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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. Why does Virginius kill Virginia?

2. Where does the Manciple's Tale begin?

3. How many times does the canon trick the priest?

4. How does Chanticleer escape his captor?

5. What does the canon make the priest believe he turned quicksilver into?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the merchant's wife able to buy the clothes she wants?

2. What does Chaucer suggest by saying the Tale of Sir Topas includes his best rhymes?

3. What is the style of the Nun's Priest's Tale?

4. What is the significance of Virginia's name in the Physician's Tale?

5. What is the common moral in the Monk's tragedies?

6. What is the parallel between the Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and his Tale?

7. What is the parallel between the Prioress's Prologue and her Tale?

8. What becomes the downfall for both Chanticleer and the fox in the Nun's Priest's Tale?

9. What is Phoebus's downfall in the Manciple's Tale?

10. What about the Shipman's Tale suggests that Chaucer originally intended the story to be told by a female character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the role of the Narrator in The Canterbury Tales. Is he a reliable narrator? Why or why not? Is he effective in his role? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the class system of the Middle Ages. How is the class system expressed in The Canterbury Tales? Is this effective in Chaucer's story? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Explain the society in which Geoffrey Chaucer lived. What was the religious climate? What was the political and social climate?

(see the answer keys)

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