DIRECTIONS: Read the selection titled Elizabethan Theater. Then answer the following questions.

Choose THE BEST answer.

Elizabethan Theater

Martha Fletcher Bellinger

THE theatre as a public amusement was an innovation in the social life of the Elizabethans, and it immediately

took the general fancy. Like that of Greece or Spain, it developed with amazing rapidity. London's first theater was built

when Shakespeare was about twelve years old; and the whole system of the Elizabethan theatrical world came into being

during his lifetime. The great popularity of plays of all sorts led to the building of playhouses both public and private, to the

organization of innumerable companies of players both amateur and professional, and to countless difficulties connected

with the authorship and licensing of plays. Companies of actors were kept at the big baronial estates of Lord Oxford, Lord

Buckingham and others. Many strolling troupes went about the country playing wherever they could find welcome. They

commonly consisted of three, or at most four men and a boy, the latter to take the women's parts. They gave their plays in

pageants, in the open squares of the town, in the halls of noblemen and other gentry, or in the courtyards of inns.

Comparison between an Elizabethan and an Athenian performance affords interesting contrasts and similarities.

The Athenian festival was part of an important religious service, for which men of affairs gave their time and money. Every

sort of government support was at its disposal, and manuscripts were piously preserved. All this was contrary to the practice

of the Elizabethans, who tried to suppress the shows, lost many of their most precious manuscripts, and banished the plays

to a place outside the city walls. In both countries, however, the audiences were made up of all classes of people who freely

expressed their liking or disapproval. In each country the period of dramatic activity followed close upon the heels of great

military and naval victories; and the plays of both countries reflect the civil and national pride.

1. Elizabethan drama, as well as Shakespeare, continued a tradition that began with …

a) Greek Tragedies

b) De Casibus tragedies

c) tragic tales

d) Roman theater

2. In Elizabethan theater, _____ was especially important because there were no elaborate special

effects, lighting, or sets.

a) blank verse

b) stage makeup

c) imagery in dialogue

d) costumes

3. W.B. Yeats described tragedy as 'a work of terrible beauty.' This means...

a) that tragedies end with everyone dying

b) that tragedies are filled with suffering

c) that tragedies contain noble, uplifting figures

d) that tragedies contain uncommon suffering faced by characters who show uncommon

dignity

4. Oedipus, the main character in Oedipus Rex, is a tragic figure because …

a) he solved the riddle of the sphinx

b) he killed his father and married his mother

c) he put out his eyes

d) he showed a noble spirit in reaction to his suffering

5. Shakespeare reveals his characters through

a) their actions

b) their words to others

c) their soliloquies

d) all of the above

DIRECTIONS: The following questions come from The Tragedy of Macbeth. Choose the BEST

answer.

6. Unrhymed iambic pentameter is also called

a) blank verse

b) a metric foot

c) trochee

d) a glossary

7. What is NOT a central theme of The Tragedy of Macbeth?

a) Fame

b) Ambition

c) Greed

d) Betrayal

e) Jealousy

8. What important role do the witches play in The Tragedy of Macbeth?

a) They help define the setting

b) They provide historical background

c) They help describe other characters

d) They foreshadow events in the play

9. Why does Lady Macbeth think Macbeth has a poor chance of achieving power?

a) He is not ruthless enough

b) He lacks sufficient ambition

c) He is too loyal to King Duncan

d) He does not have the wit to devise a workable plan

10. Macbeth's plans and actions seem to be motivated most of all by …

a) his lust for wealth

b) the support of the witches

c) his wife’s encouragement

d) the advice of Banquo

11.In what way is Lady Macbeth stronger than her husband?

a) She is harsher to the servants

b) She is better able to pretend the loves King Duncan

c) She stands firm when Macbeth begins to waver in his deadly purpose

d) She understands the witches' prophesies

12. Lady Macbeth drugs the servants in Act II …

a) so they will commit King Duncan's murder

b) so they will sleep through King Duncan’s murder

c) to erase their memory of the night

d) to kill them for their knowledge of the crime

13. In Act II, why does Macbeth declare he will “sleep no more?”

a) He will now become a fugitive

b) His conscious will never let him rest

c) He will not have sweet dreams

d) He will soon die

14.What does Macbeth really mean when he indicates that the blood on his hands will redden all

the seas?

a) It is a comment of profound guilt

b) Lady Macbeth will not be able to wash off the blood from the murder

c) It is a comment on his fear of being found out

d) He is afraid to wash the blood off his hands

15. In the following quotation from Banquo, what does he say the purpose of the meeting

should be?

