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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 is so chaste in marriage and widowhood that she lives with her mother-in-law after her husband dies?

2. What does Bernabo's wife name herself when she masquerades as a male servant for Senor Ferant?

3. Why does Marquis Saluzzo apologize to his wife?

4. Who screams obscenities at Emperor Nero in an attempt to receive the same sentence as her husband, Seneca?

5. Who loves her husband, Scipio Africanus Elder, so much that she does not criticize him or slur his reputation when she discovers his affair with a servant?

Short Essay Questions

1. What leads to Ghismonda's suicide?

2. What happens when Martina reveals her Christianity to the emperor who wants to marry her?

3. What are at least two examples of men being foolish by ignoring their wise wives' advice?

4. How does Curia save her husband from exile and death?

5. How do the wives of the knights who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece save their husbands?

6. What results from Thisbe's mother's disapproval of Thisbe's love for Pyramus?

7. How does Artemisia honor her husband in death?

8. Who is Ulysses's wife, and why does Rectitude praise her?

9. What does Rectitude say to Christine's claim that the majority of women are not virtuous?

10. Describe the story about Bernabo and his wife.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the misconceptions Christine mentions about women, and how do Reason, Rectitude, and Justice dispute these?

Essay Topic 2

What role do sexist attitudes play in "The Book of the City of Ladies"? What attitudes about gender are represented and by which characters?

Essay Topic 3

How does the first person point-of-view enhance and inhibit the story? How would the novel be different if a different point of view were used?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 938 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample