INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH DRAMA

MODULE I
Variant A

Name: _______Katherine Schoka_____________ Result:_______________/100p.

1. Define briefly the following terms related to drama and (or) theatre (10*1p)
a. aside ____a remark or passage in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by the other
characters in the play

b. comedy___a play characterized by its humorous or satirical tone and its depiction of amusing people or
incidents, in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity.
c. cycle-play ________________________A phrase used by scholars of medieval theatre to refer to the
sequences of episodes that dramatize the sweep of Christian salvation history from Creation to Judgement
d. protagonist ________________________the leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film,
novel, etc
e. groundling _____________________an unsophisticated or uncritical spectator or reader (originally a
member of the part of a theatre audience that stood in the pit below the stage
f. stage directions ______________________Stage directions are instructions in a play for technical aspects of
the production like lighting, sound, costume, scenery or props and, most importantly, the movement of actors
onstage
g. drama ____a play for theatre
h. pageant wagon
i. trapdoor _______________a hinged or removable panel in a floor, ceiling, or roof
j. fatal flaw _______________a character trait possessed by a person that ultimately leads to his downfall
2. Describe the rise of medieval drama. (5p)
__________________________________During the Middle Ages, theatre began a new cycle of development
that paralleled the emergence of the theatre from ritual activity in the early Greek period. Whereas the Greek
theatre had grown out of Dionysian worship, the medieval theatre originated as an expression of the Christian
religion. The two cycles would eventually merge during the Renaissance
3. What is the difference between miracle and morality plays? (5p)
______Performance for Mystery or Miracle plays were given first inside the church premises and thereafter in
the marketplace and on mobile wagons. On the other hand, performances of Morality plays were generally
given inside the aristocratic halls of the courts of different nobles or inns__
4. Features of the Elizabethan theatre – make a list and explain. (5p)
a) The theatre was open and plays had to be performed in daylight.

b) A flag would be flown from the top of the theatre to show a play was going to be performed.
c) People sat around the stage in galleries.
The cheapest place was in front of the stage where ordinary people stood. They were known as ‘groundlings’.
d) There was very little scenery – a character would tell the audience where the scene was set.
Women’s parts were played by boys.
e). Long speeches gave actors a chance to change their clothes.
There was generally plenty of violence in the plays – Tudor audiences loved it.

5. Analyse the character of Faustus. (5p)

Faust is a learned German scholar who, at the beginning of the poem, is disillusioned and demoralized by his
inability to discover life’s true meaning. Despite his worldly accomplishments he is assailed by frustration
because the traditional and conventional modes of thought that he has mastered cannot help him to discern a
coherent purpose or form behind all the numerous and varied phenomena of life and nature. In all his
adventures in both parts of the poem Faust is driven by the need to perceive, without the aid of revelation, a
rational order as the framework of the world in which he lives. Because of this desire and its effect on his

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outlook, Faust’s philosophical dilemma has been held by many to typify the alienation of man in the modern
world.

