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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was Will’s future patron determined NOT to do?
(a) Become ill
(b) Marry
(c) Become injured while riding horses
(d) Divorce

2. Which monarch ascended to the throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth?
(a) King James I
(b) Queen Elizabeth II
(c) King Richard II
(d) King Henry IV

3. In Chapter 12, what does the author suggest that Will feared?
(a) Fire
(b) Old age
(c) The king's wrath
(d) Financial ruin

4. What was the watching public’s response to the execution of Queen Elizabeth’s personal doctor?
(a) Sympathetic pity
(b) Massive fear
(c) Great remorse
(d) Cruel laughter

5. Which play did Will write that contains an important Jewish character (Shylock)?
(a) Othello
(b) The Merchant of Venice
(c) King Lear
(d) Hamlet

6. Who did the Earl of Southampton eventually marry?
(a) A princess from France
(b) One of the queen’s maids
(c) Will’s sister
(d) Will’s daughter

7. Which of these was NOT an element of patronage during Will’s day?
(a) Legal protection
(b) Adoption into the patron’s family
(c) Social advancement
(d) Financial support

8. To whom did Will leave all of his property in his will?
(a) To his wife Anne
(b) To his daughter Susanna
(c) To his daughter Judith
(d) To his son Hamnet

9. Which important person in Will’s life supported the rebellion against the queen led by the Earl of Essex?
(a) The Earl of Southampton
(b) The Duke of York
(c) Richard Field
(d) Christopher Marlowe

10. What theater was at the center of a dispute described in Chapter 10?
(a) The Rose
(b) The Globe
(c) The Throne Room
(d) New Place

11. What object did Will leave to his wife after his death?
(a) His second-best bed
(b) The family home
(c) All of his money
(d) His personal sword

12. Which description does NOT fit the members of the important group of playwrights in London during Will’s day?
(a) Generous and mild
(b) University educated
(c) Outcasts from their families
(d) Intent upon making a mark in theater

13. Which of Will’s famous tragedies was written during the reign of King James?
(a) Hamlet
(b) Richard II
(c) Venus and Adonis
(d) Macbeth

14. What does Chapter 8 say that Will may have developed towards the Earl of Southampton?
(a) Romantic feelings
(b) Apathy
(c) Animosity
(d) Sympathy

15. In Chapter 9, who was the reigning monarch of England?
(a) King Henry
(b) King James
(c) Queen Catherine
(d) Queen Elizabeth

Short Answer Questions

1. Who took Robert Greene in so that he did not have to die on the streets of London?

2. Which of these was NOT one of Will’s early comedies?

3. During the production of which of Will’s plays did the Globe Theater burn down?

4. What circumstance heavily influenced the writing of Hamlet?

5. What is the basic plot of Will’s play Richard II?

(see the answer keys)

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