Que- Which of the following descriptions best describes the character of Hamlet ?
a. Hamlet is depressed yet highly intelligent.
b. Hamlet is naive and simple minded.
c. Hamlet is spoiled and manipulative.
d. Hamlet is intellectually passive and deeply frightened of his father's ghost.
Answer- Hamlet is depressed yet highly intelligent.
Que- Which of the following statements about Greek tragedies is true ?
a. They were not popular with ancient Greek audiences.
b. They were usually set in the past.
c. They were almost never set in the past.
d. They were often done in honor of the Greek god Zeus.
Answer- They were usually set in the past.
Que- What is the central argument in Dr. Richard Kelly's "The Novelist's Eye" ?
a. All novelists are painters at heart.
b. George du Maurier felt that black-andwhite illustrators could be as important as novelists and painters.
c. George du Maurier attacked the social position of the novelist in his illustrations.
d. George du Maurier was a tremendous influence on Victorian novelists.
Answer- George du Maurier felt that black-andwhite illustrators could be as important as novelists and painters.
Que- Reader-response theory focuses on considering how ?
a. readers choose their favorite works of literature.
b. readers experience a literary work.
c. readers decide which works of literature to read.
d. readers develop their own unique and personal critical discourses.
Answer- readers experience a literary work.
Que- In his "Poetics", Aristotle suggests that tragic literary works should be ?
a. logical in terms of plot and structure.
b. complex in terms of plot and structure.
c. without any sort of moral insight.
d. sad.
Answer- logical in terms of plot and structure.
Que- What does a prologue serve to do in a Greek tragedy or comedy ?
a. Introduce the main characters
b. Preview the play's conclusion
c. Provide insight into the play's mythological background
d. Remind the viewers of what kind of play they are viewing
Answer- Provide insight into the play's mythological background
Que- Aristotle felt that ethos was established by a speaker or writer by convincing the audience that ?
a. the author or speaker was of good mind and character.
b. the author or speaker was emotionally involved in the topic at hand.
c. the author or speaker has provided proper logic and evidence in support of his topic.
d. the author or speaker maintained the appropriate critical distance from the topic.
Answer- the author or speaker was of good mind and character.
Que- Lauren Beth Signore's essay, "Anne of Green Gables: The Transformation from Bildungsroman to Romantic Comedy", argues that Anne of Green Gables is ultimately what kind of character ?
a. A romantic awaiting true love
b. A cynic awaiting the world's destruction
c. A delusional girl with no grasp on reality
d. A young girl with a particularly dark Mindset
Answer- A romantic awaiting true love
Que- Which of the following descriptions of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" seems most appropriate ?
a. It offers a critique of Romantic poetry and ideology.
b. It serves to parody gothic novels.
c. It is a horror novel.
d. It is a memoir based on Jane Austen's childhood.
Answer- It serves to parody gothic novels.
Que- What is the difference between traditional literary criticism and post-New Criticism literary theory ?
a. Traditional literary criticism is mainly focused on exploring gender issues.
b. Traditional literary criticism only examines pre-20th-century literary texts.
c. Traditional literary criticism focused on tracking influences and textual allusions and considering the historical contexts of literary texts.
d. Traditional literary criticism attempted to consider the psychological aspects of literary texts.
Answer- Traditional literary criticism focused on tracking influences and textual allusions and considering the historical contexts of literary texts.
Que- A gothic novel will probably not deal with which of the following themes ?
a. The sublime
b. The supernatural
c. Love
d. The manners and traditions of the upper classes
Answer- The manners and traditions of the upper classes
Que- According to Dr. Frances Pritchett's version of Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's "The Historical Novel and the Historical Narrative", what is the difference between a historical narrative and a historical novel ?
a. A historical narrative and a historical novel are the same thing.
b. A historical narrative tells only part of the story surrounding a historical event; a historical novel tells the whole story.
c. A historical novel focuses on providing the reader with only the central truth of a historical event, while a historical narrative attempts to tell the entire truth of a historical event.
d. Faruqi actually argues that historical novels do not exist.
