Dr. Norman Prinsky
English 1102 - Augusta State University
Quiz on Ch. 26/”The Dramatic Vision” in RJ8 & Prinsky’s Notes and Questions on Drama in General and on Anton Chekhov’s Play The Bear
1. According to Roberts and Jacobs, the three main genres covered in the textbook differ from each other because of all the following except which one: (a) fiction emphasizes the narration of a sequence of events (b) poetry emphasizes relatively short forms or shapes (c) drama emphasizes impersonation and an actual audience (d) poetry is set off in lines, but drama is in prose
2. According to Roberts and Jacobs, the text of the play is most notable for all the following elements except which one: (a) dialogue (b) stage directions (c) monologue (d) direct authorial comment
3. As discussed by Roberts and Jacobs in their section on language and style in drama, the dramatist uses all the following except which one in revealing facets of characters, relationships, and conflicts: (a) matching of a character's language to personality and the times (b) using words or phrases, sometimes in motifs, that convey multiple meanings (c) introducing metaphors and symbols (d) alluding to past masters of the drama
4. Roberts and Jacobs in their section on “Language, Imagery, and Style” list all the following devices, except which one, by which the dramatist can reveal the intimate details, deep feelings, or deep thoughts of characters: (a) lighting (b) dialogue (c) soliloquy (d) aside
5. According to the chapter in the section “Characters . . . Action,” the chief character in a story should be called: (a) stock (b) representative (c) hero (d) protagonist
6. According to the chapter, a character in a story that is relatively fully developed and who changes or alters is called: (a) flat (b) round (c) hero (d) stock
7. According to the chapter, the flat character in a story is usually: (a) static (b) dynamic (c) changeable (d) contemptible
8. Other categories of characters are all of the following, except which one: (a) historical (b) dynamic (c) realistic (d) nonrealistic
9. Other categories of characters are all of the following, except which one: (a) stock (b) ancillary (c) symbolic (d) biographical
10. According to Roberts and Jacobs, a character used to set off or highlight the protagonist is called what kind of character: (a) background (b) shadow (c) parallel (d) foil
11. Characters who are used to express ideas about the play’s major issues or actions may be any of the following, except which one: (a) sanctified (b) choric (c) raisonneur (d) commentator
12. According to Roberts and Jacobs in the section “Action . . . Development,” the mainspring of plot in drama is: (a) regularity (b) conflict (c) realism (d) excitement
13. As explained in the chapter, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream illustrates the play with a: (a) revenge plot (b) mono-plot (c) reversal plot (d) subplot
14. A plot may be diagramed as what geometrical figure: (a) circle (b) square (c) triangle (d) pentagon
15. The part of the plot in which the audience receives essential background information is called the: (a) denouement or resolution (b) falling action (c) crisis or climax (d) complication (e) exposition
16. The second main part of the plot marking the onset of the play’s major conflict or conflicts is: (a) denouement or resolution (b) falling action (c) crisis or climax (d) complication (e) exposition
17. The third main part of the plot, marking the culmination of the play’s major conflict or conflicts, is the: (a) denouement or resolution (b) falling action (c) crisis or climax (d) complication (e) exposition
18. The fourth main part of the plot, marking a period of avoidance and delay, is the: (a) denouement or resolution (b) falling action (c) crisis or climax (d) complication (e) exposition
19. The fifth main part of the plot, marking the logical outcome of what has preceded, is the: (a) denouement or resolution (b) falling action (c) crisis or climax (d) complication (e) exposition
20. As noted by Roberts and Jacobs in the section “Point of View . . . Ideas,” playwrights, in contrast to fiction writers, have ways unique to drama in conveying tone, which include all the following, except which one: (a) silences (b) third-person omniscient explanation (c) stage gestures (d) vocal ranges (e) stage directions
21. As noted in the section “Tone . . . Attitude,” often a component of a play’s tone or atmosphere is a character’s statement that other characters or the audience observers know (or will learn) is only partially correct or incorrect, which is called: (a) verbal irony (b) situational irony (c) dramatic irony (d) cosmic irony
22. As explained in the section “Dramatists . . . Symbolism and Allegory,” the long discussion of Yorick’s skull in Act 5 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet exemplifies the: (a) cultural or universal symbol (b) contextual or private symbol (c) vague or indeterminate symbol (d) intertextual or allusive symbol
23. In their section on symbolism and allegory, Roberts and Jacobs discuss how the living room in Hughes's play Mulatto exemplifies the: (a) cultural or universal symbol (b) contextual or private symbol (c) vague or indeterminate symbol (d) intertextual or allusive symbol
24. In their section “Performance: The Unique Aspect of Drama,” Roberts and Jacobs note that the pattern of how actors are to move around on the stage is called: (a) blueprinting (b) blocking (c) blazoning (d) blending
25. With reference to the physical stage, Roberts and Jacobs indicate that the most common set up in modern theaters is the: (a) revolving stage (b) thrust stage (c) theater-in-the round stage (d) proscenium stage
26. The stage used by Shakespeare, the platform stage, is closest to the: (a) revolving stage (b) thrust stage (c) theater-in-the round stage (d) proscenium stage
27. In their section “Sets . . . Appearance,” Roberts and Jacobs discuss all the following kinds except which one: (a) realistic (b) nonrealistic (c) unit (d) ornate
28. According to Roberts and Jacobs in their section “Lighting . . . Mood,” (artificial)lighting was first widely and effectively used in the theater in which time: (a) ancient (b) medieval (c) Renaissance (d) eighteenth century (e) nineteenth century
29. As noted by Roberts and Jacobs in their section “Costumes . . . Actors,” costumes and makeup can help communicate: (a) the play’s time period (b) occupations or mental outlooks of characters (c) socioeconomic conditions of characters (d) symbolism or emotional state associated with the character (e) all of the foregoing
30. As indicated by Roberts and Jacobs in their section “Drama From . . . Forms,” the origin of tragedy and comedy in drama is most notably associated with the culture of ancient: (a) Mesopotamia (b) Egypt (c) India (d) China (e) Greece
31. After virtually disappearing (in Western literature) during the period known as the “Dark Ages,” drama began to revive in the tenth through the twelfth centuries with “dramatic tropes,” which were scenes dramatized as: (a) devices to enlist soldiers (b) parts of church services (c) brief celebrations at medieval fairs (d) advertisements for local businesses
32. In the Middle Ages, dramas that developed were of all the following genres, except which one: (a) morality play (b) miracle play (c) melodrama play (d) mystery play
33. In the Renaissance era, a new secular drama in Western literature was developed by fusion of all the following except which one: (a) Greco-Roman tragedies (b) Church performance traditions (c) Greco-Roman comedies (d) Anglo-Saxon epic literature
34. According to Roberts and Jacobs, forms of drama that have developed from Renaissance times through modern times include all the following genres, except which one: (a) play cycle (b) problem drama (c) social drama (d) melodrama (e) tragicomedy
Prinsky’s Notes and Questions on Drama in General and Anton Chekhov’s Play The Bear
35. The word drama is from the Greek word dran which means: (a) 'to put on a mask' (b) 'to do, to act' (c) 'to speak, to orate' (d) 'to dance, to move rhythmically in a group'
36. The terminology for drama of the nonverbal “languages” of action, props, and setting comes from: (a) Plato (b) Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c) Pedro Calderon de la Barca (d) Henrik Ibsen (e) Alan Downer
37. Stage directions were often omitted in the original scripts or texts of plays because: (a) dramatists were lazy (b) stage directions were unknown (c) dramatists were writing for professionals (d) no money was available for props or setting
Chekhov’s Play
38. An example of the nonverbal “language of action” in Chekhov’s The Bear is Luka’s words “The chambermaid and the cook have gone off berry picking” (speech 1) (b) Mrs. Popov’s words “He lies in his grave” (speech 2) (c) Luka’s words “My wife died when her time came, too” (speech 3) (d) Smirnov’s words “I rode out yesterday early in the morning, at daybreak” (speech 37)
39. Dramatists throughout history, including Chekhov, have used what part of speech to evoke the nonverbal language of action (in the actor or actress): (a) nouns (b) pronouns (c) verbs (d) adverbs (e) adjectives
40. An example of the nonverbal “language” of setting occurs in: (a) Luka’s words “the chambermaid and the cook have gone off berry picking” (speech 1) (b) Mrs. Popov’s words “I have buried myself in these four walls” (speech 2) (c) Luka’s words “there’s a regiment stationed at Riblov” (speech 3) (d) Mrs. Popov’s words “my steward will be back from town” (speech 24)
41. Important examples of the nonverbal “language” of props occur in all of the following except which one: (a) oats (b) beverage glass (c) chairs (d) dueling pistols (e) ax
42. The main example of sound effects in Chekhov’s play is the sound of: (a) a doorbell (b) moaning (c) gunfire (d) a tree falling
43. The symbolism of the sound effect referred to in the immediately preceding question is: (a) inevitable intrusion from the outside world (b) impossibility of happiness in romantic love (c) inherent violence in the way of the world (d) impermanence of nature’s beauty because of humanity’s molding of the environment
44. The opening dialogue between Luka and Mrs. Popov has to do with: (a) the appropriate period of mourning for a deceased spouse (b) the relative merits of the present Russian monarchy versus a democratic government (c) the need to economize in household spending (d) behavior problems among the female servants
45. Later in the play, the reason Smirnov stops by the Popovs’ home is to: (a) offer to purchase horses in the Popovs’ stable (b) collect a monetary debt (c) begin a courtship (d) welcome the Popovs to the neighborhood (e) pick up Mr. Popov to go out bird hunting
46. The hostility between Luka and Smirnov is demonstrated in connection with the ordering of: (a) a horse and carriage (b) the preparation of a guest bedroom (c) a refreshment beverage (d) the kitchen’s finest, rather than its regular, bread (e) only female servants to wait on the guest
47. Smirnov exemplifies the houseguest from hell by all of the following except which one: (a) using coarse language (b) refusing to leave when asked (c) continually flirting with sexual explicitness (d) breaking pieces of furniture (e) wanting to engage in physical combat
48. Smirnov reveals in a conversation with Mrs. Popov that he has been involved in what number of love affairs: (a) none (b) only a single genuine one (c) a few (d) many
49. Smirnov and Mrs. Popov have a heated argument about: (a) church marriage vs. civil-ceremony marriage (b) men’s fidelity in romance (c) women’s ownership of property after marriage (d) the propriety of divorce