In the poem, Faust is intended by Goethe to represent all humanity. He possesses all the qualities of human
ability and motivation, and is, in effect, an archetypal „everyman” figure. All Faust’s virtues and faults, his
strengths and weaknesses, are magnified so that his adventures and moral development are presented on a scale
that is larger than life. This gives his story a stature and dignity equal to its cosmic theme, and makes Faust’s
life a mirror of human existence which all men may learn from. Although he is granted salvation at the end of
the poem, Faust is a great tragic hero. His tragedy has been described as that of „titanism,” for he tries to step
beyond the limitations of humanity to seek that which is not given to mankind to know or experience. Because
of this his career is a constant series of disappointments and frustrations, but Faust never loses heart and
continues the struggle. Ultimately he comes to understand the meaning of life and is received into Heaven, a
conclusion that is meant to be an inspiration to all those who read the poem.
6. Analyse the main themes of Romeo and Juliet (5p)
The Forcefulness Of Love
Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in the English literary tradition. Love is naturally the play’s
dominant and most important theme. The play focuses on romantic love, specifically the intense passion that
springs up at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, ecstatic,
overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions. In the course of the play, the
young lovers are driven to defy their entire social world: families (“Deny thy father and refuse thy name,” Juliet
asks, “Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And I’ll no longer be a Capulet”); friends (Romeo abandons
Mercutio and Benvolio after the feast in order to go to Juliet’s garden); and ruler (Romeo returns to Verona for
Juliet’s sake after being exiled by the Prince on pain of death in 2.1.76–78).
7. After the strategic reading of Faustus’s Last Soliloquy fill in the following paraphrase of Faustus’s desires as
he waits for the devil to collect him. (15 p)
Faustus wants:
a) time to stand still so that _______________________________________________________________
b) a drop of Christ’s blood to ______________________________________________________________
c) the mountains and hills to ______________________________________________________________
d) to run into the earth but ________________________________________________________________
e) the stars of his birth to _________________________________________________________________
f) so that his soul can ____________________________________________________________________
g) or at least a limit to ___________________________________________________________________
h) He wishes that he did not have a _________________________________________________________
i) or that his ______________________ was not immortal so that he could change into a ______________
______________ and be ______________________.
j) He wants his soul to change into_________________________________________________________
k) so that _____________________________________________________________________________
l) and________________________________________________________________________________
m) His final offer is to____________________________________________________________________

8. Recognition: select the source (title and speaker) of each quotation given below. (12p)
a) “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind”
Title: __________________________
Speaker: _______________________
b) Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love;
And is no longer be Capulet.
Title: __________________________
Speaker: _______________________
c) "Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

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 and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."
Title: __________________________
Speaker: _______________________
d) “I would not kill thy unprepared spirit”
Title: __________________________
Speaker: _______________________
e) “Have more than thou showest,
speak less than thou knowest,
lend less than thou owest.”
Title: __________________________
Speaker: _______________________
f) For in that sleep of death what dreams may
come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause . . . .
Title: __________________________
Speaker: _______________________

Hamlet Quiz
1. Where does the ghost appear during the play? (A) In the nearby woods
(A) The castle ramparts and the great hall of Elsinore (B) Beside Ophelia’s grave
(B) Fortinbras’s tent and Hamlet’s bedchamber (C) Inside the church
(C) The castle ramparts and Gertrude’s bedchamber (D) Inside the grave itself
(D) Gertrude’s bedchamber and the great hall of 8. Which of the following characters survive the
Elsinore play?
2. How did Claudius murder King Hamlet? (A) Fortinbras, Horatio, and Osric
(A) By stabbing him through an arras (B) Prince Hamlet, Polonius, and Gertrude
(B) By pouring poison into his ear (C) Claudius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern
(C) By ordering him to be hanged (D) Ophelia, Laertes, and King Hamlet
(D) By poisoning his wineglass 9. How does Ophelia die?
3. Where is the university at which Horatio and (A) Claudius stabs her.
Hamlet studied? (B) Hamlet strangles her.
(A) Paris (C) She slits her wrists.
(B) Oxford (D) She drowns in the river.
(C) Constantinople 10. Why, according to Polonius, has Hamlet gone
(D) Wittenberg mad?
4. Whose skull does Hamlet discover in the (A) He grieves too much for his father.
churchyard? (B) He despises Claudius for marrying Gertrude.
(A) The former court jester’s (C) He is in love with Ophelia.
(B) Reynaldo’s (D) He is jealous of Laertes and longs to return to
(C) Ophelia’s Wittenberg.
(D) His father’s 11. Who is the last character to die in the play?
5. Which of the following characters cannot see the (A) Horatio
ghost? (B) Hamlet
(A) Marcellus (C) Claudius
(B) Hamlet (D) Fortinbras
(C) Gertrude 12. How many characters die during the course of the
(D) Horatio play?
6. Who escorts Hamlet on the voyage to England? (A) Two
(A) Cornelius and Voltimand (B) Five
(B) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (C) Seven
(C) Marcellus and Bernardo (D) Eight
(D) Captain Vicissus and the one-eyed thief 13. In what country do Rosencrantz and
7. Where do Hamlet and Laertes fight during Guildenstern die?
Ophelia’s funeral? (A) Belgium

