View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was Will licensed for during the time that he lived in Stratford?
(a) Acting
(b) Singing
(c) Nothing
(d) Dancing

2. How did Will feel about a future career in theater?
(a) He did not like the idea of it at all
(b) He felt torn between theater and teaching
(c) He did not care
(d) He liked the idea of it very much

3. What did Will apparently believe in as the “ultimate religion?”
(a) Protestantism
(b) Romantic love
(c) Roman Catholicism
(d) Paganism

4. What important thing was developed in Will through his early education?
(a) A love of mathematics
(b) Financial independence
(c) A love of language
(d) Stellar grammar

5. What illegal activity was Will possibly involved in?
(a) Whiskey brewing
(b) Illicit wool trading
(c) Stealing from the rich
(d) Deer poaching

6. What appears to be a driving force behind Will’s hasty marriage?
(a) Money
(b) Pregnancy
(c) Weather conditions
(d) Career opportunities

7. Chapter 5 begins with an examination of…
(a) Will’s health
(b) Will’s childhood
(c) Will’s reasons for leaving Stratford
(d) Will’s financial state

8. What was the name of Will’s wife?
(a) Anne Hathaway
(b) Mary Arden
(c) Rosalie Campion
(d) Juliet Greene

9. On whose estate did Will engage in illegal activity?
(a) John Shakespeare’s
(b) Robert Greene’s
(c) Edmund Campion’s
(d) Sir Thomas Lucy’s

10. Involvement with what local group established the groundwork for Will’s later work in London?
(a) A local brewery
(b) A local acting company
(c) A local government office
(d) A local church

11. What aspect of social life was very important in Will’s time?
(a) Status
(b) Generosity
(c) Health
(d) Honesty

12. Chapter 1 ends with a discussion of…
(a) Will’s brilliance
(b) Will’s religious preferences
(c) Will’s claim to fame
(d) Will’s rural roots

13. What illegal activity was John Shakespeare involved in?
(a) Spying
(b) Deer poaching
(c) Illicit wool dealing
(d) Whiskey brewing

14. Which character in Will’s Titus Andronicus was treated in a particularly horrific way?
(a) Falstaff
(b) Lavinia
(c) Juliet
(d) King Lear

15. In which of Will’s plays do characters get married because of an unhealthy obsession?
(a) Midsummer Night's Dream
(b) Hamlet
(c) Othello
(d) Macbeth

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is NOT an example of a villainous character in Will’s later work that stemmed from exposure to plays in his younger years?

2. Which play is presented in Chapter 5 as portraying Will’s empathy with citizens of the lower classes?

3. Which of these was NOT a major location of recreation in London during Will’s day?

4. Which character in Henry VI led a rebellion against the upper class?

5. What suggestion is made in Chapter 4 regarding the representation of parenting in Will’s theatrical works?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 448 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample