Shakespeare's King Lear Quiz and Answer Key Bundle for High School

Evaluate general reading comprehension and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this bundle of plot-based quizzes covering each Act of William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear. The assessments may double as guided reading worksheets to facilitate active engagement with Shakespearean drama. Answer keys are included. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. (Alternatively, a Google Drive bundle option is available.) A breakdown of content follows.

Act 1 Quiz. Questions pertain to the following relevant details:

• Setting

• A king's life-changing decision

• Edmund's status as an illegitimate child and its effect on him

• Daughters' expressions of love for their father

• Contrasting Cordelia from her two sisters

• Cordelia's punishment

• Kent's assessment of King Lear's behavior

• An agreement with the King of France

• Comparing Cordelia's two sisters to their father (identifying similar motivations)

• Edmund's underhanded deeds

• Goneril's feelings toward her recently moved-in father

• Kent's act of self-preservation

• Character description of the Fool

• The intent of King Lear's letter

• The king's acknowledgement of a fear

• Kent's loyalty

Act 2 Quiz. Questions pertain to the following relevant details:

• Edmund's newest methods of compromising Edgar's reputation

• A physical confrontation and its instigator's punishment

• Gloucester's reluctance to offer help

• Edgar's decision to assume a new identity

• King Lear's reaction to Kent's punishment

• King Lear's efforts to seek clarification on what led to Kent's situation

• An argument among father and daughters

• King Lear's isolation

Act 3 Quiz. Questions pertain to the following relevant details:

• Character motivations (King of France)

• The application of metaphor in the text

• Analysis of King Lear as a dynamic character and articulating relevant textual evidence

• A character's treasonous actions

• Significant details about Gloucester

• King Lear's epiphany regarding his treatment of struggling subjects

• Edgar's deceptive behavior

• The application of dramatic irony in the text

• Edmund as the new Earl of Gloucester

• Displays of King Lear's mental decline

• Regan's display of disrespect toward Gloucester

• Cornwall's cruel and violent acts

• Cornwall's injury

Act 4 Quiz. Questions pertain to the following relevant details:

• Edgar's changing perspective on life

• Gloucester's criticism of the gods

• Gloucester's concern for a beggar

• Goneril's assumptions about her husband

• Goneril's adulterous desires

• King Lear's concerns about Cordelia

• Cordelia's desires for her father

• Edmund's intensifying desire to commit murder

• Edgar's efforts to save his father from his suicidal desires

• A second fake trial

• King Lear's struggle to understand his daughters

• King Lear's thoughts about powerful people

• A duel

• The intent of a letter

• Cordelia's request of Kent

• A moment of mental clarity

Act 5 Quiz. Questions pertain to the following relevant details:

• Edmund's deception as it relates to the nature of his relationship with Goneril

• The delivery of a letter to Albany

• Edmund's motives

• Edgar's viewpoints on life

• Cordelia's attempts to console her father

• King Lear's perspective on being held prisoner

• Goneril's evil deeds

• A deadly duel

• Albany's motives

• Edmund's reaction to his brother's account

• Goneril's suicide

• One of Edmund's final acts

• The death of Cordelia

• The death of King Lear

• Kent's loyalty to the king

• Edgar's promotion

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