Answer- A historical novel focuses on providing the reader with only the central truth of a historical event, while a historical narrative attempts to tell the entire truth of a historical event.
Que- Marxist theory focuses on examining which of the following aspects of literary texts ?
a. The political and social meanings of literary texts
b. Characters who are sympathetic to issues facing the working classes
c. The relationship between economics and the production of literary texts
d. All of these
Answer- All of these
Que- Which of the following statements best represents Lacan's view of Ophelia in his essay, "Desire and the Interpretation of Desire in 'Hamlet'" ?
a. Hamlet desires his mother, not Ophelia.
b. Hamlet desires revenge, not Ophelia.
c. Hamlet desires Ophelia, but only when she is unattainable.
d. Hamlet desires attaining the throne of Denmark, of which Ophelia is a symbol.
Answer- Hamlet desires Ophelia, but only when she is unattainable.
Que- Which of the following statements offers the best definition of an epistolary novel ?
a. A novel set in the past
b. A novel that consists entirely of dialogue
c. A novel that is set in the countryside of Europe
d. A novel that consists of a series of documents, such as diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles
Answer- A novel that consists of a series of documents, such as diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles
Que- A play that begins in medias res________________?
a. begins at the apparent end of the story.
b. introduces the characters of the play one by one.
c. opens by plunging the viewer into a crucial series of events.
d. begins with a preview of the play's conclusion.
Answer- opens by plunging the viewer into a crucial series of events.
Que- Which of the following statements offers the best definition of the term Bildungsroman ?
a. A story of one person's fall from grace and into destruction
b. A story of one person's growth and development within a particular social order
c. A story of one person's success within a capitalistic economic system
d. A story of one person's selfrealization and attempt to return to innocence
Answer- A story of one person's growth and development within a particular social order
Que- What is hermeneutics ?
a. A system for categorizing books
b. The psychological study of authors
c. The study of textual interpretation
d. A reader-response test
Answer- The study of textual interpretation
Que- Which of the following offers the best description of literary theory ?
a. Literary theory involves coming to a precise understanding of a writer's psychology.
b. Literary theory involves measuring the quality of a literary work.
c. Literary theory involves considering the publication history of literary texts.
d. Literary theory involves describing the underlying principles of a literary work.
Answer- Literary theory involves describing the underlying principles of a literary work.
Que- Which of the following offers the best definition of a theatrical tragedy ?
a. A play that depicts the downfall of a noble person
b. A play in which someone gets revenge
c. A play in which a hero faces likely defeat and overcomes it
d. A play in which no form of humor appears
Answer- A play that depicts the downfall of a noble person
Que- Dr. Allen Shoaf's essay, "'Hamlet': Like Mother, Like Son", argues which of the following points ?
a. Hamlet's father's ghost is not really a ghost.
b. Hamlet feels a sense of desire for both his mother and his father.
c. Hamlet is truly insane in the play.
d. Hamlet is an impossible play to truly understand.
Answer- Hamlet feels a sense of desire for both his mother and his father.
Que- Which of the following lines provides an example of a poetic apostrophe ?
a. She is a woman of beauty and wonder.
b. Death, that which feels nothing.
c. Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee.
d. I wandered lonely as a cloud.
Answer- Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee.
Que- Which of the following offers the best definition of a Greek theatrical comedy ?
a. A play in which characters make humorous remarks
b. A play in which characters experience reversals of fortune, usually for the better
c. A play in which no characters die or suffer
d. A play in which elite members of society are mocked
Answer- A play in which characters experience reversals of fortune, usually for the better
Que- Which of the following offers the best definition of the literary term motif ?
a. A recurring element in a story that is symbolically significant
b. A character's fatal flaw
c. A rhyme scheme
d. A character's moment of selfrealization in a narrative
Answer- A recurring element in a story that is symbolically significant
Que- Which of the following offers the best description of the concept of ethos ?
a. Ethos refers to a writer's presentation of character and image.
b. Ethos refers to a writer's ability to present evidence.
c. Ethos refers to a writer's ability to inspire action in readers.
d. Ethos refers to a writer's ability to inspire emotional responses in readers.
Answer- Ethos refers to a writer's presentation of character and image.
Que- As a mode of literary criticism or theory, formalism attempted to bring which of the following to literary studies ?
a. An awareness of the historical circumstances surrounding a text's production
b. A set of objective criteria for critical analysis
c. An awareness of the economic circumstances surrounding a literary text
d. Strict criteria for evaluating the quality of a literary text
Answer- A set of objective criteria for critical analysis
Que- In his preface to "Lyrical Ballads", Wordsworth calls for poetry to be written in what kind of language?
a. Typically poetic and fanciful language
b. Ancient languages
c. Complicated and difficult language
d. Common, everyday language
Answer- Common, everyday language
Que- Which of the following offers the best description of the concept of pathos ?
a. Pathos refers to a writer's presentation of character and image.
b. Pathos refers to a writer's ability to present evidence.
c. Pathos refers to a writer's ability to inspire action in readers.
d. Pathos refers to a writer's ability to inspire emotional responses in readers.
Answer- Pathos refers to a writer's ability to inspire emotional responses in readers.
Que- What is one reason that Mystery Plays are referred to as such ?
a. They involve the solving of a crime.
b. They explore mysterious religious topics.
c. They were written by medieval mystics.
d. They were produced by medieval craft guilds, which were knows as "mysteries".
Answer- They were produced by medieval craft guilds, which were knows as "mysteries".
Que- Which of the following statements offers the best characterization of a Greek tragedy ?
a. In a Greek tragedy, evil people are vanquished by the forces of good.
b. In a Greek tragedy, characters undergo reversals of fortune, usually for the worse.
c. In a Greek tragedy, the hero suffers but always survives at the end of the play.
d. In a Greek tragedy, the tragic hero dies at the end of the play.
Answer- In a Greek tragedy, characters undergo reversals of fortune, usually for the worse.
Que- Which of the following statements demonstrates the use of pathos ?
a. According to research, 22 percent of the American population owns an unsecured handgun.
b. I own a handgun and keep it in a secure place in my house.
c. Every month in the United States, at least 100 children are wounded or killed as a result of unsecured handguns.
d. Handguns don't kill people, people do
Answer- Every month in the United States, at least 100 children are wounded or killed as a result of unsecured handguns.
Que- According to Anthony DiMatteo's "Shakespeare and the Public Discourse of Sovereignty: 'Reason of State' in 'Hamlet'", how does Shakespeare tend to present political rulers in Hamlet?
a. Shakespeare presents political rulers as flawless, perfect human beings.
b. Shakespeare presents political rulers as often meeting ruinous and violent endings.
c. Shakespeare only presents fictional political rulers and does not explore any political realities.
d. Shakespeare considers all political rulers to be corrupt.
Answer- Shakespeare presents political rulers as often meeting ruinous and violent endings.
Que- The Freudian concept of "the uncanny" refers to_________________?
a. a feeling of being disconnected from the world.
b. a sense of something being familiar and foreign at once.
c. terror at the thought of death.
d. a realization of one's empowered position in the world.
Answer- a sense of something being familiar and foreign at once.
Que- According to the Geneva School, what is the function of the reader ?
a. Entering the author's mind through his or her literary works
b. Understanding the author's consciousness
c. Reproducing the author's thoughts in a critical context
d. All of the above.
Answer- All of the above.
Que- With which theorist is phenomenology associated ?
a. Wolfgang Iser
b. Jean-Paul Sartre
c. Emmanuel Lévinas
d. All of the above.
Answer- All of the above.
Que- What do many contemporary theorists find problematic about the literary canon ?
a. It includes too few works by nonwhite writers.
b. It includes too few works by women.
c. It includes too few works by non- Western writers.
d. All of the above.
Answer- It includes too few works by non- Western writers.
Que- How does Virginia Woolf's essay "A Room of One's Own" contribute to feminist theory ?
a. It suggests that the suppression of women is part of a historical climate that will naturally fade away.
b. It suggests that gender roles are conditioned by the possession of money and power.
c. It suggests that gender has power over class.
d. It suggests that education, rather than money, is needed for the liberation of women.
Answer- It suggests that gender roles are conditioned by the possession of money and power.
Que- In what way does Julia Kristeva build on Jacques Lacan's theory of psychosexual development ?
a. Kristeva wholly rejects Lacan's theory of psychosexual development.
b. Kristeva centralizes the maternal and the feminine in her revisions of Lacan's theory.
c. Kristeva argues that the mirror stage does not occur until the individual embraces a distinct gender role.
d. All of the above.
Answer- Kristeva argues that the mirror stage does not occur until the individual embraces a distinct gender role.
Que- What does Judith Butler mean when she suggests that gender is "performed" ?
a. Gender does not reflect an essential truth, but rather is a role people play based on their internalization of socially constructed gender roles.
b. Gender roles do not exist.
c. Real gender roles are scripted by excellent writers.
d. Only individuals who have the capacity to perform have gender.
Answer- Gender does not reflect an essential truth, but rather is a role people play based on their internalization of socially constructed gender roles.
Que- According to Jacques Lacan, the mirror stage is the point at which a child_________________?
a. refuses maternal bonds.
b. is able to separate the "I" from the "Other."
c. looks into a mirror for the first time.
d. first engages with speech.
Answer- is able to separate the "I" from the "Other."
Que- How are Julia Kristeva's psychoanalytic theories distinct from traditional Freudian concepts ?
a. Kristeva rejects the idea that neuroses provide insight into the unconscious.
b. Kristeva suggests that women are not subject to traditional fetishes.
c. Kristeva offers a more central place for women's issues within psychological development.
d. Kristeva fundamentally disagrees with the idea of the mirror stage.
Answer- Kristeva offers a more central place for women's issues within psychological development.
Que- Reader-response theory is focused on considering which of the following ?
a. How readers learn to read
b. How readers imagine visual images in a text
c. How readers participate in creating the meaning of a text
d. How readers regard critics
Answer- How readers participate in creating the meaning of a text
Que- Which theorist is associated with the idea that art is a copy of a copy ?
a. Plato
b. Claude Lévi-Strauss
c. Julia Kristeva
d. Walter Benjamin
Answer- Plato
Que- Which of the following statements best explains Mikhail Bakhtin's philosophy of language ?
a. Language includes multiple social dialects and jargons.
b. Language can include socioideological contradictions from the past.
c. Language exhibits and is bound up in the social lives and historical context of the people who speak it.
d. Language is loaded with the intentions of others.
Answer- Language exhibits and is bound up in the social lives and historical context of the people who speak it.
Que- What is New Historicism ?
a. A theory that abandons the idea of history as an imitation of events
b. A theory that regards history as a series of narratives
c. A theory that capitalizes on the interplay between literature and history
d. All of the above
Answer- All of the above
Que- Which of the following texts is the BEST example of the argument that a work's meaning does not come entirely from the imagination of the author ?
a. Plato's The Republic
b. T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent"
c. Jacques Derrida's Of Grammatology
d. Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author"
Answer- T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent"
Que- What fundamental idea does psychoanalytic criticism hold about literary texts ?
a. Literary texts should not be read as a projection of the author's psyche.
b. Literary texts solely reflect an author's intentions.
c. Literary texts are unlike dreams because they have a system of order and produce meaning.
d. Literary texts reveal secret elements of an author's unconscious.
Answer- Literary texts reveal secret elements of an author's unconscious.
Que- What is mimesis ?
a. A reversal
b. An imitation
c. A satire
d. A poetic metaphor
Answer- An imitation
Que- Which school of theorists is most closely associated with phenomenology ?
a. The Moscow School
b. The Chicago School
c. The Frankfurt School
d. The Geneva School
Answer- The Geneva School
Que- Trauma theory primarily developed out of the work of which psychoanalyst ?
a. Sigmund Freud
b. Carl Jung
c. Michel Foucault
d. Jacques Derrida
Answer- Sigmund Freud