SAT II Literature : Characterization and Motivation: Drama
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II Literature
All SAT II Literature Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Characterization And Motivation: Drama
MEPHISTOPHELES: Tut, Faustus,
Marriage is but a ceremonial toy;
And if thou lovest me, think no more of it.
I’ll cull thee out the fairest courtesans,
And bring them every morning to thy bed;(5)
She whom thine eye shall like, thy heart shall have,
Be she as chaste as was Penelope,
As wise as Saba, or as beautiful
As was bright Lucifer before his fall.
Here, take this book peruse it thoroughly: [Gives a book.] (10)
The iterating of these lines brings gold;
The framing of this circle on the ground
Brings whirlwinds, tempests, thunder and lightning;
Pronounce this thrice devoutly to thysel
(1592)
In this passage, the speaker is trying to dissuade Faustus from doing what?
Practicing magic on his own
Worshipping God
Falling in love
Getting married
Worshipping Satan
Getting married
By reading line 2, we can see that the speaker is dismissing marriage as an unnecessary and foolish convention: “Marriage is but a ceremonial toy.” The speaker offers instead to provide courtesans and spells for Faustus, thereby dissuading him from getting married.
Passage adapted from Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus (1592)
Example Question #1 : Characterization And Motivation: Drama
Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
How does the speaker characterize himself in relation to his listeners?
Patient
Powerful
Generous
Powerless
Parsimonious
Powerful
Throughout the passage, the speaker characterizes himself as powerful in relation to his listeners. He does this by re-framing their banishment of him as his banishment of them into uncertainty, and his leaving as his own decision to "turn [his] back". His emphasis on the inability of the city to defend itself without him simultaneously figures the listeners as powerless, and himself as powerful. Even though he is being banished, his entire speech is focused on his own power.
He hardly seems generous, makes little mention of money, and does not draw attention to his patience.
Example Question #1 : Characterization And Motivation: Drama
Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
What does the speaker argue will ultimately result from the listeners' actions?
The city government becoming tyrannical and cruel
Fruitful exploration of foreign countries
A violent war with foreign enemies
Uncertainty for the people in the city, and the eventual overthrow of the city itself
Pestilence and disharmony in the city
Uncertainty for the people in the city, and the eventual overthrow of the city itself
As a result of the listeners banishing the speaker, he argues that they will first fall into uncertainty, and eventually be overthrown.
He believes the city is already pestilential and dirty, and he thinks the government will become weak, not tyrannical and cruel. While he thinks enemies will invade, he thinks that the invaders will win "without blows." When he announces his plan to seek "a world elsewhere," he does so more from the perspective of "turn[ing] his back" on the city, rather than any positive expectation of the results of this action.
Example Question #2 : Motives, Goals, And Actions Of Characters
Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
The speaker most likely intends the underlined section to function as __________.
an insulting prediction that draws attention to his listeners' faults
a plea to rescind his banishment
a confession to the speaker's betrayal of the city to a foreign invading force
a warning against the impending military assault
an analysis of the underlying political problems in the city meant to show his listeners the errors of their way of governing so that they can correct them
an insulting prediction that draws attention to his listeners' faults
The speaker most likely intends the underlined section to function as an insulting prediction that draws attention to his listeners' faults. The ease with which the speaker predicts the city will be conquered can only be interpreted as intentionally insulting to his listeners.
The prediction is not of a warning against an actual impending assault, and the speaker offers no correctives against any of the problems he outlines. He is not offering a confession, as the invading force is hypothetical, and he is not pleading for anything. While his analysis can be seen as intending to show the underlying political problems in the city, there is no indication that his analysis is intended to help the listeners' correct their mistakes.
Example Question #1 : Claims And Argument
Adapted from Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, III.i.1126-1185 (1623)
Enter Judges, Senators and Tribunes, with MARTIUS and QUINTUS, bound, passing on to the place of execution; TITUS going before, pleading
Titus Andronicus: Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed;
For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd;
And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.
For two and twenty sons I never wept,
Because they died in honor's lofty bed.
[Lieth down; the Judges, &c., pass by him, and Exeunt]
For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write
My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears:
Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite;
My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush.
O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain,
That shall distill from these two ancient urns,
Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still;
In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow
And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.
[Enter LUCIUS, with his sword drawn]
O reverend tribunes! O gentle, aged men!
Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death;
And let me say, that never wept before,
My tears are now prevailing orators.
Lucius: O noble father, you lament in vain:
The tribunes hear you not; no man is by;
And you recount your sorrows to a stone.
Titus Andronicus: Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead.
Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you,—
Lucius: My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.
Titus Andronicus: Why, tis no matter, man; if they did hear,
They would not mark me, or if they did mark,
They would not pity me, yet plead I must;
And bootless unto them [—]
Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
For that they will not intercept my tale:
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears and seem to weep with me;
And, were they but attired in grave weeds,
Rome could afford no tribune like to these.
A stone is soft as wax,—tribunes more hard than stones;
A stone is silent, and offendeth not,
And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.
[Rises]
But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn?
Lucius: To rescue my two brothers from their death:
For which attempt the judges have pronounced
My everlasting doom of banishment.
Titus Andronicus: O happy man! they have befriended thee.
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine: how happy art thou, then,
From these devourers to be banished!
What is the main reason Titus Andronicus gives as justification for his right to be heard by the tribunes?
That as their peer and fellow tribune, he is owed loyalty and friendship
That he has provided years of esteemed military service protecting the tribunes
That as a high priest, he is always entitled to the tribunes' attention
That his sons are innocent, and thus he is entitled to a day in court
That as a sick, elderly man, he is owed charity by the tribunes
That he has provided years of esteemed military service protecting the tribunes
The main reason Titus give for his right to be heard by the tribunes is that he has served honorably protecting them, that his whole "youth was spent / In dangerous wars, whilst [they] securely slept." While he states that his sons are "not [so] corrupted as is thought," he does not overtly argue for their outright innocence, and he does not cite this as a justification for his right to be heard. Titus specifically separates his societal role from that of the tribunes. While he asks for their pity, he does not cite illness on his part, merely age and sadness.
Example Question #1 : Characterization And Motivation: Drama
Adapted from Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, III.i.1126-1185 (1623)
Enter Judges, Senators and Tribunes, with MARTIUS and QUINTUS, bound, passing on to the place of execution; TITUS going before, pleading
Titus Andronicus: Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed;
For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd;
And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.
For two and twenty sons I never wept,
Because they died in honor's lofty bed.
[Lieth down; the Judges, &c., pass by him, and Exeunt]
For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write
My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears:
Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite;
My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush.
O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain,
That shall distill from these two ancient urns,
Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still;
In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow
And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.
[Enter LUCIUS, with his sword drawn]
O reverend tribunes! O gentle, aged men!
Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death;
And let me say, that never wept before,
My tears are now prevailing orators.
Lucius: O noble father, you lament in vain:
The tribunes hear you not; no man is by;
And you recount your sorrows to a stone.
Titus Andronicus: Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead.
Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you,—
Lucius: My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.
Titus Andronicus: Why, tis no matter, man; if they did hear,
They would not mark me, or if they did mark,
They would not pity me, yet plead I must;
And bootless unto them [—]
Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
For that they will not intercept my tale:
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears and seem to weep with me;
And, were they but attired in grave weeds,
Rome could afford no tribune like to these.
A stone is soft as wax,—tribunes more hard than stones;
A stone is silent, and offendeth not,
And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.
[Rises]
But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn?
Lucius: To rescue my two brothers from their death:
For which attempt the judges have pronounced
My everlasting doom of banishment.
Titus Andronicus: O happy man! they have befriended thee.
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine: how happy art thou, then,
From these devourers to be banished!
Which of the following best describes how Titus Andronicus characterizes the tribunes when speaking to Lucius?
