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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 act of fidelity do Julia and Proteus commit when parting ways at the the beginning of Two Gentlemen of Verona?

2. Which of the following is not a prophecy the witches make at the beginning of Macbeth?

3. In The Winter's Tale, what is Florizel when he first sees Perdita?

4. The ghost of which character appears at Macbeth's banquet?

5. How do Claudio and Don Pedro indicate to Benedick that Beatrice loves him in Much Ado About Nothing?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Valentine becomes the leader of bandits in Two Gentlemen of Verona?

2. What is Don Pedro's attitude to Beatrice and Benedick at the beginning of Much Ado About Nothing?

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

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

5. How does Prospero find Ariel in The Tempest?

6. Why is Posthumus banished at the beginning of Cymbeline?

7. What is the problem among the young lovers at the beginning of A Midsummer Night's Dream?

8. Under what circumstances does Lear go mad?

9. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, how does Oberon change the hearts of the Athenian youths?

10. How does Leontes respond to his new daughter at the beginning of The Winter's Tale?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many of Shakespeare's stories take place in the court of ruling people. In such stories - like Cymbeline, Macbeth, King Lear, or Hamlet - the acquisition power is the driver of conflict. Write an essay charting the way power changes hands in three such stories. Who loses power who should control it? What usurper or group of usurpers takes power, and how is this unnatural acquisition reighted by the end of the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

Shakespeare's comedies involve betrayal and reconciliation between family members and friends. Write an essay about three comedies and discuss how friends and family members betray each other. What compels them to do this? What is the fallout from this betrayal? Discuss what events occur that lead to reconciliation among them? What does this redemption say about the nature of friendship, family and love?

Part 1) The Winter's Tale

Part 2) Two Gentlemen of Verona

Part 3) As You Like It

Essay Topic 3

Tales from Shakespeare contains stories based on Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies. Write a three part essay, discussing the difference between Shakespearean tragedy and comedy, citing specific examples of each in the three sections:

Part 1) What features make a tragedy in Shakespeare? How do they almost always end? Discuss which components of narrative are always the same in a tragedy. What type of lesson does Shakespeare intend for the writer to take away from the experience? How does he impart these themes?

Part 2) How does a comedy progress? What is the traditional ending to a Shakespearean comedy? Discuss how a comedy develops differently from a tragedy, and what it relates about humanity. What parts of the human existence does Shakespeare omit in writing a comedy?

Part 3) Compare the experience of reading a comedy and tragedy? How do protagonists in each of these differ in terms of their objectives and dynamic nature? Discuss what the reader is supposed to sympathize with in each case.

(see the answer keys)

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