Quiz · Medium
Match the quote to the play, know who did what in Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and more, and review the Shakespearean sonnet.
'To be, or not to be: that is the question' comes from which play?
Macbeth
Hamlet
King Lear
Othello
Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 3 weighs life against death. It is the most quoted line in English drama.
Who says 'Out, damned spot! Out, I say!' while sleepwalking?
Ophelia
Desdemona
Lady Macbeth
Juliet
Lady Macbeth imagines blood she cannot wash from her hands, a sign of guilt over Duncan's murder.
When Juliet asks 'Wherefore art thou Romeo?', what does 'wherefore' mean?
Where
Why
When
How
Juliet is asking WHY he has to be Romeo, a Montague, the son of her family's enemy. She is not asking where he is.
In Othello, who manipulates Othello into believing Desdemona is unfaithful?
Cassio
Roderigo
Brabantio
Iago
Iago uses a planted handkerchief and insinuation. Cassio is the lieutenant Othello is tricked into suspecting.
In King Lear, which daughter refuses to flatter her father and is disinherited, though she truly loves him?
Goneril
Regan
Cordelia
Miranda
Cordelia says she loves Lear 'according to my bond, no more nor less.' Goneril and Regan flatter him and then betray him. Miranda is from The Tempest.
Macbeth feels safe because the witches say he will not be defeated until:
Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane
The sun rises in the west
Banquo's ghost returns
Duncan's sons forgive him
Malcolm's soldiers carry branches from Birnam Wood as camouflage, fulfilling the prophecy. The witches also say no man 'of woman born' can harm him, and Macduff was born by cesarean.
How was Hamlet's father murdered?
Stabbed behind a curtain
Killed in a duel
Drowned in a brook
Poison poured into his ear
Claudius poured poison in his ear while he slept, as the ghost reveals. Polonius is the one stabbed behind a curtain, and Ophelia drowns.
'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players' is spoken in:
As You Like It
The Tempest
Twelfth Night
Much Ado About Nothing
Jaques gives the 'seven ages of man' speech in As You Like It.
In The Merchant of Venice, what does Shylock demand if Antonio cannot repay his loan?
Antonio's ships
A pound of Antonio's flesh
Portia's hand in marriage
Antonio's conversion
Portia, disguised as a lawyer, defeats the bond by ruling he may take flesh but not one drop of blood.
'Et tu, Brute?' is spoken by Caesar as he is stabbed. What does it express?
Surprise and betrayal that even his friend Brutus is among the assassins
A command for Brutus to flee
A prophecy of Brutus's death
Forgiveness for the conspirators
'And you, Brutus?' The line captures the shock of betrayal by a trusted friend in Julius Caesar.
Which character is a magician who controls the spirit Ariel and causes a shipwreck at the start of the play?
Oberon
Prospero
Puck
Caliban
Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, raises the storm in The Tempest. Oberon and Puck belong to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Caliban is Prospero's servant.
Which of these plays is a comedy?
Coriolanus
Titus Andronicus
Richard III
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream ends in marriages, a hallmark of Shakespearean comedy. Coriolanus and Titus are tragedies; Richard III is a history play.
A Shakespearean sonnet has which structure?
14 lines: an octave and a sestet
19 lines with two repeating refrains
14 lines: three quatrains and a rhyming couplet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)
3 lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables
The final couplet often delivers a twist or resolution. The octave-sestet form is the Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet; 19 lines is a villanelle; 5-7-5 is a haiku.
When a character speaks their thoughts aloud while alone on stage, it is called a:
Monologue to the audience
Aside
Soliloquy
Chorus
A soliloquy reveals inner thoughts with no one else on stage. An aside is a short comment to the audience that other characters on stage do not hear.
