Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Test and Answer Key for High School

Eliminate assessment planning responsibilities and evaluate high school students' knowledge of plot and literary craft with this 50-question summative test covering William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. An answer key is included. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. (Alternatively, a self-grading Google Drive option is available.) A breakdown of content follows.

Part 1. Knowledge of Plot. Students will demonstrate comprehension of the following:

• The motivations of a crowd in Act 1

• The Feast of Lupercal

• The function of the Soothsayer

• Cassius' manipulation of Brutus

• How Brutus rationalizes murderous deeds

• Brutus' faith in his followers

• Calpurnia's nightmares

• Supernatural occurrences preceding Caesar's death

• The purpose of Artemidorus' letter

• Caesar's hubris

• Antony's apology to Caesar's corpse

• Brutus' self-image

• Efforts to manipulate Caesar's will

• The changing nature of Brutus and Cassius' relationship

• Cassius' dynamic character

• The nature of Cassius' death

• Antony's treatment of Lucilius

• Brutus' suicide

Part 2. True/False. Students will identify whether a statement is true or false. Questions focus on:

• Setting

• Peculiar incidents preceding Caesar's death

• Portia's concern for Caesar

• Antony's dire prediction for the fate of the Republic

• The public's rejection of Brutus

• Qualities about Cassius that make Brutus suspicious

• A poet

• Titinius' criticism of Brutus' orders

Part 3. Quotations in Context. Students will match an excerpt with its appropriate context.

• Act 1, scene 2: "When Caesar says ‘do this,’ it is perform’d."

• Act 1, scene 2: "Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look."

• Act 2, scene 1: "O Rome, I make thee promise: / If the redress will follow, thou receivest / Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!"

• Act 2, scene 2: "When beggars die there are no comets seen; / The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."

• Act 3, scene 1: "And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive; / Yet in the number I do know but one / That unassailable holds on his rank, / Unshaked of motion: and that I am he..."

• Act 4, scene 3: "O, I could weep / My spirit from mine eyes!"

• Act 5, scene 3: "This day I breathed first: time is come round, / And where I did begin, there shall I end; / My life is run his compass..."

Part 4. Application of Literary Devices. Students will be given a detail or excerpt from the drama and must determine which literary device is best reflected. Literary devices addressed include:

• Personification

• Anaphora

• Hyperbaton

• Alliteration

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Onomatopoeia

• Hyperbole

Materials are available for teaching a variety of Shakespeare's plays:

• Hamlet - Google and printable

• Julius Caesar - Google and printable

• King Lear - Google and printable

• Macbeth - Google and printable

• Othello - Google and printable

• Romeo and Juliet - Google and printable

• The Merchant of Venice - Google and printable

• The Taming of the Shrew - Google and printable

• The Tempest - Google and printable