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 is the profession of the man who has Lenin as a tenant, according to Carr?

2. According to Carr in this section, what activity was not encouraged or expressly forbidden in the British Consular Service?

3. What art movement is born our of the Meierei Bar in Zurich?

4. To what country's system of government does Bennett compare the anticipate Russian state at the end of his explanation of Marxist?

5. What did Tzara leave in Carr's drawing room on his last visit?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the Zimmerwaldists plan to leave Switzerland?

2. Why does Tzara have two names?

3. How is Art created, from Tzara's point of view?

4. What is the purpose of Gwen and Joyce's visit in the limerick scene?

5. What caveat does Cecily have for loving Carr/Tristan?

6. What quandary is Carr facing in this section?

7. What admonition does Carr make to the audience regarding his memory at the end of the act?

8. What is Henry Carr's relationship to James Joyce?

9. What opinion do the Bolsheviks have regarding bourgeois-capitalist democracy in Russia?

10. In what way has Carr's manner of study impeded his learning?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Stoppard's plays often involve large personalities with different world-views clashing regarding some major topic. In Travesties, the topic is revolution and art. Write an essay on three characters and how they represent different views of these subjects:

Part 1) Henry Carr represents the past, a Victorian ideal. How does he relate to the other characters int he play? How does his obsession with clothing and order represent a style that is going out of fashion?

Part 2) James Joyce is perhaps the most of-the-moment in 1917. To what extend has he reconciled his love for the classical with the acknowledgment that the world is shifting? How is Ulysses a physical representation of this?

Part 3) Tristan Tzara wants to throw away everything that has come before, reject the old forms. How is he the most abrasive of characters on the stage? In what ways are all other characters put off by him?

Essay Topic 2

The central story of Travesties is a love story involving two couples, but it is driven in large part by the British desire to keep tabs on Lenin. Write an essay about Carr's mission to prevent Lenin's passage into Russia. How does he initially react to the assignment as related and elucidated by Bennett? Why does it bring him into contact with Cecily? In the end, why does Carr have such difficulty following through with his assignment?

Essay Topic 3

Truth and confusion is a central theme of Travesties. The play itself is a story told by an elderly and senile man, and it examines the unlikeliness of ever knowing for certain with the truth of a story is. Write an essay about memory and confusion, focusing on three aspects of the play:

Part 1) This play opens and closes with monologues by Henry Carr, and throughout he interrupts the action to explain it and himself. What apologies and explanations does he make regarding his memory? At what points does he become defiant regarding the truth of his story?

Part 2) Throughout the play, Stoppard has what are called time slips, moments when the action repeats itself and changes slightly. What do these time slips reflect? When do they occur, and how do they change the meaning of much of the action?

Part 3) What, in the end, can the audience believe about Henry Carr's story? What assertions turn out to be completely false? What is Stoppard saying about the human inclination to self-mythologize?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,087 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample