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King John
William Shakespeare
Study Guide
Summary
Plot Overview
Summary & Analysis
Act I, Scene i
Act II, Scenes i-ii
Act III, Scenes i-ii
Act III, Scenes iii-iv
Act IV, Scenes i-ii
Act IV, Scene iii
Act V, Scenes i-iii
Act V, Scene iv-vii
Analysis
Characters
Further Study
Context
Full Book Quiz
Section Quizzes
Context
Summary
Characters
Act 1, Scene i
Act 2, Scenes i-ii
Act 3, Scenes i-ii
Act 3, Scenes iii-iv
Act 4, Scenes i-ii
Act 4, Scene iii
Act 5, Scenes i-iii
Act 5, Scene iv-vii
Study Questions
Further Reading
Writing Help
How to Write Literary Analysis
Suggested Essay Topics
How to Cite This SparkNote
Further Study
Full Book Quiz
Further Study
Full Book Quiz
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1. What is Chatillon's message to John?
Abdicate or Philip will attack.
Agree to marry Blanche or it will be war.
Give up Ireland or the Danes will attack.
Knight the Bastard or suffer the consequences.
2. How does John respond?
He can't decide.
He prepares for war.
He ignores the messenger.
He sings a song.
3. What is Falconbridge's complaint?
His older brother, a bastard, has claimed his inheritance.
His father willed it to him.
He wants the inheritance even though he is his mother's younger son.
All of the above
4. What is John's ruling?
The wife's oldest son is the father's heir.
The Bastard gets the land.
The Bastard is the heir even though he is illegitimate.
All of the above
5. But what does the Bastard decide?
To forfeit to land
To join Eleanor's army
To become a knight
All of the above
6. Why do Philip and John fight over Angers?
They want the city.
They want the city to declare allegiance to the rightful King of England.
They want the city's store of wine.
They need something to fight over.
7. The Bastard encourages them to deal with Angers how?
Fight to the death
Go home quietly
Unite and raze the city, then fight each other
Agree to disagree
8. What do the citizens of Angers suggest?
That Philip and John fight it out alone
That they compete to build the best Trojan Horse
That the armies go away and leave them alone
Make a new allegiance by marrying Louis to Blanche
9. What does Pandolf do to John?
He excommunicates him.
He debates with him.
He picks on him.
He sneezes on him.
10. What does Pandolf demand of Philip?
That Louis divorce Blanche
That Philip fight John for the pope
That Angers be freed
That John become the King of France
11. Who becomes Arthur's caretaker?
Hubert
The Bastard
Louis
Prince Henry
12. What does John ask Hubert to do?
Break up Louis's marriage
Obey the Bastard
Flee to Ireland
Kill Arthur
13. What does Pandolf encourage Louis to do?
Become a priest
Assassinate his father
Claim the English throne and attack England
Go into exile
14. How does Arthur influence Hubert?
He hits him.
He poisons him.
He tricks him.
He seems so innocent.
15. What does Hubert to do Arthur?
He blinds him.
He lets him free, but it's a secret.
He throws him off the castle walls.
He ignores him.
16. But what happens to Arthur?
He jumps from the castle walls and dies.
He flees to France but drowns.
He flees to Ireland and lives a long life.
He stays in prison his whole life.
17. What do John's lords request of him?
That he abdicate
That he free Arthur
That he go into exile
That he give in to the French
18. What do they do when they find Arthur?
They assume the King has ordered him killed.
They assume Hubert killed him.
They join Louis's forces.
All of the above
19. What does John decide with Pandolf?
John agrees to let the Bastard become his heir.
John admits he will step down if Pandolf will rule benevolently.
They decide to break with the pope.
John agrees to work with the pope if Pandolf will turn away Louis's troops.
20. What happens to most of the armies in this play?
They are slaughtered.
They are victorious.
They are lost in the sea or tides.
They flee.
21. Why do the English lords change sides?
They hear Louis means to kill them.
They overstayed their welcome.
They can't speak French.
They feel they have wronged John.
22. What happens to John?
He drowns.
He dies of old age.
He is poisoned by a monk.
He abdicates in favor of Louis.
23. What is the Bastard's response?
He wants to cry.
He wants to go to Scotland.
He wants to become king.
He wants to fight Louis.
24. But what do the other lords tell him?
They have already settled a peace treaty with Louis.
They don't like him anymore.
They wish he would be king.
Louis is King of England now.
25. To whom do the English lords all swear allegiance?
Prince Henry
The Bastard
Louis
Salisbury
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