George Eliot

Study question George Eliot

Facts about George Eliot

➾ She was born Mary Anne Evans but famously wrote under the male pseudonym George Eliot.

➾ She was forced to leave school at 19 to keep house for her father after her mother died.

➾ She became fluent in languages like German and Italian and translated complex philosophical works.

➾ She renounced her Christian faith after translating critical works like D.F. Strauss’s The Life of Jesus Critically Examined.

➾ For two years, she served as the uncredited, behind-the-scenes editor of the prestigious Westminster Review.

➾ She lived with George Henry Lewes as his wife, despite the scandal, because he was legally unable to divorce his estranged wife.

➾ Lewes registered the four children his estranged wife had with her lover, Thornton Hunt, under his own name.

➾ Her beloved brother Isaac cut off all contact with her for over two decades due to her common-law marriage.

➾ The humiliation she felt after a short, controversial visit to R.H. Brabant inspired the character of Mr. Casaubon.

➾ Despite her literary fame, she had to endure increasing personal criticism for her unconventional life choices.

➾ After Lewes’s death, she married John Cross, who was more than 20 years her junior, seven months before she died.

George Eliot MCQs

1. What was the birth name of the author who used the pseudonym George Eliot?

A. Mary Anne Lewes
B. Marian Cross
C. Mary Anne Evans
D. Dorothea Brooke

C. Mary Anne Evans
She chose a male pseudonym. A shocking move for a Victorian woman. It ensured her work was taken seriously, free from the romantic stereotypes attached to female writers.

2. In which year was George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) born?

A. 1839
B. 1851
C. 1819
D. 1880

C. 1819
Born in the same year as Queen Victoria.

3. George Eliot was born at Arbury Farm, located in which English county?

A. London
B. Derbyshire
C. Warwickshire
D. Coventry

C. Warwickshire
The rural landscape of her childhood was everything. It provided the rich, authentic setting for her early novels, like Adam Bede.

4. What was George Eliot’s father’s job on the estate where she was born?

A. Journalist
B. Land agent (manager)
C. Publisher
D. Baptist minister

B. Land agent (manager)
Her father’s practical work gave her a unique insight. She saw the lives of both the gentry and the working tenants. This perspective fueled the realism in her novels.

5. Mary Anne Evans was the youngest of how many children?

A. Three
B. Four
C. Five
D. Two

C. Five
She formed a deep, complex bond with her older brother Isaac—a relationship later dramatized in The Mill on the Floss.

6. At what age did Mary Anne Evans leave school after her mother’s death?

A. 15
B. 19
C. 21
D. 22

B. 19
Her formal education ended early. She had to run the household. But her intellectual journey was just beginning. She became a voracious self-teacher.

7. Which two languages did Mary Anne learn with her father’s help after leaving school?

A. Latin and Greek
B. German and Italian
C. French and Spanish
D. Hebrew and French

B. German and Italian
This wasn’t just a hobby. It was serious scholarship. Her command of these languages allowed her to translate major philosophical works from the Continent.

8. After moving to Foleshill in 1841, with whom did Mary Anne Evans become friends?

A. John Chapman and George Lewes
B. Charles and Cara Bray
C. Herbert Spencer and R.W. Mackay
D. The Hennells and D’Albert Durade

B. Charles and Cara Bray
The Brays were a game-changer. They were free-thinkers. They introduced her to a radical intellectual circle that challenged her religious faith and expanded her worldview.

9. Through the Brays, Mary Anne Evans was introduced to which American philosopher?

A. Herbert Spencer
B. Thornton Leigh Hunt
C. Ralph Waldo Emerson
D. Girolamo Savonarola

C. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Meeting Emerson was a big deal. It connected her to the American Transcendentalist movement. Her intellectual world was becoming truly international.

10. Renouncing her Christian faith caused a rift between Mary Anne Evans and whom?

A. Her brother Isaac
B. Her mother
C. Her father
D. Her friend Cara Bray

C. Her father
A painful break. Her refusal to attend church was an act of profound intellectual rebellion. It demonstrated her commitment to her newfound rationalist beliefs, whatever the personal cost.

11. In what year did Mary Anne’s father die, leaving her with little money?

A. 1839
B. 1841
C. 1849
D. 1851

C. 1849
This marked a turning point. It was a moment of grief, but also of liberation. She was now free to pursue an independent intellectual life in London.

12. After her father’s death, how much annual income did Mary Anne have?

A. £10,000
B. £800
C. £100
D. £3,000

C. £100
A meager sum. It forced her to be independent. She had to earn her own living through her intellect, a rare path for a woman at the time.

13. Which publisher asked Mary Anne Evans to be the behind-the-scenes editor for The Westminster Review?

A. William Blackwood
B. Charles Bray
C. George Henry Lewes
D. John Chapman

D. John Chapman
Chapman brought her to London. Working on the *Westminster Review* placed her at the very center of British intellectual life. She wasn’t just observing; she was shaping the conversation.

14. For approximately how many years did she work as the subeditor for The Westminster Review?

A. One year
B. Two years
C. Three years
D. Four years

B. Two years
Though her title was unofficial, she was the de facto editor. She commissioned articles and worked with the leading thinkers of the day. An incredible intellectual apprenticeship.

15. In what year did Mary Anne Evans meet George Henry Lewes?

A. 1849
B. 1851
C. 1854
D. 1856

B. 1851
This was the most important meeting of her life. Lewes was a philosopher, critic, and scientist. He saw her genius when no one else did.

16. Why was George Henry Lewes legally unable to divorce his wife, Agnes?

A. They were only common-law partners.
B. He had condoned her adultery.
C. He lacked sufficient funds.
D. Agnes refused to leave the country.

B. He had condoned her adultery.
A cruel legal technicality. Lewes had accepted his wife’s children with another man. This act of forgiveness legally barred him from ever divorcing her.

17. In what year did George Eliot and George Henry Lewes decide to live together?

A. 1851
B. 1854
C. 1857
D. 1860

B. 1854
A socially scandalous decision. They chose to live as husbánd and wife without the sanction of the law or the church. It was an act of courage that ostracized them from polite society.

18. Her decision to live with Lewes caused a break with which disapproving friends?

A. The Hennells
B. The Chapmans
C. The Brays
D. The Lewes family

C. The Brays
The irony was painful. Even her “free-thinking” friends couldn’t accept her unconventional relationship. It showed the limits of Victorian tolerance.

19. Which family member cut off all ties with George Eliot over her relationship with Lewes?

A. Her sister Chrissey
B. Her father
C. Her brother Isaac
D. John Cross

C. Her brother Isaac
This was the deepest cut. Her beloved brother, the model for Tom Tulliver, refused to speak to her for decades. The shunning was total.

20. What influential German work by D.F. Strauss did George Eliot translate?

A. Essence of Christianity
B. Problems of Life and Mind
C. The Life of Jesus Critically Examined
D. Ethics

C. The Life of Jesus Critically Examined
A monumental and difficult task. This work of German higher criticism treated the Bible as a historical text, not a divine one. Her translation was a major intellectual event in England.

21. What philosophical treatise by Ludwig Feuerbach did George Eliot also translate?

A. Das Leben Jesu kritisch bearbeitet
B. The Spanish Court
C. Essence of Christianity
D. Social Statics

C. Essence of Christianity
Another foundational text of 19th-century atheism. Feuerbach argued that humanity creates God in its own image. Her translation work shows her deep engagement with radical philosophy.

22. What work by Spinoza was George Eliot translating while in Germany with Lewes?

A. Ethics
B. An Inquiry Concerning the Origin of Christianity
C. Goethe’s Life
D. Daniel Deronda

A. Ethics
This shows the sheer breadth of her intellect. She was tackling one of the cornerstones of Western philosophy. Her mind was constantly working, constantly translating.

23. In which year did Mary Anne Evans begin her fiction writing career?

A. 1851
B. 1856
C. 1858
D. 1860

B. 1856
It was Lewes who encouraged her. He was convinced she had the talent to be a great novelist. He was right. The world of literature was about to change.

24. What pseudonym did Mary Anne Evans use for her first fictional tales, Scenes of Clerical Life?

A. Marian Evans
B. Mary Ann Lewes
C. George Lewes
D. George Eliot

D. George Eliot
“George” was for George Henry Lewes. “Eliot” was a “good, mouth-filling, easily-pronounced word.” The name was a shield, allowing her work to be judged on its own merits.

25. Which 1859 novel was described as “a country story—full of the breath of cows”?

A. The Mill on the Floss
B. Silas Marner
C. Adam Bede
D. Felix Holt, The Radical

C. Adam Bede
Her first full-length novel. It was a massive, instant success. Its realistic portrayal of rural life was revolutionary. Queen Victoria herself was a huge fan.

26. The plot for Adam Bede came from an anecdote about a girl condemned for what crime?

A. Murder of her husband
B. Child murder
C. Theft of gold
D. Political sedition

B. Child murder
The story was based on a real confession told to Eliot by her Methodist aunt. This grounding in reality gave the novel its powerful moral weight.

27. What is the title of George Eliot’s second and most autobiographical novel, published in 1860?

A. Adam Bede
B. Middlemarch
C. The Mill on the Floss
D. Romola

C. The Mill on the Floss
A deeply personal book. The story of Maggie Tulliver’s intellectual curiosity and her fraught relationship with her brother Tom mirrors Eliot’s own childhood.

28. The pain of children with absent mothers is a key theme in which of her novels?

A. Adam Bede
B. The Spanish Gýpsy
C. Middlemarch
D. The Mill on the Floss

D. The Mill on the Floss
Eliot’s own mother died when she was young. This theme of maternal loss and its impact on a clever, passionate girl like Maggie is explored with profound empathy.

29. The relationship between Tom and Maggie in which novel is based on Eliot’s relationship with her brother Isaac?

A. Daniel Deronda
B. Silas Marner
C. The Mill on the Floss
D. Felix Holt

C. The Mill on the Floss
The painful rift between Maggie and Tom is a direct reflection of Eliot’s estrangement from her own brother, Isaac, who disapproved of her life choices.

30. Which novel tells the story of a weaver whose lost gold is replaced by a child?

A. Janet’s Repentance
B. Silas Marner
C. Romola
D. Adam Bede

B. Silas Marner
Often read in schools, it’s a perfect fable. It argues that human connection and love are more valuable than hoarded wealth. A timeless theme.

31. Which of George Eliot’s novels was set in Renaissance Italy?

A. Romola
B. Felix Holt, The Radical
C. Middlemarch
D. The Spanish Gýpsy

A. Romola
An ambitious historical novel. It required immense research. While not her most popular work, it demonstrates her incredible intellectual range and historical imagination.

32. Which 1866 novel depicted the political controversy surrounding the Reform Bill of 1832?

A. Daniel Deronda
B. Romola
C. Felix Holt, The Radical
D. Adam Bede

C. Felix Holt, The Radical
Here, Eliot directly tackled contemporary politics. The novel examines the social and political turmoil surrounding the push for democratic reform in England.

33. What type of literary work was The Spanish Gýpsy, published in 1869?

A. A collection of essays
B. A philosophical treatise
C. A long narrative poem
D. A short story

C. A long narrative poem
A less-known work. It shows her ambition to succeed in forms beyond the novel. It’s a testament to her versatility as a writer.

34. When was George Eliot’s masterpiece, Middlemarch, serialized?

A. 1859
B. 1860–1861
C. 1871–1872
D. 1876

C. 1871–1872
Many consider this the greatest novel in English. Its serialized publication allowed for a vast, panoramic story with an interwoven cast of characters. A true epic.

35. A humiliating personal experience was drawn upon for the depiction of which Middlemarch character?

A. Dorothea
B. Mr. Casaubon
C. Caleb Garth
D. Fred Vincy

B. Mr. Casaubon
Casaubon, the dry, failed scholar, was partly inspired by Eliot’s own intellectual anxieties and the fear of a wasted life of fruitless research.

36. Which novel includes a Jewish hero who departs for Palestine?

A. Middlemarch
B. Felix Holt, The Radical
C. Daniel Deronda
D. Romola

C. Daniel Deronda
A controversial and forward-thinking book. Eliot’s sympathetic portrayal of Jewish identity and the exploration of Zionism were groundbreaking for their time.

37. In what year did George Eliot publish her final major novel, Daniel Deronda?

A. 1872
B. 1876
C. 1866
D. 1869

B. 1876
This was her final novel. It pushed the boundaries of the Victorian novel with its dual narrative structure and bold themes.

38. For how long did George Eliot and George Henry Lewes maintain their relationship?

A. Seven months
B. Nearly 25 years
C. Two years
D. 15 years

B. Nearly 25 years
Their “marriage” was a true partnership of minds. Lewes was her editor, agent, and greatest supporter. His love and belief in her made her career possible.

39. In what year did George Henry Lewes die?

A. 1876
B. 1878
C. 1880
D. 1859

B. 1878
Lewes’s death was devastating. She lost her partner, her intellectual companion, and the anchor of her life. She withdrew from society and stopped writing fiction.

40. What organization did George Eliot found to honor Lewes’s legacy?

A. The Westminster Review Society
B. The George Henry Lewes Studentship
C. The Arbury Farm Trust
D. The Victorian Writers Guild

B. The George Henry Lewes Studentship
A fitting tribute. She used her wealth to found a physiology studentship at Cambridge, honoring his passion for science and ensuring his intellectual legacy would continue.

41. Who did George Eliot marry in 1880?

A. Charles Bray
B. Herbert Spencer
C. John Walter Cross
D. John Chapman

C. John Walter Cross
A shocking decision to many. Cross was a much younger friend and financial advisor. The marriage was an attempt to find companionship in her loneliness after Lewes’s death.

42. At the time of their marriage, John Cross was how much younger than George Eliot?

A. Roughly the same age.
B. 10 years younger.
C. More than 20 years younger.
D. 15 years younger.

C. More than 20 years younger.
The age gap caused a stir. It was an unconventional choice that mirrored the unconventionality of her entire life.

43. In which month of 1880 did George Eliot marry John Cross?

A. January
B. May
C. July
D. December

B. May
Married on May 6, 1880. Her brother Isaac, who had shunned her for over two decades, finally wrote to congratulate her on her legal marriage.

44. How long did George Eliot’s marriage to John Cross last before her death?

A. Approximately two years
B. Less than one month
C. Only seven months
D. One year and two months

C. Only seven months
A tragically short union. Her health, always frail, declined rapidly after the marriage.

45. When did George Eliot die?

A. November 22, 1819
B. May 6, 1880
C. December 22, 1880
D. November 30, 1878

C. December 22, 1880
She died just over a year after Lewes, at the age of 61. England mourned the loss of its greatest living novelist.

46. Where was George Eliot buried?

A. At St. George’s, Hanover Square
B. In Warwickshire
C. Next to John Chapman
D. At Highgate Cemetery next to George Lewes

D. At Highgate Cemetery next to George Lewes
A final act of devotion. She was denied burial in Westminster Abbey because of her atheism and irregular life, but she rests beside the man she considered her husband.

47. At which school did Mary Anne Evans become extremely devout under Evangelical influence?

A. Griff House
B. Mrs. Wallington’s School at Nuneaton
C. The school at Coventry
D. Foleshill Private School

B. Mrs. Wallington’s School at Nuneaton
Before her turn to rationalism, she was intensely religious. This early evangelical phase gave her a deep understanding of faith, which she explored with great empathy in her novels.

48. What method of analysis, characteristic of modern fiction, did George Eliot develop?

A. The use of unreliable narrators
B. Stream of consciousness
C. Psychological analysis
D. Post-modern fragmentation

C. Psychological analysis
This was her great innovation. She went beyond just describing what characters did. She delved deep into their minds to explain *why* they did it, exploring their motivations and inner conflicts.

49. For which novel did Eliot accept a lower payment to avoid dividing it into 16 installments?

A. Adam Bede
B. Middlemarch
C. Romola
D. Daniel Deronda

C. Romola
The publisher wanted to serialize it in 16 parts, but Eliot felt this would damage the novel’s structure. She sacrificed a higher fee for artistic integrity.

50. What physical trait of George Eliot is noted in her portraits?

A. Dark, severe hair
B. A very fair complexion and gray-blue eyes
C. Only dark dresses
D. Bright green eyes and red hair

B. A very fair complexion and gray-blue eyes
Portraits often capture her serious, intellectual expression. Contemporaries frequently commented on her striking features, which defied conventional Victorian standards of beauty.

Romola MCQs

1. What is noted about the enduring nature of human life over three centuries?

A. Climate change
B. Constant warfare
C. Sameness of the human lot
D. Technological growth

C. Sameness of the human lot.
The great life-currents in human hearts still pulsate to the same needs, loves, and terrors, demonstrating broad sameness.

2. Which famous geographical landmarks are mentioned in the Proem?

A. Nile and Amazon
B. Caucasus and Pillars of Hercules
C. Danube and Rhine
D. Alps and Pyrenees

B. Caucasus and Pillars of Hercules.
The angel of dawn travels from the Levant to the Pillars of Hercules and across the snowy Alpine ridges.

3. What Florentine monument is described as springing like a tall flower-stem?

A. The Duomo dome
B. Giotto’s tower
C. The unique tower of the Old Palace
D. Santa Croce spire

C. The unique tower of the Old Palace.
The spirit recognizes the tower springing like a tall flower-stem from the square turreted mass of the Old Palace.

4. In what year does the novel’s main action begin?

A. 1490
B. 1492
C. 1509
D. 1477

B. 1492.
The main action is set in the mid spring-time of 1492, when Columbus was awaiting his vessels.

5. What great historical figure was still waiting for his ships in Palos when the Florentine citizen died?

A. Amerigo Vespucci
B. Filippo Brunelleschi
C. Christopher Columbus
D. Leonardo da Vinci

C. Christopher Columbus.
The Spirit’s eyes closed while Columbus was still waiting and arguing for three poor vessels in Palos.

6. Who was the grey-haired pedlar who first encountered the shipwrecked stranger Tito?

A. Nello
B. Bratti Ferravecchi
C. Caleb Garth
D. Niccolò Caparra

B. Bratti Ferravecchi.
Bratti Ferravecchi found Tito sleeping and warned him about taking a nap with an expensive ring.

7. What did Tito reveal about his origins to Bratti?

A. He was Genoese
B. He was Venetian
C. He was a stranger with weather-stained garments
D. He was from Naples

C. He was a stranger with weather-stained garments.
Tito stated that he was a stranger in Florence and that his clothes were weather-stained like an old sail.

8. What was Nello’s great predecessor, Burchiello, famous for regarding his shop?

A. Most profitable
B. Centre of the city
C. Best stocked
D. Most exclusive

B. Centre of the city.
Nello stated that Burchiello called his shop the navel of the earth, located in the Calimala street.

9. What was Tito’s profession or pursuit after arriving in Florence?

A. Pawnbroker
B. Scholar and corrector of Greek sheets
C. Surgeon
D. Architect

B. Scholar and corrector of Greek sheets.
Tito found employment as a corrector with the Cennini brothers, working on Greek sheets.

10. Which artist wanted Tito’s face as a model for Sinon deceiving old Priam?

A. Masaccio
B. Piero di Cosimo
C. Donatello
D. Fra Angelico

B. Piero di Cosimo.
Piero di Cosimo abruptly told Tito he should be glad of his face for his painting of Sinon.

11. What subject was engraved on Tito’s valuable onyx ring?

A. A winged Cupid
B. A serpent and fish
C. A classical battle
D. Bacchus

B. A serpent and fish.
The intaglio on the sardonyx or nicolo ring was a fish with a crested serpent above it.

12. What did Tito tell Cennini about his ring’s supposed virtues?

A. Protection against jealousy
B. Curing the gout
C. Making the wearer fortunate
D. Warding off poison

C. Making the wearer fortunate.
The ring was believed to make the wearer fortunate, especially at sea, and recover lost things.

13. Who lent Tito money when Tito felt a ‘real hunger’ for Tessa’s love?

A. Bernardo Rucellai
B. Nello the barber
C. Domenico Cennini
D. Nobody, he sold his gems

D. Nobody, he sold his gems.
Tito sold all his jewels, keeping only the ring, and had five hundred gold florins in his possession.

14. What was Tito’s immediate plan for the five hundred florins he acquired?

A. Pay his debts
B. Buy a villa
C. Invest them with Cennini
D. Ransoming Baldassarre

C. Invest them with Cennini.
Tito decided to place the florins in Cennini’s hands for usury, rather than searching for Baldassarre.

