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Fictional Males Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Fictional Males Quizzes, Trivia

Fictional Males Trivia

Fictional Males Trivia Quizzes

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You may remember these heroes and/or sidekicks from the literary world.
6 Fictional Males quizzes and 65 Fictional Males trivia questions.
1.
  What Did I Ever See in Him?   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
These beloved and famous males in literature make the female heart race and fill a guy with admiration--but what were you thinking? Choose which he-man gives us reason to pause.
Easier, 10 Qns, Godwit, Oct 06 17
Easier
Godwit gold member
2803 plays
2.
  Young Male Leads in Fiction   great trivia quiz  
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
In the left-hand column are listed ten classic works of fiction with memorable young males as the leading characters. Match these to the names in the right-hand column. I restricted myself to the period 1860-1950.
Average, 10 Qns, Ampelos, Dec 10 21
Average
Ampelos gold member
Dec 10 21
328 plays
3.
  No Women Allowed!    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz focuses on some of the male main characters from different works of literature (but no women). Good luck!
Average, 10 Qns, Buddy1, Sep 25 13
Average
Buddy1 gold member
2630 plays
4.
  Heroes and Mock-Heroes   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Since the beginning of Western literature, heroic and mock-heroic character types have loomed large the canon. See how well you know these types as they have popped up over the millennia.
Average, 10 Qns, DaedalusLex, Feb 08 14
Average
DaedalusLex
697 plays
5.
  Literary Gentlemen's Personal Ads    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
In my previous quiz, the literary ladies placed their personal ads, so now it's time for the men! Assuming they are all single (and alive...), which literary gentleman has placed each of these ads?
Average, 10 Qns, PrincessJoey, Apr 06 06
Average
PrincessJoey
722 plays
6.
  Spurned Suitors    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
This quiz is about literary men who were rejected (at least once) by the women they loved. Most works covered were written prior to the 20th century.
Tough, 15 Qns, skylarb, Sep 30 22
Tough
skylarb
Sep 30 22
757 plays

Fictional Males Trivia Questions
1. Don Quixote is really an alias for an hidalgo who, nearing the age of fifty, set out with his companion, Sancho Panza, to experience an adventure as a knight-errant. What is the hidalgo's real name?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Alonso Quijano

A hidalgo is a member of either the Portuguese or Spanish non-titled nobility. The group is given special privileges, like being exempt from taxes; however, they usually do not own any land. Don Quixote, whose real name is Alonso Quijano, is a good man who has just read (and believed) too many stories about chivalry. Consequently, he has a rather distorted view of what chivalry is really like.

2. Although I was enchanted by "The Little Prince" it was his friend who loved chickens that stole my heart. Antoine de Saint-Exupery created which character who begged to be tamed?

From Quiz What Did I Ever See in Him?

Answer: The fox

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944) published "Le Petit Prince" ("The Little Prince") in 1943, the most famous work of this aviator, poet, writer and aristocrat. In the story, an adorable little prince with golden hair falls to earth from an asteroid, after visiting other asteroids inhabited by foolish adults. On Earth the little prince meets a fox, who begs to be tamed. "I cannot play with you, because I am not tamed", the fox tells the prince. "But if you tame me, then we shall need each other". Charming little fox, unique in all the world, he longs to be special to someone. But what was I thinking? He is Vulpes vulpes, an opportunistic carnivore.

3. He fell in love with a Methodist preacher, but she told him God had not called her to marriage, and they remained, instead, lifelong friends.

From Quiz Spurned Suitors

Answer: Seth Bede

The book is George Eliot's "Adam Bede" (named for Seth's brother, a more central character). The Methodist preacher, Dinah Morris, eventually renounces her preaching when the Society forbids women from assuming the role.

