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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 the fisherman in Comedy of Errors do with Antipholus and Dromio when they arrive in Ephesus?

2. What rank has Cassio recently attained at the beginning of Othello?

3. What is in the dishes Timon serves his friends?

4. Which of the following character's is killed when Romeo and Tybalt meet in the street?

5. Which character is not dead at the end of Othello?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Angelo corrupted in Measure for Measure?

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

3. What wager is involved in the final part of Taming of the Shrew?

4. Why does Hamlet kill Polonius?

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

6. In Pericles, how does Marina become a slave?

7. How does Petruchio tame Katharine on their wedding day?

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

9. How does Pericles lose Thaisa at sea?

10. What plot does Claudius concoct to be rid of Hamlet at the end of the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In much of Shakespeare's canon, death is not necessarily a complete end to an individual's influence over human events. Using The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, and Macbeth as subjects, write an essay discussing the role of ghosts and reincarnation in Shakespeare. Who returns to the realm of the living after death? When these characters return, how do they affect the world of the living? What is the nature of this return?

Essay Topic 2

Coincidence plays an important role in all of the Shakespearean narratives. Individuals lose and find each other often, and always at just the right moment. Write an essay three cases of coincidence that are important to drawing the narrative forward in the story:

Part 1) How does Hermione end up in the cave where her long-estranged brothers live? Discuss the series of unconnected circumstances that drew her to this place, and why she immediately leaves it. How is all made right and this reunion explained in the end of Cymbeline?

Part 2) Discuss how Leontes loses his child at the beginning of The Winter's Tale. What series of events bring her back to him with a significant suitor? Were any of these events perpetrated by the repentant Leontes? What is the result of Paulina's return at the end of the play?

Part 3) How does the life of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, mean that coincidence is always a factor for him? Discuss the process by which Pericles loses his entire family and how he gets them back. What factors - supernatural and natural - contribute to this reunion?

Essay Topic 3

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

(see the answer keys)

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