View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do Constanza and Alatiel go after they leave Athens?

2. How does Saladin honor Melchisedech?

3. Where does Ser Ciappelletto find lodging in Burgundy?

4. How does Monna Lisetta respond to the idea that the Angel Gabriel wants her?

5. How can Berto so easily convince people that he has taken on the vows of poverty and chastity?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ghismunda end her life?

2. Why does Isabetta cry over a pot of basil?

3. What ultimately happens after Ciappelletto dies?

4. What do the brothers think when they hear Ciappelletto's confession?

5. What is the quandary the Florentine brothers find themselves in when Ciappelletto becomes so ill?

6. What happens to Ciappelletto while staying with two Florentine brothers in Burgundy?

7. How does Brother Alberto take advantage of Lisetta whom he calls Lady Halfwit?

8. How does Ciappelletto become aware of the brothers' situation?

9. How dies Alatiel end up on the island of Majorca?

10. After becoming a widow shortly after her marriage, what does Ghismunda see her father, Tancredi, has no plans of doing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, the device Boccaccio uses in the character of Dioneo tell the tenth tale every evening. Discuss this literary device in terms of transition and keeping the story flowing in the form of the novel. Conclude with the element of suspense that this device brings to THE DECAMERON making the reader want to read on.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Women as the Weaker Sex in THE DECAMERON. Use at least three different examples of how women are seen as inferior to men and more susceptible to moral transgression than men as seen in the book. Discuss how this idea not only plays out in the tales but also in the acceptance of the women gathered in the group of story tellers.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Medical Pandemics Through the Ages. In your essay describe the Black Death that swept Europe in the Middle Ages and why it lasted so long. Then discuss pandemics of more modern times such as polio and various virulent strains of the flu. Conclude with how these plagues affect the human psyche.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 739 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample