Francis Bacon – “Of Truth” – Exam Based MCQs
1. “Of Truth” is an essay written by: (UGC NET)
A) Thomas More
B) Francis Bacon
C) Joseph Addison
D) Charles Lamb
Ans: B) Francis Bacon
2. Francis Bacon belongs mainly to the: (SET)
A) Romantic age
B) Victorian age
C) Elizabethan/Jacobean age
D) Modern age
Ans: C) Elizabethan/Jacobean age
3. “Of Truth” is included in Bacon’s collection called: (PGTRB)
A) The Spectator
B) Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral
C) The Tatler
D) Table Talk
Ans: B) Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral
4. The essay “Of Truth” mainly deals with: (UGC NET)
A) War and politics
B) Love and friendship
C) Truth and falsehood in human life
D) Education and travel
Ans: C) Truth and falsehood in human life
5. Bacon begins the essay with a reference to: (SET)
A) Plato
B) Montaigne
C) Pilate
D) Aristotle
Ans: C) Pilate
6. “What is truth?” was asked by: (PGTRB)
A) Socrates
B) Pilate
C) Caesar
D) Seneca
Ans: B) Pilate
7. Pilate would not stay for an answer because he: (UGC NET)
A) Already knew the answer
B) Was indifferent to truth
C) Was afraid of truth
D) Was in a hurry to write
Ans: B) Was indifferent to truth
8. Bacon says some people delight in: (SET)
A) Hard labour
B) Mathematics only
C) Giddiness of lies
D) Religious silence
Ans: C) Giddiness of lies
9. According to Bacon, a mixture of a lie adds: (PGTRB)
A) Sorrow to life
B) Pleasure to life
C) Poverty to life
D) Confusion to religion
Ans: B) Pleasure to life
10. Bacon compares truth to: (UGC NET)
A) A diamond shown in varied lights
B) A pearl shown best in daylight
C) A ruby shining in darkness
D) Gold hidden underground
Ans: B) A pearl shown best in daylight
11. Bacon compares falsehood to: (SET)
A) A pearl
B) A plain mirror
C) A diamond or carbuncle shown in varied lights
D) A broken stone
Ans: C) A diamond or carbuncle shown in varied lights
12. According to Bacon, truth may be less immediately attractive because it is: (PGTRB)
A) Colorful
B) Ornamented
C) Plain and open
D) Mysterious
Ans: C) Plain and open
13. Bacon says that searching for truth, knowing truth, and believing truth are the: (UGC NET)
A) Lowest forms of human pleasure
B) Sovereign good of human nature
C) Duties of kings alone
D) Causes of political power
Ans: B) Sovereign good of human nature
14. Bacon’s prose style in “Of Truth” is best described as: (SET)
A) Loose and rambling
B) Ornamental and vague
C) Aphoristic and compact
D) Highly sentimental
Ans: C) Aphoristic and compact
15. Bacon uses the image of standing upon the “vantage ground of truth” to suggest: (PGTRB)
A) Physical strength
B) Moral and intellectual superiority
C) Political success
D) Military victory
Ans: B) Moral and intellectual superiority
16. In the essay, Bacon says truth is like: (UGC NET)
A) A candle in the wind
B) Daylight
C) Moonlight
D) A star at sea
Ans: B) Daylight
17. Bacon says lies are preferred by some people not only for profit but because: (SET)
A) Truth is illegal
B) Falsehood itself gives pleasure
C) Lies are always safer
D) Religion teaches falsehood
Ans: B) Falsehood itself gives pleasure
18. The “lie that sinketh in” is most dangerous because it: (PGTRB)
A) Is spoken loudly
B) Becomes deeply rooted in the mind
C) Destroys books
D) Weakens the body
Ans: B) Becomes deeply rooted in the mind
19. Bacon draws an example from the poets to show that: (UGC NET)
A) Poetry is useless
B) Imagination makes falsehood appealing
C) Poets always speak truth
D) Poetry should replace philosophy
Ans: B) Imagination makes falsehood appealing
20. Bacon refers to one of the “fathers of the church” in relation to lies. He is: (SET)
A) St. Augustine
B) St. Jerome
C) Tertullian
D) St. Francis
Ans: C) Tertullian
21. Tertullian compared poets to: (PGTRB)
A) Prophets
B) Cooks who season food
C) Wine of devils
D) Kings of speech
Ans: C) Wine of devils
22. Bacon believes truth gives the highest pleasure because it brings: (UGC NET)
A) Wealth
B) Clear and serene vision
C) Political power
D) Popularity
Ans: B) Clear and serene vision
23. “A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure” means: (SET)
A) Lies are morally superior
B) People often enjoy illusion more than plain truth
C) Truth is always painful
D) Lies are useful in religion
Ans: B) People enjoy illusion more than plain truth
24. Bacon’s essay ultimately praises: (PGTRB)
A) Clever deception
B) Political diplomacy
C) Truthfulness in thought and action
D) Silence over speech
Ans: C) Truthfulness in thought and action
25. According to Bacon, to move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth is: (UGC NET)
A) Animal happiness
B) Earthly pleasure only
C) The supreme state of human life
D) The duty of rulers alone
Ans: C) The supreme state of human life
26. The essay “Of Truth” shows Bacon as a: (SET)
A) Romantic dreamer
B) Moral philosopher and practical thinker
C) Comic dramatist
D) Pastoral poet
Ans: B) Moral philosopher and practical thinker
27. Bacon’s essays are known for their: (PGTRB)
A) Dramatic dialogue form
B) Brevity, wisdom, and epigrammatic style
C) Long narrative plots
D) Emotional exaggeration
Ans: B) Brevity, wisdom, epigrammatic style
28. Bacon’s view of truth is chiefly: (UGC NET)
A) Cynical
B) Reverential and practical
C) Entirely skeptical
D) Comic
Ans: B) Reverential and practical
29. The essay suggests that man’s natural weakness is his attraction to: (SET)
A) Silence
B) Falsehood and vanity
C) Poverty
D) Solitude
Ans: B) Falsehood and vanity
30. Bacon says that from truth one may look down upon: (PGTRB)
A) Only kings
B) Human errors, wanderings, and mists
C) The sea only
D) The stars only
Ans: B) Human errors, wanderings, and mists
31. The “mists and tempests” image in the essay symbolizes: (UGC NET)
A) Nature study
B) Human confusion and falsehood
C) Scientific invention
D) Religious peace
Ans: B) Human confusion and falsehood
32. Bacon’s “Of Truth” may best be called: (SET)
A) A reflective prose essay
B) A dramatic monologue
C) A political speech
D) A prose romance
Ans: A) A reflective prose essay
33. Which quality does Bacon associate with truth? (PGTRB)
A) Glitter
B) Steadiness
C) Performance
D) Deception
Ans: B) Steadiness
34. Bacon suggests that falsehood is often chosen because it is: (UGC NET)
A) Morally pure
B) More pleasing to the imagination
C) More scientific
D) More permanent
Ans: B) More pleasing to the imagination
35. The chief concern of the essay is: (SET)
A) Literary criticism
B) Moral and philosophical value of truth
C) Courtly love
D) Trade and commerce
Ans: B) Moral and philosophical value of truth
36. Bacon’s essays influenced later English prose because of their: (PGTRB)
A) Loose emotional style
B) Precision and wisdom
C) Dramatic suspense only
D) Rhyming pattern
Ans: B) Precision and wisdom
37. The essay suggests that truth in civil life requires: (UGC NET)
A) Complete silence
B) Clear dealing and honest action
C) Harsh punishment only
D) Withdrawal from society
Ans: B) Clear dealing and honest action
38. Bacon’s comparison of truth and falsehood in terms of jewels shows that: (SET)
A) Truth is costly and falsehood cheap
B) Truth has a quiet worth while falsehood has superficial brilliance
C) All jewels are false
D) Pearls are always better than diamonds materially
Ans: B) Truth quiet worth; falsehood superficial brilliance
39. Bacon is called the father of: (PGTRB)
A) Romantic criticism
B) English essay and empirical thought
C) Greek drama
D) Gothic fiction
Ans: B) English essay and empirical thought
40. The phrase “clear and round dealing” means: (UGC NET)
A) Clever diplomacy
B) Honest and straightforward conduct
C) Circular argument
D) Public speaking skill
Ans: B) Honest and straightforward conduct
41. According to Bacon, lies are harmful especially when they: (SET)
A) Remain in books
B) Become accepted as truth
C) Are humorous
D) Are told by children
Ans: B) Become accepted as truth
42. Bacon’s essay reflects Renaissance humanism because it values: (PGTRB)
A) Blind faith over reason
B) Human reason, morality, and reflection
C) Only church authority
D) Only monarchy
Ans: B) Human reason, morality, reflection
43. The essay “Of Truth” is important because it: (UGC NET)
A) Rejects all religion
B) Explores why truth matters and why lies tempt people
C) Praises political cunning only
D) Supports falsehood as useful
Ans: B) Why truth matters and lies tempt
44. Bacon’s manner in this essay is mainly: (SET)
A) Emotional and lyrical
B) Logical, illustrative, and reflective
C) Dramatically narrative
D) Highly comic
Ans: B) Logical, illustrative, reflective
45. Bacon suggests that truth gives dignity to: (PGTRB)
A) Animals
B) Human nature
C) Kings only
D) Wealth only
Ans: B) Human nature
46. The essay may be seen as an argument for: (UGC NET)
A) Pragmatic dishonesty
B) Intellectual and moral honesty
C) Religious extremism
D) Political tyranny
Ans: B) Intellectual and moral honesty
47. Bacon’s use of examples like Pilate and Tertullian shows his habit of: (SET)
A) Rejecting history
B) Supporting arguments with learned references
C) Avoiding religion
D) Telling stories only
Ans: B) Supporting arguments with learned references
48. Which best describes Bacon’s final view of truth? (PGTRB)
A) Truth is useful only in religion
B) Truth is burdensome but necessary
C) Truth is divine, noble, and essential to human life
D) Truth is impossible to know
Ans: C) Truth is divine, noble, essential
49. The essay’s message may best be summed up as: (UGC NET)
A) Lies are necessary for happiness
B) Truth is plain but spiritually and morally superior to falsehood
C) Poetry is more useful than truth
D) Truth belongs only to saints
Ans: B) Truth plain but superior
50. “Of Truth” is one of Bacon’s most famous essays because it combines: (SET)
A) Philosophy, morality, and memorable style
B) Drama and song
C) Epic and satire
D) Science and fantasy
Ans: A) Philosophy, morality, and memorable style
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