Dr. Norman Prinsky

English 1102 - Augusta State University

Quiz on Ch. 28/”The Comic Vision” in RJ8, Plus Anton Chekhov’s Play The Bear

Questions on Chapter Material

1. The origins of comedy as a genre of drama familiar to students of literature lie in the ancient culture of ancient: (a) Mesopotamia (b) Egypt (c) India (d) China (e) Greece

2. Comedies may often have all the following components, except which one: (a) trend toward despair or death (b) tragic potential (c) restoration of balance (d) elevated diction (e) colloquial or bawdy diction

3. Roberts and Jacobs discuss the origins of comedy, related to the etymology of the word comedy, in: (a) religious sacrifices (b) installations of rulers (c) festive occasions (d) ancient healing rituals

4. In discussing ancient Greek comedy, Roberts and Jacobs note its reference to: (a) male anatomy (b) female anatomy (c) ancient Greek political elections (d) ancient Greek history

5. Examples of Old Comedy (or Old Attic Comedy) of ancient Greece were usually distinguished by all the following except which one: (a) five or more principal actors (b) intricate structural patterns (c) complex poetic conventions (d) fantastic or impossible plot (e) oddly constituted choruses (e.g., of wasps, or of frogs)

6. Examples of Old Comedy (or Old Attic Comedy) of ancient Greece were usually distinguished by all the following except which one: (a) female prostitutes in acting roles (b) distorted padded costumes (c) a costume male sexual organ (d) lampoons on individual public persons

7. According to Roberts and Jacobs, the primary exemplar of Greek Old Comedy is: (a) Menander (b) Euripides (c) Aristophanes (d) Sophocles (e) St. Paul

8. According to Roberts and Jacobs, a main differentiation between Old Comedy and New Comedy in ancient Greek literature is the latter’s greater: (a) use of metrical verse, rather than prose (b) open admiration of women’s abilities (c) inclusion of ideas from the sciences (d) emphasis on romance than satire

9. According to Roberts and Jacobs, the primary exemplar of Greek New Comedy is: (a) Menander (b) Euripides (c) Aristophanes (d) Sophocles (e) St. Paul

10. Main ingredients in Roman comedy are all of the following except which one: (a) an intrigue plot (b) a blocking agent (c) triumph of youth over age (d) satire of ruling politicians

11. The main exemplars of Roman comedy are: (a) Horace and Vergil (b) Terence and Plautus (c) Juvenal and Persius (d) Livy and Sallust

12. Shakespeare and other dramatists in the English Renaissance were most influenced by the comedies from which ancient literature: (a) Babylonian (b) Persian (c) Greek (d) Roman

13. A key feature of the comic pattern also to be found in tragedy is: (a) a marriage at the play’s end (b) the education of a character or characters (c) a lawcourt scene (d) a character’s religious repentance

14. Key features in the comic pattern include all the following except which one: (a) confusion (b) resolution of problems (c) education (d) less limitation in characters than tragedy

15. As indicated by Roberts and Jacobs, because of its important use in creating humor and comedy, a subject or motif to be found in comedy is often: (a) language (b) politics (c) money (d) infidelity

16. High comedy includes all the following categories (or sub-genres), except which one: (a) satiric comedy (b) historical comedy (c) comedy of manners (d) romantic comedy

17. Low comedy is mainly exemplified by which category or sub-genre: (a) farce (b) lampoon (c) dirge (d) comedy of humours

18. Types or categories or sub-genres of modern and contemporary comedy include all the following except which one: (a) comedy of the absurd (b) closet drama (c) realistic comedy (d) ironic comedy

19. The popularity of kinds of various genres of comedy is still evident today in which venue cited by Roberts and Jacobs: (a) comic books (b) radio (c) television (d) newspapers (comic strips)

20. One of the masters of not only seventeenth-century French comedy and literature, but world literature, as discussed by Roberts and Jacobs, is: (a) Corneille (b) Racine (c) Moliere (d) Pascal

21. Masters of English comedy in the English drama late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were all of the following except which one: (a) Jonathan Swift (b) Henry Fielding (c) William Congreve (d) William Wycherley

22. The ballad opera, introduced into English literature by John Gay, and exemplified by John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), is characterized by: (a) arias and recitatives (b) mixing songs with spoken dialogue (c) a story derived from Italian opera (d) using both sacred and secular music

23. Roberts and Jacobs cite all the following teams, except which one, who wrote musical comedies in the late nineteenth century into the mid twentieth century: (a) Gilbert and Sullivan (b) Rodgers and Hammerstein (c) Lerner and Loewe (d) Bernstein and Sondheim

24. Proof of the superiority of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw as masters of dramatic comedy is that: (a) their plays have been turned into excellent comic novels (b) most subsequent comic playwrights have alluded to them in their own plays (c) their plays are still regularly revived and well attended (d) most of their plays have been turned into Broadway musicals

Questions on Anton Chekhov’s Play The Bear

25. Chekhov’s play could best be categorized as: (a) comedy (b) tragedy (c) melodrama (d) ballad opera

26. Luka’s opening reference to what some of the servants are doing outside (speech 1) is connected with props servants enter with at the play’s end (S.D. prior to speech 150), both of them symbolizing the futility of Mrs. Popov and Smirnov of trying to go against: (a) social barriers between the upper and lower classes (b) harsh economic conditions in late nineteenth-century rural Russia (c) recent scientific discoveries about the universe (d) nature’s force embodied in the spring season