Less empathetic and receptive to pleas than rocks
Uneducated, rash decision-makers
Attentive, responsible civil administrators
Aggressive, unthinking warmongers
Worse speakers than rocks
Less empathetic and receptive to pleas than rocks
When speaking to Lucius, Titus Andronicus characterizes the tribunes as less empathetic than rocks. While rocks may not be able to respond to his pleas, at least they will not "intercept" them. So, while he says that talking to stones is "bootless," Titus characterizes the stones, through their stillness, as more receptive and empathetic than the aggressively insensitive tribunes.
While Titus may prefer talking to rocks than talking to the tribunes, he does admit that the rocks "cannot answer [his] distress" or even talk at all.
Example Question #2 : Characterization And Motivation: Drama
Adapted from Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, III.i.1126-1185 (1623)
Enter Judges, Senators and Tribunes, with MARTIUS and QUINTUS, bound, passing on to the place of execution; TITUS going before, pleading
Titus Andronicus: Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed;
For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd;
And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.
For two and twenty sons I never wept,
Because they died in honor's lofty bed.
[Lieth down; the Judges, &c., pass by him, and Exeunt]
For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write
My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears:
Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite;
My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush.
O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain,
That shall distill from these two ancient urns,
Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still;
In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow
And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.
[Enter LUCIUS, with his sword drawn]
O reverend tribunes! O gentle, aged men!
Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death;
And let me say, that never wept before,
My tears are now prevailing orators.
Lucius: O noble father, you lament in vain:
The tribunes hear you not; no man is by;
And you recount your sorrows to a stone.
Titus Andronicus: Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead.
Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you,—
Lucius: My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.
Titus Andronicus: Why, tis no matter, man; if they did hear,
They would not mark me, or if they did mark,
They would not pity me, yet plead I must;
And bootless unto them [—]
Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
For that they will not intercept my tale:
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears and seem to weep with me;
And, were they but attired in grave weeds,
Rome could afford no tribune like to these.
A stone is soft as wax,—tribunes more hard than stones;
A stone is silent, and offendeth not,
And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.
[Rises]
But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn?
Lucius: To rescue my two brothers from their death:
For which attempt the judges have pronounced
My everlasting doom of banishment.
Titus Andronicus: O happy man! they have befriended thee.
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine: how happy art thou, then,
From these devourers to be banished!
Which of the following is NOT an aspect of Titus' personification of "the earth," underlined and bolded?
Able to feel shame
Ancient
Extremely thirsty
Bribable
Subject to the whims of the seasons
Ancient
The only answer listed that was NOT an aspect of Titus' characterization of the earth was "ancient." While he does refer to "two ancient urns," this is a reference to the possible death of his sons, not an aspect of the personified earth.
The earth that Titus personifies and addresses is said to be extremely thirsty ("dry appetite"), and able to "blush and [feel] shame" if it drinks innocent blood. In keeping with its extreme thirst, the earth is also bribable with tears ("I will befriend thee more with rain"), and subject to the whims of the seasons (dry summers and snowy winters).
Example Question #6 : Claims And Argument
Adapted from Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, III.i.1126-1185 (1623)
Enter Judges, Senators and Tribunes, with MARTIUS and QUINTUS, bound, passing on to the place of execution; TITUS going before, pleading
Titus Andronicus: Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed;
For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd;
And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.
For two and twenty sons I never wept,
Because they died in honor's lofty bed.
[Lieth down; the Judges, &c., pass by him, and Exeunt]
For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write
My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears:
Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite;
My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush.
O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain,
That shall distill from these two ancient urns,
Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still;
In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow
And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.
[Enter LUCIUS, with his sword drawn]
O reverend tribunes! O gentle, aged men!
Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death;
And let me say, that never wept before,
My tears are now prevailing orators.
Lucius: O noble father, you lament in vain:
The tribunes hear you not; no man is by;
And you recount your sorrows to a stone.
Titus Andronicus: Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead.
Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you,—
Lucius: My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.
Titus Andronicus: Why, tis no matter, man; if they did hear,
They would not mark me, or if they did mark,
They would not pity me, yet plead I must;
And bootless unto them [—]
Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
For that they will not intercept my tale:
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears and seem to weep with me;
And, were they but attired in grave weeds,
Rome could afford no tribune like to these.
