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. What form of the virus resulted in the deaths of more people than the previous plague?

2. Who is the painter whom Artaud writes of in "Metaphysics and the Mise en Scene"?

3. What animal does the author say has a mysterious affinity with the plague?

4. Theater must do what in order to reconstruct itself on a layer of its own virtual reality?

5. Artaud comments that anything obsessive may be considered what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the sources of the essays in "The Balinese Theater"?

2. What painting does Artaud describe in "Metaphysics and the Mise en Scene"?

3. What does "gold" represent in Artaud's analogy of "The Alchemical Theater"?

4. What is the "reality" of the Balinese theater, according to Artaud?

5. What commonality does Artaud assert between Alchemy and the theater?

6. What did Saint-Remys do following his dream of the plague?

7. How does Artaud associate culture and art?

8. What does Artaud say in reference to totems in his Preface?

9. In what reference does Artaud comment on Plato in "The Alchemical Theater"?

10. What is the meaning behind the title of "The Theater and Its Double"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "The Theater of Cruelty: First Manifesto," Artaud discusses the need for a "new language" for the theater as "a metaphysics of speech, gesture, and expression, in order to rescue it from its servitude to psychology and "human interest." What does he mean by this?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the significance of Artaud's time and place in regard to his vision of humanity and the world. How might the political and social climate affected his theories? How might his own personal struggles and demons?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the role of spoken language in Oriental Theater and Occidental Theater. What are the differences? What did Artaud make of these?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 880 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample