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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. Who fails to tell Romeo that Juliet is not actually dead?

2. Who does Olivia marry at the end of Twelfth Night?

3. How did the second set of twins in Comedy of Errors come under Aegeon's care?

4. Which of the following characters is not related to the rest?

5. Which character is not killed by Hamlet?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Angelo corrupted in Measure for Measure?

2. Describe Romeo and Juliet's meeting and courtship.

3. How does Timon of Athens lose faith in mankind?

4. Why does Hamlet kill Polonius?

5. How do Romeo and Juliet die?

6. What are the marriages that end Measure for Measure?

7. How is the opening of Twelfth Night similar to the story that begins Comedy of Errors?

8. What is the state of affairs between Ephesus and Syracuse in Comedy of Errors?

9. What does Timon do with his chest of gold at the end of his story?

10. How does Helena trick Bertram out of his ring in All's Well That Ends Well?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Tales from Shakespeare translates the plays of William Shakespeare into a series of twenty stories intended for children. In this process, Charles Lamb has kept some of the more adult themes that were present in the plays. Write an essay in three parts dealing with the prevalence of adult themes in the collection:

Part 1) In comedies like The Winter's Tale and Much Ado About Nothing and tragedies like Othello, Shakespeare deals with infidelity and mistrust between lovers. How do these themes manifest themselves? Which characters suffer as a result, and what is learned from this painful experience?

Part 2) In King Lear and Hamlet, in particular, Shakespeare deals with the duty a child owes his or her parents. Discuss the strained relationships at the center of these stories. What sense of neglect or betrayal exists in them? How are these relationships more intense forms of everyday struggles?

Part 3) Shakespeare deals fairly unsparingly with intolerance in The Merchant of Venice and Othello. What types of intolerance are discussed in these stories? Which characters subjugate which? What is learned about this type of racial and religious intolerance over the course of the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

In Shakespeare's day, sea travel was the most common form of extended travel, particularly in the Mediterranean. As such, ship travel and ship wrecks play an important role in his plays as drivers of narrative. Write an essay, citing three stories, of the use of maritime travel in Shakespeare. How does sea travel offer narrative opportunities that land travel does not? Why do so many stories begin with a shipwreck? What narrative needs does he shipwreck provide?

(see the answer keys)

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