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(B) Denmark (D) his wife sleeping with Claudius
(C) England 24. Why are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in
(D) Poland Denmark?
14. Why does Hamlet decide not to kill Claudius after (A) to kill Hamlet
the traveling players’ play? (B) to cheer up Hamlet
(A) Claudius is praying. (C) to find out why Hamlet is acting mad
(B) Claudius is asleep. (D) to bring Hamlet back to England
(C) Claudius pleads for mercy. 25. What religion was Denmark at time of writing?
(D) Gertrude is in the next room. (A) Protestant
15. Who killed Fortinbras’s father? (B) Anglican
(A) Prince Hamlet (C) Catholic
(B) Laertes (D) High Anglican
(C) Fortinbras 26. Where does Hamlet say Ophelia should go?
(D) Hamlet’s father (A) Russia
16. In which of the following years was Hamlet most (B) a castle
likely written? (C) a bakery
(A) 1570 (D) a nunnery
(B) 1601 27. Where does the ghost say he wanders?
(C) 1581 (A) Heaven
(D) 1610 (B) Purgatory
17. Which of Claudius and Laertes’ traps for Hamlet (C) Hell
succeeds in killing him? (D) Baltic Sea
(A) The poisoned cup 28. When the play begins, the castle is celebrating
(B) The sharpened sword (A) Old Hamlet's defeat of Old Fortinbras
(C) The poisoned dagger (B) Hamlet's return
(D) The poisoned sword (C) Laertes' return
18. Which character speaks from beneath the stage (D) King Claudius and Queen Gertrude's marriage
toward the end of Act I? 29. Who survives the play?
(A) The ghost (A) Hamlet
(B) Hamlet (B) Horatio
(C) Claudius (C) Claudius and Gertrude
(D) Polonius (D) Laertes and Polonius and Ophelia
19. Who returns Hamlet to Denmark after his exile? 30. There are images throughout the play relating to
(A) Horatio (A) eyelashes
(B) Claudius (B) neck
(C) A group of pirates (C) ears
(D) A group of monks (D) nose
20. The ghost is first spotted 31. The health of a state seems related to
(A) in the graveyard (A) the moral state of the leader
(B) on the deck of the ship (B) the physical state of its leader
(C) in Gertrude's chambers (C) the moral state of its people
(D) outside the castle (D) the physical state of its people
21. In his first appearance onstage, Hamlet is 32. Young Fortinbras says he is invading
wearing (A) Poland
(A) mourning clothes (B) England
(B) a jester's costume (C) Denmark
(C) royal robes (D) Germany
(D) the crown 33. Who saves Hamlet's life?
22. Hamlet claims to be afflicted by (A) Ophelia
(A) gout (B) pirates
(B) melancholy (C) Polonius
(C) schizophrenia (D) Old Hamlet
(D) dyslexia 34. In form, Hamlet is above all what sort of play?
23. What noise drives the ghost offstage? (A) a punch and judy show
(A) a string quartet (B) a revenge play
(B) Hamlet crying (C) a comedy
(C) a cock's crow (D) a morality play