27. The words or language of Mrs. Popov’s opening speech “He lies in his grave; I have buried myself in these four walls” (speech 2) require: (a) the nonverbal “language” of action (b) the nonverbal “language” of props (c) the nonverbal “language” of setting (d) all of the foregoing

28. The speech referred to in the immediately preceding question, which is echoed in a later interchange between Mrs. Popov and Smirnov (speeches 72-73), creates for the audience all of the following subliminal symbolism of the stage set, except which: (a) death (b) ungodliness (c) isolation (d) willfulness

29. What Luka says about the proper time to spend mourning his wife (speech 3) is basically: (a) sad (b) romantic (c) funny (d) uxorious

30. The figure of speech in how Luka describes the state of his uniform (speech 3) is: (a) hyperbole (b) simile (c) understatement (d) paradox

31. The underlying purpose of the figure of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question is to create in the play: (a) romance (b) humor (c) anger (d) sadness

32. The references to Toby, initiated by Luka’s suggestion about activities in which Mrs. Popov should engage (speeches 5-9), constitute in the play what is termed (especially in the overall literary genre of Chekhov’s play): (a) political allusion (b) self deprecation (c) asides to the audience (d) a running gag

33. The doorbell that sounds during the opening conversation between Luka and Mrs. Popov (S.D. between speeches 9 and 10) contrasts in symbolism most with: (a) Luka’s outfit (costume) (b) the photo of Nikolai Popov (c) the walls of the stage set (d) Mrs. Popov’s orchid corsage

34. The reason for Smirnov’s visit to the Popov estate could be said to have a particular and practical ironic connection with: (a) Toby (b) Luka (c) Gruzdev (d) Semyon

35. The first speech of Smirnov when he enters -- “You idiot . . . matter“(speech 19) -- contains language that has: (a) scientific learning (b) humorous incongruity (c) controlled uniformity (d) tragic paradox

36. Smirnov’s previous occupation (speech 19) links him with: (a) the implied reference to the season in Luka’s opening speech (speech 1) (b) Luka’s previous recommendation to Mrs. Popov about potential romantic companions (speech 3) (c) Luka’s continual religious references (d) Luka’s bravery (speech 50)

37. An idea suggested by the immediately preceding question, with reference to Luka’s general first attitude toward Smirnov (and by implication Mrs. Popov’s general first attitude) is that: (a) romantic love comes at first sight (b) finances should count more than physical appearance in romance and marriage (c) a potential romantic partner may not be recognized at first (d) differences in religious faiths of the couple may undermine romance and marriage

38. As implied by the stage directions to the actress playing Mrs. Popov, accompanying the words “What do you want?” (speech 20), the actor playing Smirnov must have -- though not indicated in previous stage directions: (a) bowed toward Mrs. Popov (b) turned his body sideways toward Mrs. Popov (c) offered a military salute (d) extended his hand and arm toward Mrs. Popov

39. Because the play is European, Smirnov’s gesture referred to in the immediately preceding question would be: (a) nearly unnoticeable (b) palm upward (c) military salute (d) palm sideways

40. Although not indicated in stage directions, the actor playing Smirnov should register for the audience’s benefit -- with reference to the immediately preceding two questions (involving Mrs. Popov’s action, indicated by the stage direction) -- all of the following except which one: (a) cold-bloodedness (b) surprise (c) anger (d) embarrassment

41. The interchange of short speeches between two characters (often single lines in verse drama), as in Mrs. Popov’s “You’ll receive” (speech 26) to Mrs. Popov’s “Positively” (speech 36) is technically termed (see the Glossary or Index of RJ8): (a) scansion (b) stasimon (c) stichomythy (d) synesthesia

42. The device in drama referred to in the immediately preceding question usually signals: (a) narration (b) description (c) exposition (d) argumentation

43. Although not indicated in stage directions, when (the actor playing) Smirnov refers to “you” in “I ask you” (and later references in speech 41), he should: (a) look toward the audience (b) look toward where (the actress playing) Mrs. Popov has exited (c) look upwards toward the ceiling (and heaven) (d) look downwards at his feet

44. As a result of what is referred to in the immediately preceding question, Chekhov has created the stage symbolism of a person: (a) talking to a blank wall (b) praying to God (c) accepting his failure (d) succumbing to lust

45. The symbolism created by what is referred to in the immediately preceding question is: (a) religious communion (b) social harmony (c) thwarted communication (d) romantic desire

46. When (the actor playing) Smirnov says “and this one is in a ‘mood’” (speech 41), he should (although not indicated in stage directions): (a) look downward toward his feet (b) make head or hand gesture toward where (the actress playing) Mrs. Popov has exited (c) look upward toward the ceiling (and heaven) (d) turn his back toward where (the actress playing) Mrs. Popov has exited

47. Chekhov helps create the “language” of action, with reference to the immediately preceding question, through use in Smirnov’s words of: (a) the verb “to be” (b) the coordinate conjunction (c) the preposition (d) the demonstrative pronoun

48. An experienced actor would know that he should emphasize which word in “and this one is in a ‘mood’” (speech 41), besides “mood”: (a) this (b) one (c) is (d) in

49. In his monologue about attempting to collect debts (speech 41), Smirnov reveals a tendency toward: (a) financial lavishness (b) physical violence (c) (d) Christian piety

50. When (the actor playing) Smirnov shouts “Hey, you!” at the end of his monolog about attempting to collect debts (speech 41), he should (although not noted in stage directions): (a) turn toward the audience (b) walk to the window (c) turn toward the direction from which Luka and Mrs. Popov have exited (d) look upward towards the ceiling (and heaven)