15. Who proposed to take Tito as an agent on an approaching journey to Rome?

A. Bartolommeo Scala
B. Bernardo Rucellai
C. Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici
D. Lorenzo Tornabuoni

C. Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici.
The young Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici had spoken of Tito forming part of his learned retinue on a journey to Rome.

16. Where was Bardo de’ Bardi’s house located in Florence?

A. Piazza del Duomo
B. Via Larga
C. Via de’ Bardi
D. Porta Pinti

C. Via de’ Bardi.
Bardo lived in one of the Neri houses located on the side of the Via de’ Bardi nearest the hill.

17. What physical affliction did Bardo suffer from?

A. Deafness
B. Gout
C. Total blindness
D. Lámeness

C. Total blindness.
Bardo was a moneyless, blind old scholar who saw only by the light of far-off younger days.

18. What was Bardo’s chief scholarly ambition, cut short by his blindness?

A. Writing a history of Florence
B. Creating a great web of research
C. Translating the New Testament
D. Founding a university

B. Creating a great web of research.
Bardo desired to gather all his research threads into a firm web, cut short by his failing sight.

19. What did Romola hope would happen if she became a learned woman like Cassandra Fedele?

A. Her fame would surpass Bardo’s
B. A great scholar would marry her without a dowry
C. She would become a public orator
D. She could leave Florence immediately

B. A great scholar would marry her without a dowry.
Romola hoped a great scholar would marry her and live with Bardo, not minding the lack of a dowry.

20. What did Bardo fear most about the fate of his library after his death?

A. Being destroyed in a fire
B. Being bought by foreigners
C. Being merged into another collection
D. Being sold for debts

C. Being merged into another collection.
Bardo desired that his collection should always bear his name and not be merged into another collection.

21. What was the chief obstacle Bardo saw to his fame surviving him?

A. His blindness
B. Lack of money
C. His son Dino forsaking him
D. Rivalry from Politian

C. His son Dino forsaking him.
He lamented that his son left him, else their names might have been held reverently together by scholars.

22. What did Bardo do the moment before he died?

A. Spoke of Tito
B. Called for his son
C. Asked for the pen to write
D. Blessed Romola

C. Asked for the pen to write.
Bardo asked Romola to get the pen, saying he must go on writing about the Platonists before he died.

23. What was the final destination of Bardo’s library and antiquities?

A. Sold to the Duke of Milan and France
B. Given to the Florentine Republic
C. Burned in the Bonfire of Vanities
D. Bequeathed to Romola

A. Sold to the Duke of Milan and France.
Tito informed Romola that the books had been sold to the Duke of Milan and the marbles to France.

24. Who advanced the thousand florins needed to pay off Bardo’s debts after his death?

A. Tito Melema
B. Bartolommeo Scala
C. Monna Brigida
D. Bernardo del Nero

D. Bernardo del Nero.
Bernardo del Nero advanced the necessary sum of about a thousand florins, taking a lien on the collection.

25. What did Romola choose to wear instead of her wedding-clothes when leaving Florence?

A. Plain black weeds
B. A white burial shroud
C. The grey serge of a sister
D. Her father’s lucco

C. The grey serge of a sister.
Romola put on the grey serge dress and hard girdle of a pinzochera (sister of St Francis’ third order).

26. How many gold florins did Tito estimate his gems were worth, apart from the ring?

A. Three hundred
B. Five hundred
C. One thousand
D. Fifty

B. Five hundred.
Tito told Bardo that Messer Domenico Cennini estimated the gems to be worth at least five hundred ducats.

27. Where did the Genoese merchant tell Baldassarre he bought the onyx ring?

A. At Rome
B. At Bratti’s shop in Florence
C. At Venice
D. At Corinth

B. At Bratti’s shop in Florence.
Baldassarre was informed that the ring was bought at the shop of Bratti Ferravecchi in Florence.

28. Where had Baldassarre recovered his strength after his illness?

A. In the Archipelago
B. At Venice
C. In the Stinche prison
D. On the mountain of San Giorgio

A. In the Archipelago.
Baldassarre recovered his bodily strength during a long voyage in the Archipelago and along Asia Minor.

