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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which member of the important group of playwrights in London was particularly opposed to Will’s success?
(a) Christopher Marlowe
(b) Richard Field
(c) Robert Greene
(d) The Earl of Southampton

2. Chapter 8 focuses mostly on Will’s…
(a) Health
(b) Children
(c) Marriage
(d) Poetry

3. In which play did Will NOT poke fun at the members of the prominent group of playwrights in London during his day?
(a) King Lear
(b) The Merry Wives of Windsor
(c) Hamlet
(d) Twelfth Night

4. Which of Will’s characters in Macbeth was a reinvention of one of King James’ ancestors?
(a) Macbeth
(b) Jack Cade
(c) Iago
(d) Banquo

5. Which of these was another prominent playwright (and likely the leader) within the theater community of Will’s day?
(a) Robert Greene
(b) Henry Arden
(c) John Patton
(d) Edgar Lucy

6. What was a result of the production of Hamlet?
(a) Will was invited to go to France to write plays
(b) Will’s position as a preeminent playwright was assured
(c) Will was made a knight by the queen
(d) Will’s position as a playwright in London was destroyed

7. What theater in London burned down towards the end of Will’s life?
(a) The Glove
(b) The Thorn
(c) The Rose
(d) The Globe

8. Where did Will live near the end of his life?
(a) Stratford
(b) Lancashire
(c) Birmingham
(d) London

9. What did Will buy more and more of in Stratford?
(a) Sheep
(b) Swords
(c) Land
(d) Books

10. What is the basic plot of Will’s play Richard II?
(a) A strong monarch is overthrown
(b) A powerful monarch gets sick
(c) A cowardly monarch flees the country
(d) A feeble monarch is deposed

11. What situation did Will leave behind in London when he went to Stratford?
(a) An ailing father that was close to death
(b) An accusation of embezzlement from the church
(c) A dispute leading to the dismantling and rebuilding of a particular theater
(d) A threat that he was going to be executed for treason

12. What is the name of another epic poem that Will wrote?
(a) Othello
(b) The Rape of Lucrece
(c) As You Like It
(d) Hamlet

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

14. Which description of Sir John Falstaff is NOT reflective of the people on whom his character is based?
(a) Self-indulgent
(b) Self-deluding
(c) Full of manipulation and lies
(d) Gentle and wise

15. What is the name of an epic poem that Will wrote?
(a) Come to Me
(b) Othello
(c) Venus and Adonis
(d) As You Like It

Short Answer Questions

1. What circumstance heavily influenced the writing of Hamlet?

2. What did Queen Elizabeth require of her subjects, no matter what their religious beliefs were?

3. What did Will buy for his family in Stratford during this time?

4. What did Will publish in rebuttal of Robert Greene’s written attacks?

5. What was the name of Christopher Marlowe’s play that was about a Jew?

(see the answer keys)

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