King Lear, ACT V - Scene I. quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What complaint does Edmund make about the Duke of Albany at the start of the scene?

   • He is too eager to attack the French
   • Correct answer: He keeps changing his mind and blaming himself
   • He refuses to share any of his soldiers with Regan
   • He has secretly gone over to Lear's side

   Edmund says Albany is full of alteration and self-reproving, so he sends an officer to learn whether Albany's plan still holds.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Regan most want to learn from Edmund in their private talk?

   • Whether he plans to spare her father
   • Whether the French army greatly outnumbers their own
   • Correct answer: Whether he loves or has been intimate with Goneril
   • Whether Albany can be trusted in the battle

   Regan presses Edmund to speak the truth about Goneril, and he swears by his honour that nothing has passed between them.

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3. 3

   Question 3. According to Albany, why is he fighting in this war?

   • Correct answer: Because France has invaded the land, not to oppose the King
   • Because he wants revenge on Lear for dividing the kingdom
   • Because Goneril has ordered him to lead the whole army
   • Because Edmund has promised him the crown after victory

   Albany says the business concerns him because France invades their land, and he fears the King's side has just and heavy causes.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Goneril reveal in her first aside of the scene?

   • She plans to poison the French commander
   • Correct answer: She would rather lose the battle than lose Edmund to Regan
   • She regrets the cruel way she treated her father
   • She suspects her husband is reading her letters

   Goneril says she had rather lose the battle than let her sister loosen him and me, showing rivalry outweighs victory.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Goneril mean when she says in an aside, 'O, ho, I know the riddle'?

   • She has solved a coded message from the French camp
   • She knows Edgar is hiding in the camp in disguise
   • Correct answer: She sees Regan wants to keep her away from Edmund
   • She has guessed the date the battle will begin

   Regan insists Goneril come with her, and Goneril realizes the request is meant to keep her from being alone with Edmund.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does the disguised Edgar promise Albany if Albany wins the battle?

   • To lead him straight to the place where Lear is hiding near Dover
   • To reveal his true name before the whole army
   • To bring Gloucester to swear loyalty to Albany
   • Correct answer: To produce a champion who will prove the letter's charges

   Edgar says that when the trumpet sounds he can produce a champion to prove what is avouched in the letter.

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7. 7

   Question 7. In his closing soliloquy, what does Edmund decide about Lear and Cordelia?

   • Correct answer: They will never receive the pardon Albany intends
   • They should be sent safely back to France
   • They will be held as hostages to bargain for peace
   • They may live if Cordelia agrees to marry him

   Edmund says that once the battle is done and they are in his power, they shall never see Albany's pardon.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does 'forfended' mean as used in: 'But have you never found my brother's way / To the forfended place?'

   • Well defended
   • Correct answer: Forbidden
   • Forgotten
   • Far away

   Forfended means forbidden; Regan is asking whether Edmund has been in Goneril's marriage bed, which is forbidden to him.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does 'broils' mean as used in: 'For these domestic and particular broils / Are not the question here'?

   • Household chores
   • Hot tempers
   • Correct answer: Private quarrels
   • Cooking fires

   Broils are quarrels; Goneril says the family disputes must wait while they unite against the enemy.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'machination' mean as used in: 'Your business of the world hath so an end, / And machination ceases'?

    • Correct answer: Secret plotting
    • Heavy machinery
    • Military training
    • Public speaking

    Machination means scheming; Edgar warns that if Albany loses, all the plotting around him ends with his death.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these events actually occur in Act V, Scene I?

    • Edmund swears by his honour that he has not been intimate with Goneril.

      Happened

    • Albany reads Edgar's letter aloud before the assembled soldiers.

      Didn't happen

    • Edgar refuses to stay while Albany reads the letter.

      Happened

    • Regan openly accuses Goneril of plotting to kill Albany.

      Didn't happen

    • Edmund reports that the enemy is in view.

      Happened

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