29. What physical change in Baldassarre strengthened Tito’s lie of madness when they met in the Duomo?

A. He was láme
B. He had white hair and coarse skin
C. His extreme height
D. He was muttering in Greek

B. He had white hair and coarse skin.
The common type of Baldassarre’s person, coarsened by years of hardship, confirmed Tito’s assertion of madness.

30. What action of Baldassarre’s immediately after being confronted by Tito seemed to confirm his alleged madness?

A. He began weeping loudly
B. He clutched his dagger
C. He could not read the Greek text
D. He cursed Tito in Latin

C. He could not read the Greek text.
When presented with Homer, Baldassarre could only say, ‘Lost, lost!’ confirming Tito’s assertion of madness.

31. What did Baldassarre buy with the money Romola gave him by the church steps?

A. Bread and wine
B. A fine new tunic
C. A volume of Pausanias
D. A sharp hunting-knife

D. A sharp hunting-knife.
Baldassarre went immediately to Niccolò Caparra’s shop and purchased a sharp hunting-knife.

32. What made Baldassarre reject the thought of instantly killing Tito?

A. Fear of capture
B. Desire for a more elaborate vengeance
C. Memory loss
D. His Christian faith

B. Desire for a more elaborate vengeance.
Baldassarre’s mind rejected brief punishment; he sought a slow, exquisite vengeance as the highest satisfaction.

33. What happened when Baldassarre tried to stab Tito in Tessa’s outhouse?

A. Tessa stopped him
B. Tito overpowered him easily
C. The dagger snapped in two
D. Baldassarre hesitated

C. The dagger snapped in two.
Under the parrying force of Tito’s arm and due to his armour, the dagger snapped in two.

34. Where did Baldassarre await the chance of obtaining food when he was utterly destitute?

A. By the river Arno
B. At the door of the Bargello
C. In the Duomo
D. In Tessa’s outhouse

A. By the river Arno.
He came to the grassy margin by the Arno, watching the runlets for chance scraps of food.

35. How did Baldassarre finally take his revenge on Tito?

A. He stabbed him after a long chase
B. He clutched and strangled him after he leaped into the Arno
C. He denounced him to the Signoria
D. He exposed him before Romola

B. He clutched and strangled him after he leaped into the Arno.
Baldassarre found Tito’s body cast on the bank and used his remaining strength to choke him.

36. Who did Savonarola compare the invading French King Charles VIII to?

A. Alexander the Great
B. Charlemagne and Cyrus
C. Nero and Caligula
D. Saint Peter

B. Charlemagne and Cyrus.
Savonarola’s prophecies suggested Charles VIII was the instrument elected by God, like Cyrus of old.

37. What did Savonarola prophesy that the ‘flood of waters’ brought by the French army signified?

A. Divine wrath and purifying mercy
B. A new age of peace
C. The end of the world
D. Commercial prosperity

A. Divine wrath and purifying mercy.
Savonarola preached that the ‘flood of waters’ was a divinely indicated symbol of avenging wrath and purifying mercy.

38. What was the political law championed by Savonarola that the condemned conspirators tried to resist?

A. The separation of Church and State
B. The law of appeal to the Great Council
C. Abolishing elections by the black beans
D. Banishment of the Medici family

B. The law of appeal to the Great Council.
Savonarola laboured to pass the law allowing a citizen condemned to death to appeal to the Great Council.

39. What was the ultimate aim of Savonarola’s desire for a reformed Florentine government?

A. To raise himself to Doge
B. To humble the Arrabbiati party
C. To lead the renovation of the Church and the world
D. To increase trade profits

C. To lead the renovation of the Church and the world.
His work aimed at reforming the Church and the world, and Florence was to serve as the guide.

40. Who commanded Savonarola to cease preaching for a month before the Trial by Fire?

A. The Signoria
B. The Pope
C. Francesco Valori
D. The citizens of Florence

B. The Pope.
In obedience to a mandate from Rome, Fra Girolamo had ceased to preach, fearing an interdict on the city.

41. Who was the leader of the Compagnacci, the armed band dedicated to fighting Savonarola?

A. Francesco Valori
B. Bernardo Rucellai
C. Dolfo Spini
D. Niccolò Ridolfi

C. Dolfo Spini.
Dolfo Spini, heir of a great house, had organized the Compagnacci against reforming pietists.

42. What was burned in the Piazza della Signoria during the Carnival festivities?

A. Copies of the Bible
B. The old palace records
C. The Bonfire of Vanities
D. A pagan effigy

C. The Bonfire of Vanities.
The Piagnoni organised the Burning of Vanities, consuming vanity objects like cards, mirrors, and false hair.