4. Which classic poem tells the story of a water-bearer who saves a soldier's life but is then shot and killed?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Gunga Din

Rudyard Kipling's 1894 poem, "Gunga Din", tells the story through the eyes of the soldier whose life was saved. The Indian native (after whom the poem is named) is portrayed as the hero while the British soldiers are shown to be shallow and ultimately inferior. In the final three lines of the poem, the soldier admits that Din, by sacrificing his life to save another, is the better man.

5. "SWM. Middle-aged, thin, somewhat frail. Rebellious and slightly paranoid, but also very curious and perceptive. Seeking an attractive, thin, loyal, and untroubled woman who will make me feel young and carefree." Who am I?

From Quiz Literary Gentlemen's Personal Ads

Answer: Winston Smith

Winston Smith is the protagonist from George Orwell's chilling novel "1984," which explores the terrifying possibilities that exist within a totalitarian society. Winston is constantly paranoid about the government under which he lives, but he is also resolute in his refusal to adhere to the rules and believe whatever he is told. He is an unlikely hero, but can he outsmart Big Brother?

6. He was forced to hear his proposal rejected with these words: "You could not have made me the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it."

From Quiz Spurned Suitors

Answer: Mr. Darcy

Elizabeth shoots down the haughty Darcy with these words in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." And, in case this is not clear enough, she goes on to say, "From the very beginning -- from the first moment, I may almost say -- of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others [ . . . ] I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry."

7. In one of the stories of "The Canterbury Tales", two cousins (Arcite and Palamon) fall in love with the same woman. Who told this tale?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: knight

"The Canterbury Tales" was suppose to be 120 stories, four told by each person on their journey to and from the shrine of Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. However, Geoffrey Chaucer died before completing them all. In one of the tales, a tale told by a knight, Arcite and Palamon are captured by King Thesus and fall in love with Emily. Palamon and Arcite decide to fight and while Arcite wins the battle, he dies before he can claim Emily as his wife. Prior to the battle, Palamon prays to the Roman goddess Venus that Emily should be his wife. The moral of the story is that the Roman gods help those who pray to them.

8. Match the form of heroism to its exemplar. 1) Epic Hero 2) Tragic Hero 3) Philosopher Hero 4) Sentimental Hero

From Quiz Heroes and Mock-Heroes

Answer: Odysseus (1), Oedipus (2), Plato's Socrates (3), Sterne's Yorick (4)

Homer's Odysseus, Sophocles's Oedipus, Plato's Socrates, and Laurence Sterne's Yorick (who appears in both "Tristram Shandy" and "A Sentimental Journey") are pat representatives of the respective categories. The other answers all have one or more assignments that are unambiguously false; e.g., neither Tom Jones nor Gulliver can ever fit the "tragic hero" mold, nor can Hamlet be considered by any stretch an epic hero.

9. Huckleberry Finn was raised by his father, who was the town drunk. What did he call his dad?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Pap

Huckleberry Finn (from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer") was taken from his dad and went to live with the Widow Douglas after he and Tom came into some money. Widow Douglas thinks it is her duty to Christianize Huck; although she is kind to him, Pap is able to regain custody. Pap, who is abusive and violent, is only interested in having a relationship with his son so that he can get more money for liquor.

10. Which classification of hero best suits Nicholas, of Chaucer's "Miller's Tale"?

From Quiz Heroes and Mock-Heroes

Answer: Folk hero

Nicholas is the quintessential folk hero. He hails from the lower classes (unlike the standard tragic or epic heroes), wins not by prowess or chivalric virtues but by cleverness, and generally brings things to a comic conclusion. The absurd hero, keyed to an existentialist world view, is one who chooses to act morally with the full knowledge that it is meaningless to do so. The tragic hero would require an aristocratic pedigree, a crucial flaw or misunderstanding, and a tragic ending, none of which apply to Nicholas. Nicholas also lacks the sublime passion and high seriousness of the Byronic hero.

11. He overheard his love saying that it would "degrade" her to marry him, so that "he shall never know how I love him."

From Quiz Spurned Suitors

Answer: Heathcliff

In Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights," Catherine marries Edgar Linton although her heart lies with Heathcliff. She explains, "I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he is handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."