And when we have our naked frailties hid, / That suffer in exposure, let us meet / And

question this most bloody piece of work, / To know it further. Fears and scruples shake

us.

a) To know the bloody piece of work further

b) To get shelter from the exposure suffered

c) To shake their fears and scruples

d) To hide their naked frailties

16. When Lady Macbeth says, “My hands are of your color, but I shame / To wear a heart so

white” she means that

a) her hands are red with King Duncan's blood, and she is ashamed

b) her hands are red with King Duncan's blood, and she is afraid

c) her hands are red with King Duncan’s blood, but, unlike Macbeth, she is not afraid

d) she will have to live with the murder of King Duncan for the rest of her life

17. Why do you suppose Shakespeare made Banquo the last person Macbeth sees before he

murders King Duncan?

a) Banquo, who is loyal to the king, represents Macbeth’s last chance to do the right thing

b) Banquo and Macbeth have both heard the witches' prophecies, and Banquo probably knows

Macbeth is about to do it

c) Shakespeare needed a bit of comic relief in the scene

d) Shakespeare needed to introduce the character of Fleance, who accompanies Banquo in the

scene

18. In Act III, what is the connotation of the word “scorpions” in this line?

O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife

a) Thoughts

b) Doubts

c) Superstitions

d) Horrors

19. When Lady Macbeth claims, “Nought's had, all's spent, / Where our desire is got without

content ...” She means that

a) she and Macbeth have quarreled

b) she and Macbeth have risked everything but have gained no happiness because they are

living in fear

c) she regrets the killing of Duncan

d) she does not want Macbeth to have Banquo killed

20. When Macbeth says, “Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown / And put a barren scepter

in my gripe ...” He means

a) he is powerless

b) he will be prosecuted for his crimes

c) he and Lady Macbeth want many children

d) he has no male heir

21. Which of the following is an external conflict?

a) Before Macbeth kills King Duncan, he imagines he sees a dagger floating in the air in front

of him

b) Macbeth regrets killing King Duncan, although he would do it again if necessary

c) Macbeth wants Banquo dead, so he hires men to murder him

d) At the banquet, Macbeth's guilty conscience conjures up an image of the dead Banquo

22. Why does Macbeth fear Banquo?

a) The witches told Macbeth that Banquo's sons would be kings

b) Banquo is loyal to the King

c) Macbeth knows that Banquo wants to kill him

d) Banquo wants to steal the crown away from Macbeth

23. When the witches say, “Something wicked this way comes,” the reader knows that …

a) the apparitions are about to appear.

b) even the witches consider Macbeth evil.

c) Macbeth is the master of the witches.

d) the witches are afraid of Macbeth.

24. After visiting the witches, why does Macbeth initially change his mind and decide not to have

Macduff killed?

a) Macbeth knows that Macduff has fled to England

b) Macduff's noble, tragic despair for his country

c) Macduff's hatred for Macbeth

d) The witches tell Macbeth that none of woman born shall harm him (Macbeth).

25. Why does Macbeth visit the witches a second time?

a) Macbeth believes that the witches' evil doings can help Macbeth maintain his power.

b) The witches have supernatural powers, and they can help Macbeth get rid of Banquo's

ghost.

c) The witches are able to see the future, and they can tell Macbeth about Banquo's sons.

d) The witches are controlling Macbeth, and he must kill them in order to release the spell.

26. What sense does the following quotation appeal to?

“This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, / Was once thought honest.”

a) Taste

b) Touch

c) Sight

d) Smell

27. The image of _____ is shown throughout the entire play of The Tragedy of Macbeth.

a) ships

b) magic

c) daggers

d) blood

28. At the end of the play, Macbeth has grown into a _______ character.

a) Timid

b) Confident

c) Brutal

d) Honorable

29. When Macbeth reveals that he has become impervious to fear and horror, he is reinforcing the

play's them of …

a) destructiveness and blind ambition

b) conflict between love and ambition

c) senselessness of battle and brevity of life

d) betrayal of friends and family

30. Why does Shakespeare have Macbeth display certain admirable traits at the end of the play?

a) Shakespeare is reinforcing the idea that Macbeth is a victim of his tragic flaw.

b) Shakespeare wants the audience to realize that Macbeth was tricked by the witches.

c) Shakespeare wanted to make Macbeth's death seem less tragic.

d) Shakespeare didn't want the audience to consider Macbeth a villain.

31. When Macbeth says, “Out, out, brief candle!” the word candle refers to …

a) the blood on his hands

b) life

c) death

d) the crown

32. Lady Macbeth kills herself because …

a) she cannot bear the guilt of the King's murder.

b) her husband is about to be killed.

c) her evil acts have made her insane.

d) she is about to be killed by Malcolm's army.

DIRECTIONS: Read the following quotations from The Tragedy of Macbeth. Answer the questions that follow. Choose THE BEST answer.

MACBETH(aside) The prince of Cumberland! That is a step

On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;Let not light see my black and deep desires.

The eye wink at the hand, yet let that beWhich the eye fears, when it is done, to see.

33. What is Macbeth referring to when he says, “Stars, hide your fires.” a) He wants to be king, but he doesn't want Lady Macbeth to help. b) He doesn't want the Prince of Cumberland to find out about the King's murder. c) He wants to hide his desire to be the king. d) The eye that fears being discovered as a murderer.