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35. What does Hamlet call Polonius? 43.What is the ghost wearing when it appears to
(A) father Horatio?
(B) dear man (A) Royal Robes
(C) a fishmonger (B) Pajamas
(D) father-in-law (C) A white sheet
36. Complete the following lines from Hamlet: (D) Armour
Something is rotten in the state of... 44. Whose skull does Hamlet discover in the
(A) England churchyard?
(B) Venice (A) Yorick's
(C) Denmark (B) Ophelia's
(D) Maine (C) Osric's
37. Which of the following characters does not (D) His father's
appear in Hamlet? 45. How long after the death of Hamlet's father do
(A) Polonius Gertrude and Claudius wait to get married?
(B) Gertrude (A) About 2 days
(C) Claudius (B) About 2 weeks
(D) Miranda (C) About 2 months
38. How are Polonius and Laertes related? (D) About 2 years
(A) Father/son 46. Who storms Elsinore Castle with a group of
(B) Uncle/nephew armed followers?
(C) Cousin/Cousin (A) Hamlet
(D) Brother/Brother (B) Laertes
39. What is the name of the playlet Hamlet stages for (C) Fortinbras
Claudius? (D) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
(A) Slings and Arrows 47. Whose story does Hamlet ask the players to tell
(B) Vice of Kings upon their arrival to Elsinore?
(C) The Murder of Gonzago (A) Priam and Hecuba’s
(D) The Slaying of Lucianus (B) Antony and Cleopatra’s
40. How does Queen Gertrude die? (C) Gertrude and Claudius’s
(A) Accidentally stabbed by Laertes (D) Ophelia’s
(B) Drowns in the river outside the castle 48. What does the ghost tell Hamlet to do about his
(C) Suffers a fatal heart attack while watching Hamlet mother?
fight Laertes (A) Shame her for remarrying so quickly
(D) Poisoned by drinking from Hamlet’s cup (B) Warn her not to sleep again with Claudius
41. What poison does Claudius pour into the ear of (C) Leave her to Heaven
Hamlet’s father, causing his death? (D) Kill her
(A) Burdock 49. Why does Polonius send Reynaldo to France?
(B) Hebenon (A) To meet with Fortinbras
(C) Baneberry (B) To find a doctor for Ophelia
(D) Hamlock (C) To murder Hamlet
42. Who says: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be"? (D) To spy on Laertes
(A) Gertrude 50. Hamlet is set in
(B) Laertes (A) Sweden
(C) Polonius (B) England
(D) Claudius (C) Denmark
(D) Scotland

Romeo and Juliet quiz

51. To which city does Romeo go after being exiled from Verona?
(A) Padua (B) Rome (C) Venice (D) Mantua
52. Why is Romeo exiled?
(A) For killing Tybalt (C) For killing
(B) For marrying Mercutio
Juliet against her (D) For publicly
father’s will admitting his atheism

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53. Who performs Romeo and Juliet’s marriage?
(A) Friar John (B) Friar Lawrence (C) Father Vincentio (D) Mercutio

54. Who is the fairy that Mercutio says visits Romeo in dreams?
(A) Puck (B) Queen Mab (C) Beelzebub (D) Jack o’ the Clover
55. What does the Nurse advise Juliet to do after Romeo is exiled?
(A) Follow her (B) Wait for Romeo (C) Act as if Romeo (D) Commit suicide
husband to Mantua in Verona is dead and marry
Paris
56. Where do Romeo and Juliet meet?
(A) At Capulet’s feast (B) At Friar (C) At Montague’s (D) At the pier from
Lawrence’s cell feast which Malvolio is
departing for Spain
57. Who kills Mercutio?
(A) Benvolio (B) Sampson (C) Romeo (D) Tybalt
58. Which character first persuades Romeo to attend the feast?
(A) Mercutio (B) Benvolio (C) Lady Montague (D) Juliet
59. What, at first, does Juliet claim that Romeo hears the morning after their wedding night?
(A) The owl (B) The dove (C) The nightingale (D) The lark
60. To what does Romeo first compare Juliet during the balcony scene?
(A) The moon (B) The stars (C) A summer’s day (D) The morning sun
61. Who discovers Juliet after she takes Friar Lawrence’s potion?
(A) Lady Capulet (B) Capulet (C) Paris (D) The Nurse
62. Who proposes that a gold statue of Juliet be built in Verona?
(A) Montague (B) Lady Capulet (C) Paris (D) Romeo
63. To which powerful figure is Paris related?
(A) Capulet (B) Montague (C) Prince Escalus (D) King Vardamo
64. How and where does Romeo commit suicide?
(A) With a dagger in (B) With a rope in the (C) With a sword in (D) With poison in
the orchard public square Juliet’s bedchamber Juliet’s tomb
65. Who is the last person to see Juliet before she stabs herself dead?
(A) Paris
(B) Friar Lawrence
(C) Tybalt
(D)Romeo