12. With the exception of Chapters 16 through 18, who is the narrator of "Treasure Island"?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Jim Hawkins

Jim Hawkins is the son of the owners of Admiral Benbow Inn. His adventure begins when Billy Bones takes a room at the inn and subsequently dies there. Hoping to find payment in full for the room that was rented, Jim and his mother find a detailed map leading to treasure in Billy Bone's sea chest. With the help of trusted friends like Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney, Jim looks for the treasure. Dr. Livesey narrates chapters 16 through 18 because at that point in the story Jim is separated from his friends.

13. William Golding's Nobel Prize winning 1954 novel "Lord of the Flies" has two boys as major characters. One is named Ralph; what uncomplimentary nickname is bestowed on the other?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Piggy

A plane carrying World War 2 evacuees from Britain crashes on a deserted island. The only survivors are boys in their early teens. Although he is the most intelligent of the boys, Piggy is asthmatic, overweight and has poor eyesight and quickly finds himself ostracized from the group of older boys who take over leadership of the group. The novel is an allegory to civilization, the push for power, and how quickly civilized society collapses into anarchy with disastrous results.

14. Here's a gritty loner with a strong sense of justice. He works the mean streets and shady bars, tracking the clues and solving crimes. Which unflinching and cynical private eye is the creation of Raymond Chandler?

From Quiz What Did I Ever See in Him?

Answer: Phillip Marlowe

We first met Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe in "The Big Sleep" published in 1939. This private eye is a new kind of detective, distinct from the elegant Englishman Sherlock Holmes. Marlowe is wise cracking, hard drinking, and immune to seductive charm. One might be tempted to soothe the beast in this lonely and sensitive rescuer--after all he enjoys poetry, shuns unnecessary violence, and plays a reflective game of chess. Still, he drinks a ton of whiskey and brandy. He pushes others away with his deep mistrust and crusty remarks, and he was fired from earlier work. Envision a life of lonely nights waiting for him, and not a few surly barbs, if you hook up with this tall drink of water.

15. What contemporary of Shakespeare created a mock-heroic character who would inspire many writers in the 17th-18th century Age of Satire?

From Quiz Heroes and Mock-Heroes

Answer: Miguel de Cervantes

Cervantes, who like Shakespeare died in 1616, created Don Quixote, a great inspiration to later satirists and dabblers in the mock-heroic. Marlowe was a contemporary of Shakespeare with a significant body of dramatic works but he was not known for comedy or mock-heroics. Queen Elizabeth was a contemporary of Shakespeare but also otherwise preoccupied. Joyce came 300 years later.

16. Frodo and Samwise are two main characters from which series of novels?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Lord of the Rings

Frodo and Samwise are characters from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Samwise is Frodo's gardener and sidekick on their journey to destroy the One Ring. The trilogy ("The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "The Return of the King") tells the story of how Frodo and Samwise took the One Ring to Mount Doom and destroyed the ring to prevent Sauron from conquering Middle-Earth. Throughout the journey, they encounter friends and enemies and try to resist the power of the ring.

17. Picture a brooding, vengeful character, tortured by his passion, with eyes both "keen and fierce", his dark hair made wild by the English winds. The anti-hero of "Wuthering Heights", which fellow is desperately in love with Catherine Earnshaw?

From Quiz What Did I Ever See in Him?

Answer: Heathcliff

"Wuthering Heights" was published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, written by Emily Bronte. Heathcliff is a homeless gypsy-like boy adopted by a gentleman, who grows up with Mr. Earnshaw's children Hindley and Catherine. Heathcliff tries to fit into a gentlemen's world, but Hindley is jealous and thwarts it. Catherine loves Heathcliff deeply, but can't "degrade" herself by marrying so uncouth a person. Crushed, Heathcliff runs away, and returns a wealthy man. He seeks his revenge, and all come to ruin. Sigh. Here's an exciting, exotic man your daddy should shut the door on.

