Adapted from Richard III by William Shakespeare, I.i.1-42

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barded steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,
About a prophecy, which says that 'G'
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul: here
Clarence comes.

Which of the following, according to the speaker, is part of the reason why dogs bark at him?

1 Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
5 From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
9 The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
13 The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

(1595)

Which of the following provides evidence that the feuding households are stubborn and slow to give up their hatred?

PROLOGUE.

Now, luck yet sends us, and a little wit

Will serve to make our play hit;

(According to the palates of the season)

Here is rhime, not empty of reason.

… thus much I can give you as a token (5)

Of his play's worth, no eggs are broken,

… The laws of time, place, persons he observeth,

From no needful rule he swerveth.

All gall and copperas from his ink he draineth,

Only a little salt remaineth, (10)

Wherewith he'll rub your cheeks, till red, with laughter,

They shall look fresh a week after.

(1606)

Based on context, what does line 9 mean?

PROLOGUE.

Now, luck yet sends us, and a little wit

Will serve to make our play hit;

(According to the palates of the season)

Here is rhime, not empty of reason.

… thus much I can give you as a token (5)

Of his play's worth, no eggs are broken,

… The laws of time, place, persons he observeth,

From no needful rule he swerveth.

All gall and copperas from his ink he draineth,

Only a little salt remaineth, (10)

Wherewith he'll rub your cheeks, till red, with laughter,

They shall look fresh a week after.

(1606)

Based on context, what is meant by “From no needful rule he swerveth” (line 8)?

PROLOGUE.

Now, luck yet sends us, and a little wit

Will serve to make our play hit;

(According to the palates of the season)

Here is rhime, not empty of reason.

… thus much I can give you as a token (5)

Of his play's worth, no eggs are broken,

… The laws of time, place, persons he observeth,

From no needful rule he swerveth.

All gall and copperas from his ink he draineth,

Only a little salt remaineth, (10)

Wherewith he'll rub your cheeks, till red, with laughter,

They shall look fresh a week after.

(1606)

According to the passage, what ingredients are necessary to make the play successful?

PROLOGUE.

Now, luck yet sends us, and a little wit

Will serve to make our play hit;

(According to the palates of the season)

Here is rhime, not empty of reason.

… thus much I can give you as a token (5)

Of his play's worth, no eggs are broken,

… The laws of time, place, persons he observeth,

From no needful rule he swerveth.

All gall and copperas from his ink he draineth,

Only a little salt remaineth, (10)

Wherewith he'll rub your cheeks, till red, with laughter,

They shall look fresh a week after.

(1606)

What is the main function of this prologue?

HAMLET: … What would he do,

Had he the motive and the cue for passion

That I have? He would drown the stage with tears

And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,

Make mad the guilty and appal the free,(5)

Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed

The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,

Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,

And can say nothing. No, not for a king, (10)

Upon whose property and most dear life

A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward?

Who calls me villain?

In this passage, to whom is Hamlet comparing himself?

MEPHISTOPHELES: Tut, Faustus,

Marriage is but a ceremonial toy;

And if thou lovest me, think no more of it.

I’ll cull thee out the fairest courtesans,

And bring them every morning to thy bed;(5)

She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall have,

Be she as chaste as was Penelope,

As wise as Saba, or as beautiful

As was bright Lucifer before his fall.

Here, take this book peruse it thoroughly: \[Gives a book.\] (10)

The iterating of these lines brings gold;

The framing of this circle on the ground

Brings whirlwinds, tempests, thunder and lightning;

Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thyself…

(1592)

In lines 11-14, what is the speaker describing?

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)

How does the speaker prove that Helen is beautiful?

PROLOGUE.

Now, luck yet sends us, and a little wit

Will serve to make our play hit;

(According to the palates of the season)

Here is rhime, not empty of reason.

… thus much I can give you as a token (5)

Of his play's worth, no eggs are broken,

… The laws of time, place, persons he observeth,

From no needful rule he swerveth.

All gall and copperas from his ink he draineth,

Only a little salt remaineth, (10)

Wherewith he'll rub your cheeks, till red, with laughter,

They shall look fresh a week after.

(1606)

What is the meaning of line 6?