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NESTOR: Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;
But if there be not in our Grecian host
One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love, tell \[them\] from me (5)
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver
And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn…
I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
… ULYSSES: Give pardon to my speech:
Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector. (10)
What is the tone of Nestor’s speech?
In his speech, Nestor makes it clear that he has little love for cowards. (“But if there be not in our Grecian host / One noble man that hath one spark of fire, / To answer for his love…”) However, he is not actively bitter or acerbic, so resolute is the best choice.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
PROSPERO:
The tone of this passage can best be described as ________________.
The correct answer is “hieratically commanding” — i.e., commanding in a mystical or priest-like style. Even if you don’t know the meaning of “hieratically”, you can still home in on the right answer through the process of elimination. The word “commanding” clearly fits, so that tells you that “hieratically commanding” is a possible correct response. “Intimately contemplative” and “tearfully reminiscent” can be easily eliminated. What about “violently contemptuous”? Prospero describes violence in his first sentence, but it’s all in the past. His second sentence is not violent at all, and there’s nothing contemptuous in the speech. That gets rid of “violently contemptuous.” Though Prospero is probably speaking with a lot of energy, his tone is not elated: we can eliminate “ecstatically elated”. That leaves us with “hieratically commanding” as the correct answer.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Adapted from Act 1, Scene 1, ln. 78-119 of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (1604) in Vol. XIX, Part 2 of The Harvard Classics (1909-1914)
FAUSTUS: How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate enterprise I will?
I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;
I’ll have them read me strange philosophy
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;
I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;
I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;
I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole king of all the provinces;
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge,
I’ll make my servile spirits to invent.
\[Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS\]
Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,
And make me blest with your sage conference.
Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the last
To practice magic and concealed arts:
Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy
That will receive no object, for my head
But ruminates on necromantic skill.
Philosophy is odious and obscure,
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:
’Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me.
Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And I that have with concise syllogisms
Gravell’d the pastors of the German church,
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits
On sweet Musaeigus, when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Whose shadows made all Europe honor him.
Which of the following best describes Faustus' tone in this passage?
The speaker's tone in this passage is best described as haughty and whimsical. The first half of the passage (until the entry of Valdes and Cornelius) functions as Faustus' whimsical imagining of the things he might do with the help of the spirits (or dark arts). His imagining is lengthy and detailed, and shows his willingness to allow his flights of fancy their full depth. His imaginings also, by placing him in a position of unlimited power, hint at his own high self-regard. His tone in the second half shows his own pride and arrogance at his achievements and his intelligence. His renunciations of all other scholars and disciplines shows his low opinion of others.
While he is caustic in his appraisal of the sciences, his tone throughout is more excited about the future than bitter about the past. While he is fairly jovial (or at least pleased with himself), his tone is actively irreverent. Since he is so excited, it would be difficult to characterize his tone as either apathetic or morose. His tone is not didactic since he is mostly speaking to or about himself, and imagining or planning what he will do, he is not giving instructions or trying to teach anyone else.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
MEPHISTOPHELES: Within the bowels of these elements,
Where we are tortured and remain forever.
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self place, for where we are is hell,
And where hell is must we ever be. (5)
And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that is not heaven.
(1604)
What is the tone of this passage?
This passage discusses torture, punishment, and eternity in somber, serious tones. The passage is certainly not "jocose" (playful, mirthful) or "cacophonous" (clangorous). "Venerable," which means distinguished or respected, is not a word normally applied to a passage’s tone, nor is "moribund," which means dying.
Passage adapted from Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus (1604)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
KING LEAR: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, (5)
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' th' world,
Crack Nature's moulds, all germains spill at once,
That makes ingrateful man!
(1606)
Which of the following could not describe the tone of this passage?
In this passage, King Lear exhibits a variety of emotions. He is gleeful at the advent of the storm, but he is also furious at mankind – hence his gladness about the destructive storm. This contradictory emotion – joy in the face of destruction – can also said to be perverse. The passage is certainly very impassioned, and it is decisively not "dour" (stern and solemn).
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
TROILUS: Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds!
Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,
When with your blood you daily paint her thus.
I cannot fight upon this argument;
It is too starved a subject for my sword. (5)
What is the tone of this passage?
Based on lines 1-2, we can see that the speaker is clearly fed up with the men he’s addressing: “Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds! / Fools on both sides!” However, in the following lines we can also see that the speaker is fed up with the war he is fighting in. The combination of these frustrations leads to an exasperated tone all around.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
NESTOR: Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;
But if there be not in our Grecian host
One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love, tell \[them\] from me (5)
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver
And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn…
I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
… ULYSSES: Give pardon to my speech:
Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector. (10)
Which line is most self-deprecating?
“I’ll prove this truth with my three drops of blood” serves to emphasize the speaker’s age and, presumably, feebleness. The previous line, line 7, plays a similar role with its use of “wither'd brawn.” However, since line 7 is not an option, line 8 is the best choice.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Caliban: This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island.
Which two words best describe Caliban's attitude towards the addressee of the monologue?
The two words that best describe Caliban's attitude are resentment and anger. Students who understand the monologue should be able to immediately eliminate the two answers that include positive words (patience and understanding; encouragement and hope). The remaining options all contain negative words but resentment and anger is the best and most accurate answer. There are no words or phrases in the monologue that indicate either sarcasm or self-doubt, which should lead students to eliminate the two remaining incorrect answers.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Then, I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you
That before you, and next unto high heaven,
I love your son.
My friends were poor, but honest; so's my love:
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is lov'd of me: I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit;
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him;
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet, in this captious and intenible sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun, that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love
For loving where you do: but, if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love; O! then, give pity
To her, whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But, riddle-like, lives sweetly where she dies.
(1605)
The overall tone of the above passage would best be described as _________________.
The tone can best be described as reverent and lovesick, because the speaker uses flattering and respectful language such as "before you, and next unto high heaven," "if yourself, whose aged honor cites a virtuous youth," and "my dearest madam" to address the woman of nobility. The passage also features a lovesick tone, because of language such as "I love your son," "he is loved of me," and "I know I love in vain."
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well (1605)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies 5
Over men's noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs,
The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;
Her traces, of the smallest spider web;
Her collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams; 10
Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film;
Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid;
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut, 15
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;
O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on curtsies straight; 20
O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees;
O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are.
(1597)
The speaker's tone in this excerpt can best be described as ________________.
The speaker describes Queen Mab in a tone of reverence. He highlights the strange and magical qualities of her small stature and seems in awe of her power to influence dreams. Nothing in this excerpt indicates that the speaker is fearful and he uses no negative words to describe Queen Mab that would indicate that he is spiteful or vindictive. There is also no evidence to indicate that the speaker is resigned.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1597).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
NESTOR: Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;
But if there be not in our Grecian host
One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love, tell \[them\] from me (5)
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver
And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn…
I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
… ULYSSES: Give pardon to my speech:
Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector. (10)
What is the tone of Nestor’s speech?
In his speech, Nestor makes it clear that he has little love for cowards. (“But if there be not in our Grecian host / One noble man that hath one spark of fire, / To answer for his love…”) However, he is not actively bitter or acerbic, so resolute is the best choice.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
PROSPERO:
The tone of this passage can best be described as ________________.
The correct answer is “hieratically commanding” — i.e., commanding in a mystical or priest-like style. Even if you don’t know the meaning of “hieratically”, you can still home in on the right answer through the process of elimination. The word “commanding” clearly fits, so that tells you that “hieratically commanding” is a possible correct response. “Intimately contemplative” and “tearfully reminiscent” can be easily eliminated. What about “violently contemptuous”? Prospero describes violence in his first sentence, but it’s all in the past. His second sentence is not violent at all, and there’s nothing contemptuous in the speech. That gets rid of “violently contemptuous.” Though Prospero is probably speaking with a lot of energy, his tone is not elated: we can eliminate “ecstatically elated”. That leaves us with “hieratically commanding” as the correct answer.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Adapted from Act 1, Scene 1, ln. 78-119 of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (1604) in Vol. XIX, Part 2 of The Harvard Classics (1909-1914)
FAUSTUS: How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate enterprise I will?
I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;
I’ll have them read me strange philosophy
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;
I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;
I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;
I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole king of all the provinces;
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge,
I’ll make my servile spirits to invent.
\[Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS\]
Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,
And make me blest with your sage conference.
Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the last
To practice magic and concealed arts:
Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy
That will receive no object, for my head
But ruminates on necromantic skill.
Philosophy is odious and obscure,
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:
’Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me.
Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And I that have with concise syllogisms
Gravell’d the pastors of the German church,
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits
On sweet Musaeigus, when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Whose shadows made all Europe honor him.
Which of the following best describes Faustus' tone in this passage?
The speaker's tone in this passage is best described as haughty and whimsical. The first half of the passage (until the entry of Valdes and Cornelius) functions as Faustus' whimsical imagining of the things he might do with the help of the spirits (or dark arts). His imagining is lengthy and detailed, and shows his willingness to allow his flights of fancy their full depth. His imaginings also, by placing him in a position of unlimited power, hint at his own high self-regard. His tone in the second half shows his own pride and arrogance at his achievements and his intelligence. His renunciations of all other scholars and disciplines shows his low opinion of others.
While he is caustic in his appraisal of the sciences, his tone throughout is more excited about the future than bitter about the past. While he is fairly jovial (or at least pleased with himself), his tone is actively irreverent. Since he is so excited, it would be difficult to characterize his tone as either apathetic or morose. His tone is not didactic since he is mostly speaking to or about himself, and imagining or planning what he will do, he is not giving instructions or trying to teach anyone else.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
MEPHISTOPHELES: Within the bowels of these elements,
Where we are tortured and remain forever.
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self place, for where we are is hell,
And where hell is must we ever be. (5)
And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that is not heaven.
(1604)
What is the tone of this passage?
This passage discusses torture, punishment, and eternity in somber, serious tones. The passage is certainly not "jocose" (playful, mirthful) or "cacophonous" (clangorous). "Venerable," which means distinguished or respected, is not a word normally applied to a passage’s tone, nor is "moribund," which means dying.
Passage adapted from Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus (1604)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
KING LEAR: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, (5)
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' th' world,
Crack Nature's moulds, all germains spill at once,
That makes ingrateful man!
(1606)
Which of the following could not describe the tone of this passage?
In this passage, King Lear exhibits a variety of emotions. He is gleeful at the advent of the storm, but he is also furious at mankind – hence his gladness about the destructive storm. This contradictory emotion – joy in the face of destruction – can also said to be perverse. The passage is certainly very impassioned, and it is decisively not "dour" (stern and solemn).
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
TROILUS: Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds!
Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,
When with your blood you daily paint her thus.
I cannot fight upon this argument;
It is too starved a subject for my sword. (5)
What is the tone of this passage?
Based on lines 1-2, we can see that the speaker is clearly fed up with the men he’s addressing: “Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds! / Fools on both sides!” However, in the following lines we can also see that the speaker is fed up with the war he is fighting in. The combination of these frustrations leads to an exasperated tone all around.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
NESTOR: Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;
But if there be not in our Grecian host
One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love, tell \[them\] from me (5)
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver
And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn…
I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
… ULYSSES: Give pardon to my speech:
Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector. (10)
Which line is most self-deprecating?
“I’ll prove this truth with my three drops of blood” serves to emphasize the speaker’s age and, presumably, feebleness. The previous line, line 7, plays a similar role with its use of “wither'd brawn.” However, since line 7 is not an option, line 8 is the best choice.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Caliban: This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first,
Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me
Water with berries in't, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I loved thee
And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile:
Cursed be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island.
Which two words best describe Caliban's attitude towards the addressee of the monologue?
The two words that best describe Caliban's attitude are resentment and anger. Students who understand the monologue should be able to immediately eliminate the two answers that include positive words (patience and understanding; encouragement and hope). The remaining options all contain negative words but resentment and anger is the best and most accurate answer. There are no words or phrases in the monologue that indicate either sarcasm or self-doubt, which should lead students to eliminate the two remaining incorrect answers.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Then, I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you
That before you, and next unto high heaven,
I love your son.
My friends were poor, but honest; so's my love:
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is lov'd of me: I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit;
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him;
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet, in this captious and intenible sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun, that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love
For loving where you do: but, if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love; O! then, give pity
To her, whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But, riddle-like, lives sweetly where she dies.
(1605)
The overall tone of the above passage would best be described as _________________.
The tone can best be described as reverent and lovesick, because the speaker uses flattering and respectful language such as "before you, and next unto high heaven," "if yourself, whose aged honor cites a virtuous youth," and "my dearest madam" to address the woman of nobility. The passage also features a lovesick tone, because of language such as "I love your son," "he is loved of me," and "I know I love in vain."
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well (1605)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies 5
Over men's noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs,
The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers;
Her traces, of the smallest spider web;
Her collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams; 10
Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film;
Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid;
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut, 15
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;
O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on curtsies straight; 20
O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees;
O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are.
(1597)
The speaker's tone in this excerpt can best be described as ________________.
The speaker describes Queen Mab in a tone of reverence. He highlights the strange and magical qualities of her small stature and seems in awe of her power to influence dreams. Nothing in this excerpt indicates that the speaker is fearful and he uses no negative words to describe Queen Mab that would indicate that he is spiteful or vindictive. There is also no evidence to indicate that the speaker is resigned.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1597).
Compare your answer with the correct one above