34. What does Macbeth mean when in the last two lines? a) Macbeth wants his own eyes to be blind to what his hands will do because he is scared of

the outcome. b) Macbeth doesn't want his murderous intentions to be seen by anyone else. c) After he has killed Duncan, Macbeth doesn't want to go back into the room, for he is scared

of seeing the King's corpse again. d) He doesn't want Lady Macbeth to see that he hired murderers to kill Banquo.

35. What is Macbeth reacting to in these lines? a) The Death of Banquo b) Lady Macbeth questioning his manhood c) the Death of Lady Macbeth d) Seeing the image of a floating dagger e) His receiving the title of thane of Cawdor f) the King making Malcolm his heir

LADY MACBETHThe raven himself is hoarse

That croaks the fatal entrance of DuncanUnder my battlements. Come, you spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;Stop up the access and passage to remorse,That no compunctious visitings of nature

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace betweenThe effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,

And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,Wherever in your sightless substances

You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,

That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,

To cry 'Hold, hold!'

36. What does Lady Macbeth mean when she says, “unsex me here”? a) Lady Macbeth wants the spirits to give her the King's crown. b) Lady Macbeth does not want to be considered a traditional, meek woman. c) Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to be a strong, ambitious man. d) Lady Macbeth wants to be filled with dire cruelty.

37. What is the main idea of this passage? a) Lady Macbeth invokes supernatural spirits to help her in the murder of the King. b) Lady Macbeth doesn't want morality to prevent her from the opportunity of murdering the

King the only night he is staying in Macbeth's castle. c) Lady Macbeth wants to use her gifts as a malevolent woman to help murder the King. d) Lady Macbeth doesn't want the raven, the spirits, nature, or the murdering ministers to see

her desire to kill the King.

38. What does Lady Macbeth mean in the last 5 lines of this passage? a) Because it is dark, Lady Macbeth can't find the dagger that Macbeth used to kill the King. b) Lady Macbeth and Macbeth decide they will murder the King during the middle of the

night. c) Lady Macbeth expresses her desire to murder the King by comparing it to the battle

between heaven and hell. d) Lady Macbeth wants to murder the King as quietly as possible, and she doesn't want her

morality to stop her.MACBETH

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere wellIt were done quickly: if the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catchWith his surcease success; that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

We'ld jump the life to come. But in these casesWe still have judgment here; that we but teach

Bloody instructions, which, being taught, returnTo plague the inventor: this even-handed justice

Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chaliceTo our own lips. He's here in double trust;First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,

Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,Who should against his murderer shut the door,Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath beenSo clear in his great office, that his virtues

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, againstThe deep damnation of his taking-off;And pity, like a naked new-born babe,

Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsedUpon the sightless couriers of the air,

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but onlyVaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

And falls on the other.

39. According to Macbeth's soliloquy, what is the only reason he should kill King Duncan? a) King Duncan is Macbeth's kinsman. b) Macbeth is King Duncan's subject. c) Macbeth is King Duncan's host. d) Macbeth's ambition e) King Duncan is a meek and virtuous king. f) Everyone would find out who killed King Duncan

40. What are the “bloody instructions” that Macbeth refers to in this soliloquy? a) Murder b) Ambition c) Sovereignty d) Malevolence

41. What figure of speech is used in the lines, “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent”? a) Simile b) Allusion c) Metaphor d) Iambic Pentameter

MACBETHIs this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpableAs this which now I draw.

Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,Which was not so before. There's no such thing:

It is the bloody business which informsThus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworldNature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebratesPale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,

Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his designMoves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

(A bell rings)I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knellThat summons thee to heaven or to hell.

42. What does Macbeth see a vision of in this passage? a) The witch goddess, Hecate b) The sentinel wolf c) A bloody dagger d) Tarquin, a cruel Roman ruler

43. How is the dagger situated in relation to Macbeth? a) The dagger's point faces Macbeth. b) The dagger is in Macbeth's hand. c) The dagger's handle faces Macbeth. d) The dagger is in Macbeth's belt.

44. What does the dagger symbolize? a) Macbeth's ambition b) Macbeth's insanity c) The loyalty of Macbeth, the soldier d) The murder Macbeth is about to commit

45. Literally, what is the “knell / That summons [Duncan] to heaven or to hell”? a) A floating dagger b) Macbeth c) A bell's ring d) The blade's dudgeon

MACBETHShe should have died hereafter;

There would have been a time for such a word.To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

46. What is the event in the play that Macbeth reacts do when he says these lines? a) Macbeth becoming king of Scotland b) Duncan making Malcolm the next king of Scotland c) Lady Macbeth’s suicide d) The murder of Macduff’s family

47. What is the tone of this passage? a) Apathetic b) Bitter c) Quizzical d) Objective

48. What figure of speech is Macbeth using when he says, “Life’s but a walking shadow…”? a) Metaphor b) Personification c) Allusion d) Hyperbole

49. What figure of speech is Macbeth using when he says, “To-morrow, to-morrow, and to-morrow?” a) Metaphor b) Repetition c) Hyperbole d) Cliché