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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. Where does Alibech set out on her quest?

2. How many men actually had Alatiel before she was married?

3. How does the monk trick the abbot?

4. Who takes the place of the prince and seeks revenge on the duke?

5. What does Nuto suggest Masetto do to get the job?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why have the young people of the novel left Florence and gone into the country?

3. What is the ambition of Alibech and where does it take her?

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. Why is it so easy for Berto della Massa to take on the persona of Brother Alberto, a minor friar?

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

8. What does Alibech learn from Rustico?

9. How does the handsome Masetto manage to become the gardener for a convent of eight nuns and an abbess?

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, 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 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, The Value of Quick Thinking. Find at least two examples of how a person's quick thinking in THE DECAMERON averted a serious complication. Discuss the ability to think quickly in compromising situations and give an example or two of how it might work in a situation you set up for purposes of this essay.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, How People Change Over Time. Begin by summarizing the tale of Tedaldo who leaves Florence after a quarrel with his mistress and later returns as a pilgrim and is not recognized by anyone who once knew him. Go to a discussion of how people not seen for a long time change physically, mentally, and emotionally. If possible use an example from your own life.

(see the answer keys)

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