end of Much Ado About Nothing?

10. In The Tempest, how does Prospero bring his enemies to the island?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The role of women in Shakespeare's work is remarkably ambiguous, particularly in his comedies. Choose three heroines from his comedies - Katharine, Beatrice, Helena, etc - and chart their arc over the course of the narrative. Are their objectives relatively constant throughout? Do they take their courtship into their own hands over the course of the narrative? Are they dynamic character, changing over the course of the narrative? If so, what changes them? Is it self- or society-imposed?

Essay Topic 2

Shakespeare's comedies are driven often by a sense of confusion and mistaken identity. People are not who they appear to be. In an essay, compare three comedies that make frequent use of mistaken identity to drive the plot. Is the confusion manufactured or accidental? Does it cause pain to anyone involved? How is it resolved, and are all the mysteries solved?

Part 1) Much Ado About Nothing

Part 2) Comedy of Errors

Part 3) Twelfth Night

Essay Topic 3

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare famously said the course of true love never did run smooth. Write an essay charting the arc of a particularly tumultuous courtship in one of the stories. What two characters are in love, and what obstacles prevent their complete happiness? How do they respond to these obstacles? Do they over come them or break apart from each other? Through this courtship, what is Shakespeare saying about romance and commitment?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,080 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample