English Literature MCQs

Option A: Henry II

Option B: Henry III

Option C: Henry V

Option D: Edward III

Correct Answer: Henry II ✔

Option A: Geoffrey Chaucer

Option B: Marie de France

Option C: Chrétien de Troyes

Option D: b and c only

Correct Answer: b and c only ✔

Option A: the Battle of Agincourt

Option B: the Battle of Hastings

Option C: the Norman Conquest

Option D: the War of the Roses

Correct Answer: the War of the Roses ✔

Option A: a work derived from a Latin text of the Roman Empire

Option B: a story about love and adventure

Option C: a Roman official

Option D: a work written in the French vernacular

Correct Answer: a work written in the French vernacular ✔

Option A: 4

Option B: 1

Option C: 0

Option D: 2

Correct Answer: 4 ✔

Option A: They were written for sophisticated and well-educated readers.

Option B: Writing continued to benefit only readers fluent in Latin and French.

Option C: Their readers’ primary language was English.

Option D: A and C only

Correct Answer: A and C only ✔

Option A: parchment made of animal skin

Option B: the service owed to a lord by his peasants(“villeins”)

Option C: unrhymed iambic pentameter

Option D: an unbreakable oath of fealty

Correct Answer: parchment made of animal skin ✔

Option A: symbolism

Option B: simile

Option C: metonymy

Option D: kenning

Correct Answer: kenning ✔

Option A: Beowulf

Option B: Arthur

Option C: Caedmon

Option D: Augustine of Canterbury

Correct Answer: Arthur ✔

Option A: Latin

Option B: Dutch

Option C: French

Option D: Celtic

Correct Answer: Dutch ✔

Option A: 1360

Option B: 1357

Option C: 1378

Option D: none of the above

Correct Answer: 1360 ✔

Option A: She sought unsuccessfully to restore classical paganism.

Option B: She was a virgin martyr.

Option C: She is the first known woman writer in the English vernacular.

Option D: She made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago.

Correct Answer: She is the first known woman writer in the English vernacular. ✔

Option A: Miss Cecily Chaumpaigne

Option B: Philippa de Roet of Flanders

Option C: Agnes de Copton

Option D: none of the above

Correct Answer: Miss Cecily Chaumpaigne ✔

Option A: French

Option B: Norwegian

Option C: Spanish

Option D: Hungarian

Correct Answer: French ✔

Option A: the Battle of Hastings

Option B: Saint Patrick’s mission

Option C: the Fourth Lateran Council

Option D: his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine

Correct Answer: his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine ✔

Option A: the Normans

Option B: the Geats

Option C: the Anglo-Saxons

Option D: the Danes

Correct Answer: the Anglo-Saxons ✔

Option A: the Anglo-Saxon Conquest beginning in the 1450s.

Option B: the Peasant Uprising of 1381.

Option C: the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.

Option D: the wave of contempt for manuscripts that followed the beginning of printing in 1476.

Correct Answer: the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. ✔

Option A: Henry II

Option B: Henry V

Option C: Louis XIV

Option D: Edward III

Correct Answer: Edward III ✔

Option A: Geoffrey Chaucer

Option B: Marie de France

Option C: Chr´tien de Troyes

Option D: b and c only

Correct Answer: b and c only ✔

Option A: the reign of King Arthur

Option B: the coronation of Henry II

Option C: King John’s seal of the Magna Carta

Option D: the marriage of Henry II to Eleanor of Aquitaine

Correct Answer: the reign of King Arthur ✔

Option A: They were written for sophisticated and well-educated readers.

Option B: Writing continued to benefit only readers fluent in Latin and French.

Option C: Their readers’ primary language was English.

Option D: a and c only

Correct Answer: a and c only ✔

Option A: Beowulf

Option B: Arthur

Option C: Augustine of Canterbury

Option D: Alfred

Correct Answer: Arthur ✔

Option A: Sir Thomas Malory

Option B: Margery Kempe

Option C: Geoffrey Chaucer

Option D: William Langland

Correct Answer: William Langland ✔

Option A: parchment made of animal skin

Option B: the service owed to a lord by his peasants (\villeins\)

Option C: unrhymed iambic pentameter

Option D: a prized ink used in the illumination of prestigious manuscripts

Correct Answer: parchment made of animal skin ✔

Option A: the Battle of Agincourt

Option B: the Battle of Hastings

Option C: the Norman Conquest

Option D: the War of the Roses

Correct Answer: the War of the Roses ✔

Option A: courtiers entering the service of Richard II

Option B: translators of French romances

Option C: women who have chosen to live as religious recluses

Option D: knights preparing for their first tournament

Correct Answer: women who have chosen to live as religious recluses ✔

Option A: Julian of Norwich

Option B: Margery Kempe

Option C: William Langland

Option D: Sir Thomas Malory

Correct Answer: Sir Thomas Malory ✔

Option A: tenth

Option B: twelfth

Option C: thirteenth

Option D: fourteenth

Correct Answer: fourteenth ✔

Option A: French

Option B: Norwegian

Option C: Spanish

Option D: Danish

Correct Answer: French ✔

Option A: To create a sense of mystery, gloom, and suspense

Option B: To make the reader dislike modern society

Option C: To make the reader feel distaste for supernatural themes

Option D: To generate feelings of intense pleasure

Correct Answer: To create a sense of mystery, gloom, and suspense ✔

Option A: It allows women to participate in the novel.

Option B: It serves as a path to the public sphere for women.

Option C: It is a less effective tool than traditional folklore weapons.

Option D: It becomes a way to conceal information.

Correct Answer: It serves as a path to the public sphere for women. ✔

Option A: The hand represents the superiority of the Enlightenment over medievalism.

Option B: The hand symbolizes the danger of marriage.

Option C: The hand signifies the mysterious pull of the labyrinth.

Option D: The hand represents the claim of primogeniture over the living.

Correct Answer: The hand represents the claim of primogeniture over the living. ✔

Option A: 17th century; Enlightenment

Option B: 18th century; Enlightenment

Option C: 18th century; Romanticism

Option D: 19th century; Romanticism

Correct Answer: 18th century; Enlightenment ✔

Option A: As a path to redemption

Option B: As a necessary control

Option C: As a voyeuristic activity

Option D: As a model for contemporary police work

Correct Answer: As a voyeuristic activity ✔

Option A: That it is necessary to contain mad women

Option B: That it is an artificial patriarchal tool

Option C: That men also are mad

Option D: That female madness is a serious obstacle to women’s liberation

Correct Answer: That it is an artificial patriarchal tool ✔

Option A: Agnes

Option B: Ambrosio

Option C: Baptiste

Option D: Matilda

Correct Answer: Matilda ✔

Option A: Radcliffe wants to emphasize the happy ending of the marriage of Emily and Valancourt.

Option B: It frees Radcliffe from a strict adherence to common life, allowing her to place Emily in challenging situations.

Option C: Radcliffe considers her work a continuation of the sentimental novel of the 18th century.

Option D: It acknowledges the lack of supernatural plot tricks.

Correct Answer: It frees Radcliffe from a strict adherence to common life, allowing her to place Emily in challenging situations. ✔

Option A: The ancestral home of Ann Radcliffe

Option B: The ancestral home of HoraceWalpole

Option C: One of the settings in “The Mysteries of Udolpho”

Option D: The inspiration for “The Castle of Otranto”

Correct Answer: The inspiration for “The Castle of Otranto” ✔

Option A: People are foolishly superstitious.

Option B: A world devoid of supernatural phenomena is a better world.

Option C: A belief in ghosts is a belief in imagination.

Option D: The personification of nature is regressive.

Correct Answer: A belief in ghosts is a belief in imagination. ✔

Option A: The erratic movement of time and place

Option B: The readers’ unwavering empathy for Frankenstein

Option C: The reliable narrator

Option D: The mix of language in terms of voice, diction, and rhythm

Correct Answer: The erratic movement of time and place ✔

Option A: Sigmund Freud

Option B: Edmund Lewis

Option C: Edmund Burke

Option D: Mary Shelley

Correct Answer: Sigmund Freud ✔

Option A: The anticipation of the violation of one’s person versus an act of physical violence

Option B: Plotted revenge versus random violence

Option C: The male Gothic versus the female Gothic

Option D: The persistence of the past in the present versus the betrayal in the present of the paternal protector

Correct Answer: The anticipation of the violation of one’s person versus an act of physical violence ✔

Option A: Both were successful because they followed the laws of nature.

Option B: Both refused to use science to do innovative work.

Option C: Both worked collaboratively.

Option D: Both suffered for their attempt to do divine work.

Correct Answer: Both suffered for their attempt to do divine work. ✔

Option A: Daydreams

Option B: Aberrant mental states

Option C: Violence

Option D: Sexual rapacity

Correct Answer: Daydreams ✔

Option A: Emily is confronted with the duality of the human mind, at once rational and then mad.

Option B: Emily is tested regarding the guilt and ghosts of sins past.

Option C: Emily comes to understand the benefits of a cloistered life.

Option D: Emily learns the story of Sister Agnes’s past.

Correct Answer: Emily comes to understand the benefits of a cloistered life. ✔

Option A: Realism

Option B: An epistolary format

Option C: A focus on the individual

Option D: An English setting

Correct Answer: A focus on the individual ✔

Option A: Antonia

Option B: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Option C: Jane Eyre

Option D: Mina Murray Harker

Correct Answer: Antonia ✔

Option A: It shows the possible dangers of science.

Option B: It exposes the deep flaws in medieval ways of thinking about the world.

Option C: It marks a return to more primitive ways of pre-Enlightenment thought and expression.

Option D: It suggests that reason is more important than emotion.

Correct Answer: It marks a return to more primitive ways of pre-Enlightenment thought and expression. ✔

Option A: Imperialism

Option B: The Woman Question

Option C: Labor unions

Option D: Theories of Darwinian evolution

Correct Answer: Labor unions ✔

Option A: The novel presents the vampire count as a father-figure of great power.

Option B: The vampire represents a beloved father who seeks to gather together all the women and young men (sons).

Option C: The vampire represents sexual impotence.

Option D: The vampire represents the future.

Correct Answer: The novel presents the vampire count as a father-figure of great power. ✔

Option A: It is an ancestral estate.

Option B: It contains vault-like spaces.

Option C: It is located in England.

Option D: It is mysterious.

Correct Answer: It is located in England. ✔

Option A: It is a necessary part of the social order.

Option B: It is essentially fair.

Option C: It is monstrous.

Option D: It will naturally fall out of favor.

Correct Answer: It is monstrous. ✔

Option A: It represents a “doubling” of Queen Victoria by English women as they remake themselves in her image.

Option B: It represents the “transformation” of the traditional Victorian woman from the private sphere to the public sphere.

Option C: It represents the rise in psychological pathologies or “madness” in women in the late 19th century.

Option D: It represents the “pollution” of the ideal woman by foreign influences.

Correct Answer: It represents the “transformation” of the traditional Victorian woman from the private sphere to the public sphere. ✔

Option A: The uncanny

Option B: The fallen world

Option C: The “Other”

Option D: The sublime

Correct Answer: The uncanny ✔

Option A: To represent the expansion of Gothic literary spaces from only subterranean spaces to attics as well

Option B: To represent the shift from the male Gothic villain to the female Gothic villain in the Victorian Gothic novel

Option C: To make reference to the rise of personal responsibility in Victorian England for the care of the sick and insane

Option D: To make an ironic statement about the point of view and marginalization of the “Other” in Victorian England

Correct Answer: To make an ironic statement about the point of view and marginalization of the “Other” in Victorian England ✔

Option A: It engenders confusion for both the novel’s protagonist and readers.

Option B: It offers a secure refuge for the novel’s protagonist.

Option C: It provides the space for a large community of people to congregate.

Option D: It represents the glory of a bygone age.

Correct Answer: It engenders confusion for both the novel’s protagonist and readers. ✔

Option A: The relative location of the room in which the “troubled” women are kept

Option B: The state of disrepair when the houses are first encountered by the protagonists

Option C: The relative location of the houses within the larger communities

Option D: The relative age of the houses

Correct Answer: The state of disrepair when the houses are first encountered by the protagonists ✔

Option A: The reference to ancestral halls

Option B: The uncommon nature of the event

Option C: The first-person narrator

Option D: The dichotomy between the concepts of ordinary and estate

Correct Answer: The first-person narrator ✔

Option A: Romantic literary criticism has been stubbornly limited with regard to queer readings.

Option B: Deviant sexuality, including homosexuality, has historically been associated with Romantic literature.

Option C: The sexual lives of Romantic-era authors are not relevant to our understanding of queer Romanticism.

Option D: The “Queer Gothic” is understudied.

Correct Answer: Romantic literary criticism has been stubbornly limited with regard to queer readings. ✔

Option A: That sexual purity was less important than society’s safety

Option B: That female sexuality is dangerous and must be destroyed

Option C: That women are not one-dimensional

Option D: That men consider themselves responsible for their own fates

Correct Answer: That female sexuality is dangerous and must be destroyed ✔

Option A: They are almost always the subjects of omens and curses.

Option B: They are typically heroes.

Option C: They always express deviant sexual tendencies.

Option D: They are perceived as dangerous because they are unknown.

Correct Answer: They are perceived as dangerous because they are unknown. ✔

Option A: The unknown

Option B: Transgression

Option C: Reason

Option D: The grotesque

Correct Answer: Reason ✔

Option A: It represents male sexuality.

Option B: It suggests female complicity in sexual deviance.

Option C: It refers to the location of murder in Gothic novels.

Option D: It symbolizes the forced sequestration of women both before and after marriage.

Correct Answer: It symbolizes the forced sequestration of women both before and after marriage. ✔

Option A: Stoker’s “Dracula”

Option B: Beckford’s “Vathek”

Option C: Ancient civilizations worldwide

Option D: Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto”

Correct Answer: Ancient civilizations worldwide ✔

Option A: Horror is only a sense of the sublime.

Option B: Terror contracts the soul.

Option C: Terror involves uncertainty and obscurity.

Option D: Horror fails to awaken and expand the soul.

Correct Answer: Horror fails to awaken and expand the soul. ✔

Option A: The decline in animal dissections

Option B: The increase in scientific experimentation

Option C: The end of absolute monarchy

Option D: The end of the Vitalist Controversy

Correct Answer: The increase in scientific experimentation ✔

Option A: It is the scene of violence.

Option B: It is the scene of sexual transgression.

Option C: It is the scene of redemption for the Byronic hero.

Option D: It serves as a kind of prison.

Correct Answer: It is the scene of redemption for the Byronic hero. ✔

Option A: She creates a strong male hero to rescue Emily.

Option B: She is not concerned with issues of rightful inheritance.

Option C: She sets the novel in present day.

Option D: She resolves the appearance of supernatural phenomena.

Correct Answer: She resolves the appearance of supernatural phenomena. ✔

Option A: The body is represented in abnormal ways.

Option B: Women’s issues are interrogated.

Option C: Gender issues are often overlooked.

Option D: Many protagonists’ mothers are absent.

Correct Answer: The body is represented in abnormal ways. ✔

Option A: The excessive violence found in the Gothic novel

Option B: The barbarians that populate the Gothic novel

Option C: The use of the word in the subtitle of Walpole’s novel

Option D: The style of architecture found in the Gothic novel

Correct Answer: The use of the word in the subtitle of Walpole’s novel ✔

Option A: It leads the reader to overlook the beauty of nature.

Option B: It reminds readers of their civic duties.

Option C: It causes an experience of elestasis, or transport.

Option D: It creates a sense of contentment.

Correct Answer: It causes an experience of elestasis, or transport. ✔

Option A: Satire

Option B: First-person narration

Option C: Realism

Option D: The uncanny doubling of characters

Correct Answer: The uncanny doubling of characters ✔

Option A: The American Revolution

Option B: The French Revolution

Option C: The Battle of Waterloo

Option D: The Industrial Revolution

Correct Answer: The French Revolution ✔

Option A: As a commentary on Victorian England

Option B: As an apolitical horror story

Option C: As a novel ghostwritten by Perce Shelley

Option D: As an exploration on the effects of science on humanity

Correct Answer: As an exploration on the effects of science on humanity ✔

Option A: Cousin Henry and Julia

Option B: Reading

Option C: Writing

Option D: John

Correct Answer: John ✔

Option A: Dracula as foreign invader

Option B: Dracula as sexual predator

Option C: Dracula as usurper of the British class system

Option D: Dracula as transgressor of God’s order

Correct Answer: Dracula as usurper of the British class system ✔

Option A: The focus on the middle and working classes

Option B: The consideration of the sensibilities of the protagonists

Option C: Plots taken from everyday life

Option D: The exploration of cultural taboos

Correct Answer: The exploration of cultural taboos ✔

Option A: Vaulted ceilings

Option B: The Middle Ages

Option C: Complicated floor plans

Option D: Neo-classicism

Correct Answer: Neo-classicism ✔

Option A: Unnatural forces overwhelming human endeavor

Option B: The rupture of the everyday by acts of violence

Option C: The destruction of humanity through scientific experimentation

Option D: The return of the past to the present

Correct Answer: The destruction of humanity through scientific experimentation ✔

Option A: The triumph of reason over passion

Option B: The rise of individual responsibility

Option C: The social and fiscal independence of women

Option D: The negative critique of Catholicism

Correct Answer: The social and fiscal independence of women ✔

Option A: Its protagonist is at risk for sexual transgression.

Option B: It is a Bildungsroman.

Option C: It explains strange phenomena.

Option D: The theme of imprisonment is prominent.

Correct Answer: It is a Bildungsroman. ✔

Option A: He threatens to spread his madness to women.

Option B: His sexuality appeals to women.

Option C: He protects women’s chastity and virginity.

Option D: He provides a way for Victorian men to blame their actions on women.

Correct Answer: His sexuality appeals to women. ✔

Option A: Her sense of morality and decorum

Option B: Her defiance of contemporary culture

Option C: Her lack of imagination

Option D: Her full embrace of the Gothic vision of Walpole, Beckford, and Lewis

Correct Answer: Her sense of morality and decorum ✔

Option A: Of or relating to anything Medieval

Option B: Of or relating to anything rude, uncivilized, or ignorant; devoid of culture and taste

Option C: Of or relating to the Germanic tribes that invaded and established kingdoms in Europe in the first millennium

Option D: Of or relating to a particular style of architecture

Correct Answer: Of or relating to the Germanic tribes that invaded and established kingdoms in Europe in the first millennium ✔

Option A: Roman Catholicism was wrongfully dismantled in England by Henry VIII in the 16th century.

Option B: Jews represent sympathetic literary heroes.

Option C: Religion is race-neutral.

Option D: The Spanish Inquisition and the legend of the wandering Jew confirm the superiority of England.

Correct Answer: The Spanish Inquisition and the legend of the wandering Jew confirm the superiority of England. ✔

Option A: The normal activity of vivisection is represented as horrible.

Option B: Seemingly normal characters are actually terrifying.

Option C: The dramatic landscape provides an alternative to the usual world.

Option D: The monster’s grotesque body is actually made of human parts.

Correct Answer: The monster’s grotesque body is actually made of human parts. ✔

Option A: Body transformation

Option B: Horror

Option C: Terror

Option D: The uncanny

Correct Answer: Horror ✔

Option A: Frankenstein’s monster

Option B: Mary Shelley

Option C: Robert Walton

Option D: Frankenstein

Correct Answer: Frankenstein’s monster ✔

Option A: The undead

Option B: The outcast

Option C: The cursed

Option D: The transgendered

Correct Answer: The cursed ✔

Option A: It is lavishly furnished.

Option B: It is haunted.

Option C: It contains a secret passageway.

Option D: It does not lock from the inside.

Correct Answer: It does not lock from the inside. ✔

Option A: It includes apocalyptic themes.

Option B: It represents society as relatively stable.

Option C: It condemns the misuse of power.

Option D: It predicts the upheaval of society.

Correct Answer: It condemns the misuse of power. ✔

Option A: It introduces one of several supernatural elements into the plot.

Option B: It dispels the anti-Semitism associated with the Gothic novel.

Option C: It offers a positive alternative to the excesses of the Catholic Church.

Option D: It suggests that redemption is possible through penitence.

Correct Answer: It introduces one of several supernatural elements into the plot. ✔

Option A: Emily ends up happily married.

Option B: Emily’s sense of decorum seems to falter late in the novel.

Option C: Emily is a sensible rather than defenseless woman.

Option D: Emily provides a unique example of a weak woman.

Correct Answer: Emily is a sensible rather than defenseless woman. ✔

Option A: Antonia’s death

Option B: Matilda’s dressing as Rosario

Option C: Agnes’s admittance to the convent

Option D: The magic mirror

Correct Answer: Matilda’s dressing as Rosario ✔

Option A: As a plot structure that diminishes the Gothic novel’s intensity

Option B: As the reader’s inward turn to examine his or her own tangled consciousness

Option C: As a means for characters to directly confront unconscious problems

Option D: As a place for the distressed heroine to hide

Correct Answer: As the reader’s inward turn to examine his or her own tangled consciousness ✔

Option A: Queer provocateur

Option B: Heroine in distress

Option C: Angel in the house

Option D: Pursued protagonist

Correct Answer: Queer provocateur ✔

Option A: Religious upheaval

Option B: The presence of omens

Option C: The curse of immorality

Option D: Insanity

Correct Answer: The curse of immorality ✔

Option A: Each owner upends the prevailing law of the land.

Option B: Both are former palaces.

Option C: The owners of each had mistresses.

Option D: On the outside they look like homes, but on the inside they are prisons

Correct Answer: Both are former palaces. ✔

Option A: Valancourt’s character

Option B: Emily’s misfortunes

Option C: The plot

Option D: Emily’s mind

Correct Answer: Valancourt’s character ✔

Option A: His habitat is equivalent to the Garden of Eden.

Option B: He is a mistake.

Option C: He is the first of his kind.

Option D: He is responsible for the burden of original sin.

Correct Answer: He is the first of his kind. ✔