Where, Why, What? Shakespeare's Questions Quiz

Answer: Beatrice

Perhaps the first time the concept appeared in print, Beatrice challenges Benedick to declare his love for her and to take her side in a conflict.

His reply to "Will you not eat your word?" was, "With no sauce that can be devised to it - I protest I love thee."

It is now part of common parlance that when someone is forced to admit they have been wrong, they "eat their words".

Answer: King Henry V

In King Henry V, Act 4, as the battle lines are drawn at Agincourt, King Henry overhears Lord Westmoreland wishing for ten thousand more English soldiers to supplement their inferior numbers.

There follows the famous St Crispin's Day speech, ending with:
"And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap, whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day."

This clearly had the desired effect on Westmoreland, who answered the King's question by professing himself ready to do battle alone with only the king by his side.

Answer: Shylock

The play "The Merchant of Venice" demonised the Jewish money-lender, Shylock. Shakespeare depicted him in a way most Englishmen of the time would have agreed with.(It should be remembered that practising Jews were barred from setting foot in England at the time, so it was easy for the audience to imagine him as an evil, menacing schemer, totally alien to them).

It is therefore surprising that Shakespeare allowed Shylock to ask, "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is?"

Answer: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Hamlet has embarked on a mission of revenge against his father's murderer, his uncle King Claudius. He feigns madness and talks of suicide (as in this soliloquy).

It remains one of the most quoted pieces of literature:

"..To sleep, perchance to dream, ay there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil.."

Answer: Mark Antony

The line is Mark Antony's, on seeing Julius Caesar's lifeless body, with his assassins standing about him. He asks, "...Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?.."

Antony then asks the assassins if they will kill him too as he could see no better time and place for his death than alongside the leader he loved and respected. He is reassured that his life will be spared if he will address the people of Rome without condemning the assassins by name. The result is Antony's "Friends, Romans, Countrymen..", one of the most well-known of Shakespeare's speeches.

Immediately prior to his address to the people, Antony prophesies death and war in Italy. "...And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell,Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry 'Havoc', and let slip the dogs of war..."

Answer: Macbeth

Macbeth opens to the Weird Sisters, three witches, who tell Macbeth that he will become King of Scotland.

"The Scottish Play" is concerned with how a person can become consumed by ambition to such an extent that he/she will abandon decent behaviour, and even commit murder to further their aims. The play, one of Shakespeare's darker tragedies, shows the disintegration of Macbeth's moral compass, and his wife's descent into madness.

Answer: Othello

Iago is possibly the most evil schemer of all Shakespeare's characters. Determined to bring down Othello, he plants damning evidence (a handkerchief) belonging to Othello's wife, Desdemona, in the house of an innocent man, and whispers in Othello's ear, sparking a jealous rage, culminating in Othello killing his innocent and loving wife.

Overcome by grief and remorse, Othello kills himself, but not before he knows that Iago has been captured and will pay for his crimes.

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

The obvious quote would be "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?", but I think the Friar Lawrence clue might have helped.

Friar Lawrence was the well-meaning man who gave Juliet the "poison" to feign death, allowing her to avoid marrying another man, and making it possible for her to elope with Romeo later.

Sadly, it all ended in tears.

Answer: The Tempest

Caliban is the monster in "The Tempest", who has become Duke Prospero's slave on a remote island. When Prince Ferdinand and his entourage are ship-wrecked, he falls in love with Prospero's daughter, Miranda.

Stephano, a drunken butler, happens upon Caliban, who asks the above question, then swears allegiance to Stephano.

The story ends happily with the ship restored, and the whole entourage (including Prospero) preparing to sail to Naples to prepare for Ferdinand and Miranda's wedding.

Answer: Titania

In "A Mid-Summer-Night's Dream", Titania, Queen of the fairies, has had a spell placed on her by her husband, Oberon. She would fall in love with the first mortal creature she saw upon waking.

Puck, the mischief-maker, has transformed the head of the weaver Bottom, into that of an ass, and this is the first mortal that Titania sees.

This comedy has several story lines woven through it: four young lovers, the quarrel between Oberon and Titania, and a group of amateur actors preparing a play to be performed at the wedding of Theseus and Hyppolyta, Queen of the Amazons. In the hands of a lesser playwright, the plot would become a tangled mess, but Shakespeare creates an intricate and clever play, which is nontheless easy to follow and to enjoy.