43. Why did Savonarola resist the Trial by Fire for himself?

A. He believed the Franciscans would use magic
B. He felt it was a tempting of God
C. He was not sure of Fra Domenico’s faith
D. He believed the fire would burn him

B. He felt it was a tempting of God.
He felt that appealing to heaven by rashly accepting a challenge would be a tempting of God.

44. What physical sign was perceived by the crowd as divine approval during Savonarola’s benediction?

A. Lightning struck the pulpit
B. A stream of brightness poured over the crystal vase
C. An angelic voice was heard
D. The ground trembled

B. A stream of brightness poured over the crystal vase.
A stream of brightness spread over the crystal vase holding the Host, thrilling the crowd with the sense of an answer.

45. On the last day, what stripped item made Savonarola look like no sacred office belonged to him?

A. His golden cross
B. His Dominican garb
C. His white under-tunic
D. His rosary

B. His Dominican garb.
He was stripped of his black mantle, scapulary, and white tunic, standing only in a close woollen under-tunic.

46. When Romola fled from Florence the first time, why did she immediately stop?

A. She ran out of money
B. She saw Tito following her
C. Fra Girolamo arrested her
D. She realised she missed her father

C. Fra Girolamo arrested her.
Savonarola, discerning her religious disguise, stopped her by the city gate and commanded her to return.

47. What was Romola doing when the cry of a distressed child drew her ashore after her second flight?

A. Sleeping deeply
B. Trying to set the boat on fire
C. Praying for Tito
D. Reading Boccaccio

A. Sleeping deeply.
Romola passed from dreaming into deep sleep, waking only when she heard a child’s piercing cry.

48. What confirmed to Romola that the Jewish family she found was victims of the plague?

A. The smell
B. The purple spots on the woman’s bosom
C. Their gaunt appearance
D. The priest’s immediate warning

B. The purple spots on the woman’s bosom.
Romola saw the purple spots, which marked the familiar pestilence, on the young woman’s body.

49. After her experience in the plague-stricken village, what did Romola believe was the only certain good in life?

A. Trust in Savonarola
B. Earning money
C. Alleviating suffering
D. Solitude and prayer

C. Alleviating suffering.
She decided that if everything else was doubtful, the suffering that she could help was certain.

50. According to the Epilogue, what was the one great lesson Romola tried to teach Lillo?

A. To be devoted to his father’s memory
B. That the highest happiness comes from wide thoughts and not self-pleasure
C. To avoid political ambition
D. That his father was a great scholar

B. That the highest happiness comes from wide thoughts and not self-pleasure.
Romola taught Lillo that highest happiness requires wide thoughts, feeling for others, and enduring hard and painful trials.

Romola is a novel by George Eliot. It is set in Florence, Italy, starting in 1492. The novel details the moral decline of a gifted scholar against a backdrop of historical and religious upheaval.

The story begins with Tito Melema, a handsome and clever Greek scholar. He arrives in Florence seeking a prosperous new life. He soon meets and marries Romola de’ Bardi, the serious daughter of a blind old scholar.

Tito hides a terrible secret: he failed to rescue his kind adoptive father, Baldassarre, who pirates captured. Instead, Tito used the ransom money to fund his own new life. Baldassarre later escapes slavery and finds Tito in Florence. Tito denies knowing him and lies, claiming that Baldassarre is insáne.

Romola eventually discovers that Tito sold her dying father’s precious library. Horrified by this betrayal, Romola attempts to flee her husband. The influential religious reformer, Friar Savonarola, intercepts her and convinces her to return to Florence to uphold her marital duties.

Tito becomes deeply involved in dangerous political plots. He betrays his allies to protect his position. Baldassarre finds Tito one last time near the Arno River. In a final act of vengeance, Baldassarre kills the traitorous Tito. Romola then dedicates her life to helping the suffering, caring for Tito’s secret wife, Tessa, and their children.