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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What determines a criminal's innocence or guilt in the arena?
(a) Chance.
(b) His deductive abilities.
(c) The judge.
(d) The jury.

2. How does the princess signal to the courtier in the arena?
(a) By blinking.
(b) With her left hand.
(c) By tilting her head.
(d) With her right hand.

3. What are the two outcomes for the criminal depending on his choice of door in the arena?
(a) To be devoured or married.
(b) To be knighted or killed.
(c) To be crowned or married.
(d) To be exiled or hung.

4. What does the narrator remark regarding the unpredictability of the trials at the arena?
(a) It "gave the spectators a sense of tension and fear, and always reminded them to stay in line."
(b) It "brought forth tears of excess for the populace."
(c) It "gave an apprehension to the audience and a lack of interest."
(d) It "lent an interest to the occasion which it could not otherwise have attained."

5. How does the narrator describe the king's feelings about his daughter in Part 4?
(a) "She was his greatest worry."
(b) "She was the bane of his existence."
(c) "She was the apple of his eye."
(d) "She was an annoyance to him."

Short Answer Questions

1. What word in the story refers to a nuptial ode?

2. Of the citizenry, the narrator says in Part 3, "they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or" what?

3. What word from the story refers to doubt or unpredictability?

4. What is described as waiting behind a second door in Part 3 of the story?

5. What door does the courtier go to open in the end of Part 4?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the king's subjects feel about the system enacted at the king's arena?

2. How does irony apply to the trial of the courtier in the king's arena?

3. What is described as standing behind the second door in the narrator's hypothetical trial in Part 3?

4. What happens when the king discovers his daughter's love affair?

5. What is the crime that the courtier is charged with?

6. How is the unpredictability of the arena described in Part 3 of the narrative?

7. How does the narrator "set the scene" on the day of the courtier's trial?

8. What preparations are made for the courtier's trial in Part 4?

9. What signal does the princess give to the courtier in the arena?

10. How would you compare the king's tribunal with our contemporary justice system?

(see the answer keys)

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