Understanding Shakespeare

1a. Shakespeare's use of more than 10 syllables per line:

• A. indicates to the audience that he's making fun of something.

• B. elevates the language, making it seem more refined and elegant.

• C. draws attention to the line, perhaps making it seem more important.

• D. confuses the meaning of the line, making the reader uncomfortable.

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How might a playwright's use of meter help the audience?

• A. By forcing the audience to pay close attention to each line of dialogue

• B. By making it easier for the audience to follow what is happening in the play

• C. By allowing the audience to ignore the dialogue and focus on the play's action

• D. By building tension in the audience as they struggle to follow the plot

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3a. What strategy does the author of the essay "Reading Shakespeare" suggest will help you unerstand difficult lines in Shakespeare's plays?

• A. Read the lines out loud.

• B. Consult a study guide

• C. Define each word.

• D. Skip unknown words.

4a. Why are Shakespeare's plays considered difficult for modern students to understand?

• A. The plays were written hundreds of years ago, and none of the themes apply to modern life.

• B. Only royalty or people in the noble classes used the elevated language in Shakespeare's plays.

• C. Shakespeare left out, or altered words so that they fit the structure of his verse.

• D. The plays were translated from another language and sometimes don't make sense.

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5a. What is the differences between a comedy and a tragedy?

• A. In a comedy most of the action is experienced by a single character, while in a tragedy all of the characters are involved in the plot?

• B. In a comedy the characters battle against the protagonist, while in a tragedy the characters don't fight and usually get along.

• C. In a comedy childish rhyme is used to make people laugh, while in a tragedy iambic pentameter is used to make a line seem more important.

• D. In a comedy the protagonist is put into funny situations that lead to a happy ending, while in a tragedy the main character suffers bad luck and loss.

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6a. Which word is an example of an iamb?

• A. Mother

• B. Heartbeak

• C. Today

• D. Underneath

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7a. Which line is an example of trochaic tetrameter?

• A. Tyger, tyger burning bright

• B. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

• C. Juliet is the sun.

• D. Two households, both alike in dignity

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8a. Which line is an example of iamic pentameter?

• A. For a charm of powerful trouble

• B. My grave is like to be my wedding bed

• C. And drink, sir, is a great/provoker of three things

• D. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

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9a. Read this quotation:

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

--William Shakespeare, King Richard III, Act V, scene iv

Why is this verse an example of iambic pentameter?

• A. It is aline from Shakespeare, and his plays contain verse written only in iambic pentameter.

• B. The verse forms a pattern of an unstressed syllable immediately followed by a stressed syllable.

• C. The verse is 10 syllables long with an unstressed syllable at the beginning and end.

• D. It contains five metrical feet, each following a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

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Why did Shakespeare use iambic pentameter for the dialogue of noble characters, while commoners often spoke in blank verse or prose?

• A. To teach lower-class audience member how to speak better

• B. To show the difference between an educated, refined noble class and coarse, crude commoners

• C. To show his respect for the upper classes and let them know that he was one of them.

• D. To make fun of the upper classes for the snobby and silly way they speak

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