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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. In his first letter of "Letters on Cruelty," Artaud writes, "I do not systematically cultivate _____."
(a) Fear.
(b) Bloodshed.
(c) Cruelty.
(d) Horror.

2. What does Artaud intend to do with the stage in the Theater of Cruelty?
(a) Abolish it.
(b) Raise it.
(c) Light it on fire.
(d) Put barriers around it.

3. Artaud claims in his first letter of "Letters on Language" that while it still qualifies as "theater," a play which depends entirely on a scripted text is nothing but a _____ of theater.
(a) Distraction.
(b) Perversion.
(c) Imitation.
(d) Bad attempt.

4. What is the name of the second act of Artaud's proposed production?
(a) "Extraction."
(b) "Redemption."
(c) "Confession."
(d) "Salvation."

5. Artaud writes of "a seventh state which is beyond breath and which, through the door of the highest ____, the state of Sattva, joins the manifest to the non-manifest."
(a) Hindu.
(b) Buddhist.
(c) Guna.
(d) Shiva.

Short Answer Questions

1. Artaud claims that "everything that ____ is a cruelty."

2. Writing of language in his first manifesto, Artaud states, "It is not a question of suppressing the spoken language, but of giving words approximately the importance they have ______."

3. To whom is Artaud's first letter in "Letters on Language"?

4. In his third letter from "Letters on Language," Artaud states that he never meant for cruelty to be used sporadically, but rather as the _____ of his theater."

5. In his first manifesto, the author writes "Every spectacle will contain a physical and ______ element, perceptible to all."

Short Essay Questions

1. In Artaud's first letter in "Letters on Cruelty," who is he writing to and what is his principle subject?

2. What must the actor control in order to relate emotions he wants to convey?

3. How does Artaud describe the correlation between actions and language in his "Letters on Language"?

4. How does Artaud describe what "cruelty" is not referring to in his letters?

5. What is Artaud's approach to the audience in the theater of cruelty?

6. What is Artaud's subject of his second note in "Two Notes"?

7. In Artaud's "Letters on Language," he insists that the task of "mise en scène" must not be subordinated to spoken or written words as if this task was simply an accessory to theater. What does this mean?

8. Describe the events of the last two acts of "The Conquest of Mexico."

9. Discuss Artaud's feelings about the cinema as he describes them in "The Theater of Cruelty."

10. What are the different types of breathing the author refers to?

(see the answer keys)

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