Free Prose and Essayists MCQs with Answers

• A. Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
• B. William Shakespeare's King Lear
• C. Thomas More's The History of King Richard III
• D. Thomas More's Utopia

Explanation: More's Utopia was first published in Latin in 1516 and was translated into English by Ralph Robinson in 1551.

• A. charity
• B. patronage
• C. censorship
• D. subscription

Explanation: Patronage was the traditional system in which wealthy nobles, monarchs, or institutions financially supported writers in return for…

• A. Castiglione's \The Courtier\
• B. Dante's \Divine Comedy\
• C. Boccaccio's \Decameron\
• D. Machiavelli's \The Prince\

Explanation: Machiavelli's The Prince examines political power, statecraft, intrigue, and the methods by which rulers gain and retain authority.

• A. English travelers were not obliged to learn French, Italian, or Spanish during their explorations of the Continent.
• B. English was fast supplanting Latin as the second language of most European intellectuals.
• C. English travelers often returned from the Continent with foreign fashions, much to the delight of moralists.
• D. Intending his Utopia for an international intellectual community, Thomas More wrote in Latin, since English had no prestige outside of England.

Explanation: More wrote Utopia in Latin because Latin was the international language of educated Europeans, whereas English had little prestige beyond…

• A. Julian of Norwich
• B. Margery Kempe
• C. William Langland
• D. Sir Thomas Malory

Explanation: Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur celebrates the Arthurian world and its code of knightly chivalry, especially through figures such as…

• A. courtiers entering the service of Richard II
• B. translators of French romances
• C. women who have chosen to live as religious recluses
• D. knights preparing for their first tournament

Explanation: The Ancrene Riwle, or Ancrene Wisse, was written as a guide for anchoresses, women who lived as religious recluses.

• A. 1374 to 1385
• B. 1350 to 1360
• C. 1360 to 1400
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Chaucer served as a controller of customs at the London port from 1374 to 1385, in addition to his literary and diplomatic work.

• A. She sought unsuccessfully to restore classical paganism.
• B. She was a virgin martyr.
• C. She is the first known woman writer in the English vernacular.
• D. She made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago.

Explanation: Julian of Norwich is generally regarded as the first known woman writer in English whose work survives, especially through Revelations of…

• A. That it is necessary to contain mad women
• B. That it is an artificial patriarchal tool
• C. That men also are mad
• D. That female madness is a serious obstacle to women's liberation

Explanation: Gilman suggests that the label of female madness can be produced or intensified by patriarchal confinement and medical authority.

• A. People are foolishly superstitious.
• B. A world devoid of supernatural phenomena is a better world.
• C. A belief in ghosts is a belief in imagination.
• D. The personification of nature is regressive.

Explanation: For Mary Shelley, ghosts are closely connected with the imaginative power of the mind: belief in them reveals how imagination gives form…

• A. Cousin Henry and Julia
• B. Reading
• C. Writing
• D. John

Explanation: John represents the patriarchal medical and domestic authority that confines the narrator and treats her writing as harmful.

• A. It has bars on the window.
• B. It is removed from the main area of the house.
• C. It is locked.
• D. It is sunny.

Explanation: Bars, separation from the household, and confinement all create Gothic imprisonment in the room.

• A. chastity
• B. piety
• C. education
• D. secular political activity

Explanation: Christine de Pizan presents education as the foundation of women's intellectual and social equality, because learning challenges the claim…

• A. Julian of Norwich
• B. Margery Kempe
• C. Catherine de Pizan
• D. Heloise

Explanation: Margery Kempe is generally regarded as lacking formal literacy and dictated her famous Book to scribes.

• A. Julian of Norwich
• B. Margery Kempe
• C. Catherine of Siena
• D. Catherine de Pizan

Explanation: The statement belongs to Julian of Norwich, whose mystical writings stress God’s intimate presence and the soul’s union with God.

• A. Julian of Norwich
• B. Margery Kempe
• C. Catherine of Siena
• D. Catherine de Pizan

Explanation: Margery Kempe's Book is especially known for her repeated, intense weeping during prayer and religious experiences.

• A. she offers real reasons as to why women are valuable to society
• B. she literally helps build the city
• C. she helps the narrator see the merits of women
• D. All of the Above

Explanation: Reason gives Christine arguments defending women's worth, helps her recognise their merits, and participates allegorically in constructing…

• A. the critical debate about the verification of events in the letters
• B. the idea that Abelard wrote all of the letters
• C. the issue of whether there is a "female voice" in the letters
• D. All of the Above

Explanation: The controversy concerns whether the letters accurately preserve the historical events, who actually wrote them, and whether Heloise’s…

• A. The world is a happy and wonderful place.
• B. We can make the world better if we work hard.
• C. There are many things in the world to love.
• D. The love and grace of God can change lives for the better.

Explanation: Julian’s assurance that “all manner of things shall be well” expresses confidence in divine love and grace despite suffering and apparent…

• A. Priests should be used as examples of ecclesiastical life.
• B. Priests should be avoided, because men are bad influences.
• C. Priests should offer anchoresses their only connection to the outside world.
• D. Priests should be honored, because men are naturally more spiritual.

Explanation: Ancrene Wisse urges anchoresses to limit contact with men, including priests, because such contact could become a spiritual and worldly…