A stone is soft as wax,—tribunes more hard than stones;
A stone is silent, and offendeth not,
And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.
[Rises]
But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn?
Lucius: To rescue my two brothers from their death:
For which attempt the judges have pronounced
My everlasting doom of banishment.
Titus Andronicus: O happy man! they have befriended thee.
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine: how happy art thou, then,
From these devourers to be banished!
Which of the following is NOT a claim Titus makes about the tribunes relative to rocks?
Rocks are silent and inoffensive, while tribunes are able to speak and to doom men with their words.
Rocks would be prohibitively expensive, as compared to the tribunes, if they were dressed or decorated slightly more ornately.
Stones are softer than wax, and tribunes are harder, or less caring, than rocks.
Rocks do not interrupt him when he tries to tell them his story, as opposed to the tribunes.
Rocks are more empathetic and caring than the tribunes.
Stones are softer than wax, and tribunes are harder, or less caring, than rocks.
All of the provided answers are claims Titus makes about rocks as compared to tribunes except the claim that rocks are softer than wax and tribunes are harder and less caring than rocks. While Titus does think that tribunes are harder and less caring than rocks, he says that "a stone is soft as wax," not softer.
Example Question #2 : Characterization And Motivation: Drama
NESTOR: Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;
But if there be not in our Grecian host
One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love, tell [them] from me (5)
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver
And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn…
I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
… ULYSSES: Give pardon to my speech:
Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector. (10)
According to the passage, why does the speaker propose to hide his beard (line 6)?
To intimidate the enemy
To appear more regal
To appear more beautiful
To hide his advanced age
To remind the enemy of his host’s former grandeur
To hide his advanced age
In line 6, Nestor vows, “I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver.” In the subsequent lines, he further describes himself getting dressed and going to war to prove himself. The implication, of course, is that he wants to hide his age in order to be seen as a worthy adversary.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Example Question #3 : Passage Content
Adapted from Act 1, Scene 1, ln. 78-119 of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (1604) in Vol. XIX, Part 2 of The Harvard Classics (1909-1914)
FAUSTUS: How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate enterprise I will?
I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;
I’ll have them read me strange philosophy
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;
I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;
I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;
I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole king of all the provinces;
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge,
I’ll make my servile spirits to invent.
[Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS]
Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,
And make me blest with your sage conference.
Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the last
To practice magic and concealed arts:
Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy
That will receive no object, for my head
But ruminates on necromantic skill.
Philosophy is odious and obscure,
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:
’Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me.
Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And I that have with concise syllogisms
Gravell’d the pastors of the German church,
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits
On sweet Musaeigus, when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Whose shadows made all Europe honor him.
Which of the following most accurately reflects Faustus' characterization of his relationship with the occult?
Although he finds the occult inspiring, he is growing concerned that it has distracted him from serious academic study.
The occult has captivated his imagination and made all other forms of academic inquiry boring to him.
Although he finds the occult inspiring, he is growing concerned that his study of the occult has led him to question his faith.
He finds the occult inspiring, and, with the help of Valdes and Cornelius, he plans to make it the subject of his next book.
The occult has captivated his imagination and made him both afraid and excited to pursue it at the expense of conventional disciplines.
The occult has captivated his imagination and made all other forms of academic inquiry boring to him.
Faust most accurately characterizes the occult as having captivated his imagination and made all other forms of academic inquiry boring to him. His fascination is both directly stated ("how I am glutted . . .", "magic, magic hath ravaged me") and implied with his prolonged rumination on what he would do with magic powers. His dismissive treatment of all other disciplines during his explanation of his fascination with the occult suggests that this fascination has contributed to his disinclination towards more conventional disciplines.
He does not express any fear or trepidation in relation to the occult, nor does he mention writing a book. He expresses no concern about being distracted from academic study, nor questioning his faith; in fact he brags about questioning priests and confounding them.
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