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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Quiz

Context

Plot Overview

Character List

Analysis of Major Characters

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Act I: Beginning of Play to Entrance of Tragedians

Act I: Entrance of Tragedians to First Change of Lights

Act I: Change of Lights to End of Act

Act II: Beginning of Act to Entrance of Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, and Ophelia

Act II: Entrance of Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, and Ophelia to Change of Lights

Act II: Change of Lights to End of Act

Act III: Beginning of the Act until the Letter Switch

Act III: Morning until the End of the Play

Important Quotations Explained

Key Facts

Study Questions & Essay Topics

Quiz

Suggestions for Further Reading

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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Tom Stoppard

Quiz

1. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters from which Shakespearean play?

(A) As You Like It

(B) Hamlet

(D) Romeo and Juliet

2. As the play opens, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are traveling because

(A) They were hungry

(B) They wanted to see a play

(D) They were sent for

3. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern know Hamlet from

(A) Childhood

(B) College

(D) The road

4. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern talk to characters like Ophelia, Hamlet, and Gertrude, their speech changes in what way(s)?

(A) It rhymes.

(B) It's taken directly from Shakespeare.

(D) None of the above.

5. Where does much of the play take place?

(A) Elsinore

(B) Buckingham Palace

(D) The White House

6. Why is Hamlet upset and acting strangely?

(A) Ophelia no longer loves him.

(B) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern forgot his birthday.

(D) His uncle Claudius murdered Hamlet's father, then married his mother.

7. How do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attempt to uncover the roots of Hamlet's strange behavior?

(A) Through a game of coin tossing

(B) By taking Hamlet to see the Tragedians perform

(D) By taking Hamlet on a sea voyage

8. The Player leads a group of actors known as

(A) The Shakespearians

(B) The NoFearians

(D) The Tanzanians

9. What happens to the other characters when the Tragedians approach?

(A) They hear music.

(B) They go blind.

(D) They forgot their lines.

10. What is the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia?

(A) They are brother and sister.

(B) They are cousins.

(D) They are teacher and student.

11. During their games of question-and-answer, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern borrow the scoring method of which sport?

(A) Football

(B) Volleyball

(D) Tennis

12. Whom does Hamlet kill?

(A) Gertrude

(B) Ophelia

(D) Polonius

13. The play is set in the early

(A) 1300s

(B) 1400s

(D) 1600s

14. What's the name of the play performed by the Tragedians?

(A) Hamlet

(B) The Murder of Claudius

(D) The Murder of Gonzago

15. Why does Rosencrantz stop the Tragedians' rehearsal?

(A) He dislikes the actors.

(B) He thinks he might know the play.

(D) He thinks he might know the actors.

16. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern often pass the time by

(A) Making sandwiches

(B) Flipping a coin

(D) Reciting lines from plays

17. What does Claudius think of the play performed by the Tragedians?

(A) He likes it a lot.

(B) He thinks it lacked drama.

(D) He decides not to watch it.

18. Why does Hamlet get angry at Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

(A) He thinks they are slow-witted and boring.

(B) He thinks they have become Claudius's tools.

(D) He thinks they murdered Polonius.

19. Where are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sailing to in Act III?

(A) Denmark

(B) Spain

(D) Greenland

20. The letter that Guildenstern carries on to the ship orders the execution of which character or characters?

(A) Rosencrantz

(B) Guildenstern

(D) Hamlet

21. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spend much of the play in which type of mental state?

(A) Happy

(B) Sad

(D) Irritated

22. The play borrows from and explores which philosophy?

(A) Existentialism

(B) Nihilism

(D) Solipsism

23. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern escape the pirates by

(A) Climbing the mast

(B) Hiding in a barrel

(D) Hiding in the galley

24. What happens to the Player on the ship?

(A) He dies.

(B) He pretends to die.

(D) He kills Hamlet.

25. Who recites the plays final lines?

(A) Rosencrantz

(B) Guildenstern

(D) Horatio

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