Stephanie Sang, 1st period (4) I put: D, recklessness in battle Correct answer: A, insufficient support for a coup By hand

and strength, Richard is not solely referring to his own physical strength, but to his hand of people who could possibly support him and the strength that he would then possess in rallying these people and usurping the throne. I, however, interpreted Line 11 more strongly than Line 12 (the hand and strength line) and took that to mean that he was too quick in battle, which in retrospect, was a very odd choice especially since we know that he has physical deformities and therefore battling would not be a smart choice. (7) I put: E, account this world but hell Correct answer: A, cut the causes off In Line 9, cut the causes off refers to cutting the causes that keeps [him] from [the crown] which in the metaphorical sense are the sea and distance, symbols that represent powerful forces, rendering absoluteness of Line 9 as boastful. For some reason I decided to take a darker route and interpret his claim that he would live in hell if he didnt usurp the throne as more of a Im so desperate for the throne that I will do this type of statement probably a symptom of living in this present day and age, I suppose. (8) I put: C, stronger character Correct answer: A, normal appearance Seeing as Line 34 follows a massive tirade about his deformed appearance, its more likely that better person refers to a person of normal appearance than stronger character since there was no mention of character in the giant tirade. I think I saw the word command and automatically assumed it meant stronger character because of the connotation. (11) I put: D, timidity Correct answer: C, primogeniture I guess primogeniture is the more logical answer because even though Richard spends the entire passage bemoaning his lack of normal appearance, just being attractive doesnt automatically gain one the throne. Usurping just doesnt happen if youre not associated already with the royal court, so the reader needs to infer that Richard was of royal blood and was unfortunately not the oldest of his siblings. Im not sure why, but during the test I was convinced that Richards impediment was based on his lack of courage to act (on a second thought, Hamlet may have corrupted me into thinking that) so I drew timidity out of that general idea. On a more literary-evidence type of note, Richard references his mother in love forswore me in my mothers womb which I think technically berates his mother for birthing him so deformed but could also be used as a justification for not birthing him first.