Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. A famously plot-relevant moment of prayer comes to us from "Hamlet", where Hamlet witnesses someone kneeling in a solemn moment - and cannot bring himself to confront someone at prayer. Who exactly is spared because of his/her reverent behavior?
2. This next incantation is a charmed potion that creates hallucinogens: "double, double, toil and trouble, cauldron burn and fire bubble" - which play that features a supernaturally-compelled protagonist also contains such a spell?
3. Moving to a violent history play, we meet the angry Queen Margaret of the Lancaster clan who potently curses anyone who fought on the York side against her. She curses Edward IV, his new Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth's family, and more - which cruel opponent does she save for last and curse the most extensively?
4. Henry V is a title character and military leader facing extreme odds in a foreign land. In a private moment, he prays for victory, saying (among other things): "steel my soldiers' hearts". Which battle is he preparing for?
5. In another pre-battle scene from a history play, the Earl of Richmond, alone in his tent, prays for God's protection. As he lays down to sleep, he prays "Sleeping and waking, O defend me still!" His invocations seem to work, as several ghosts of his adversary's enemies flock to him for support (in his dreams). Which battle is this one, where Richmond faces off against Richard III?
6. In yet another battle scene, a female fighter literally calls up fiends from hell to try and fight her enemies of the English Lancastrian line, saying "Now, ye familiar spirits, that are cull'd/Out of the powerful regions under earth/Help me this once, that France may get the field." Which of these women, a powerful legendary figure, raises this incantation?
7. Not all prayers and invocations are serious - in "Romeo and Juliet," Mercutio jokingly "conjures" his friend using all the proper tropes of a magical incantation, using a woman's "parts" as invocatory tools to "summon" the man he's looking for, just as one would summon a demon. Which character is Mercutio trying to summon?
8. It's not only humans who use prayer and invocation - in "Midsummer Night's Dream", a group of fairies sing a protective prayer for their queen beginning with "You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen." What is the name of their queen, who they are hoping is not disturbed by creepy crawlies while asleep?
9. In a late play, Shakespeare has a wizard character and his sidekick Ariel raise three Roman goddesses to bless a young couple (his daughter Miranda and a young man the wizard has helped match with her). Which play does this powerfully magical moment come from?
10. This isn't a spoken incantation or prayer, but in "Titus Andronicus" the title character shoots arrows with pleas to the various Roman gods who he thinks can provide him with better justice than the emperor seems able to provide. Which Emperor are they trying to shame by insulting his justice?
Source: Author
merylfederman
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
looney_tunes before going online.
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