18. What makes Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" a mock-heroic poem?

From Quiz Heroes and Mock-Heroes

Answer: It uses the Homeric apparatus to satirize the British elite.

Pope's early 18th-century poem certainly uses the language of heroic poetry and certainly does not mock Homer's heroes, whom were held in high esteem by Pope and his contemporaries. He encases the British upper crust in the Homeric apparatus to show how comparatively frivolous these people are -- the best they can do for a "heroic" act is when the hero boldly snips a lock of hair from the head of the haughty coquette.

19. He loved Mary Garth, but her heart was with the profligate Fred Vinchy.

From Quiz Spurned Suitors

Answer: Mr. Farebrother

George Eliot's "Middlemarch" is a tangled web of romantic plots and subplots, though it is ultimately about the loss of youthful idealism. Fareborther, the local minister, is a friend to Fred and resigns himself to bachelorhood.

20. Which character in "Oliver Twist" is really Oliver's half-brother?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Mr. Monks

Mr. Monks is really Edward Leeforth, the legitimate son of Edwin Leeforth, Oliver's late father. He would like nothing better than to lead Oliver to a life of crime. According to their father's will, Oliver stands to inherit the Leeforth estate as long as he has never sullied the Leeforth name. As it turned out, Mr. Brownlow, Edwin Leeforth's friend and confident, split the money between both Edward and Oliver. Edward went to America, squandered his inheritance, and died in prison, while Oliver was adopted by Mr. Brownlow.

21. This story is about a sexy and tender gamekeeper who sweeps a Lady off her feet. Which D.H. Lawrence novel was banned for decades in Britain, then tried as obscene in 1960 and found "not guilty"?

From Quiz What Did I Ever See in Him?

Answer: Lady Chatterley's Lover

All options were banned books, but D.H. Lawrence wrote "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in 1928. Here Oliver Mellors, an earthy and self-possessed gamekeeper, has an affair with Lady Chatterley. Her aristocrat husband is disconnected and emotionally neglectful, while Oliver is a natural man, with unbridled and tender sexuality. Lawrence stresses respect and the importance of both mind and body, as well an emphasis on class. The book was published privately in Italy, as the English thought it scandalous to depict a working-class man with an aristocratic lady, and to write a "man apart" as superior to a gentleman. Never mind the steamy sex, some foul language and their affair. In the end, Oliver is scorned, and destroyed. What was I thinking? Romance with him, if tender and wild, was doomed.

22. What mock-heroic character feels so deflated that he mutters in self-disgust: "I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

From Quiz Heroes and Mock-Heroes

Answer: T. S. Eliot's J. Alfred Prufrock

Pope's Tibbald and Dryden's Mac Flecknoe indeed star in mock-heroic poems, but these poems appear two hundred years before Eliot's poem and (unlike the sample) are written in the heroic couplets typical of the period. Burroughs's narrator is not mock-heroic in any ordinary sense and does not evince the kind of self-loathing expressed in these lines.

23. He proposed to the woman he believed he loved, but she turned him down, suspecting a defect in his character. Though her Uncle prevailed upon her to marry the man, she would not change her mind.

From Quiz Spurned Suitors

Answer: Mr. Crawford

Fanny Price's decision is ultimately proved to be a wise one, when Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park" reaches its conclusion.

24. Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore is the real name of which literary hero?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Comte d'Artagnan

First published in 1844, Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers" was the first of the three books known collectively as the "d'Artagnan Romances". This first story tells the tale of d'Artagnan as a young man, as he leaves home to travel to Paris to join his friends, Athos, Porthos and Aramis. They all intend to join the famed the Musketeers of the Guard". The other two novels in the series are "Twenty Years After" and "The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later".

25. "I cannot rest from travel; I will drink life to the lees..." Ulysses, bold with adventure, cunning and brave, takes on mythical adversaries, from a one-eyed Cyclops to enticing sirens. By what name did the Greeks know him?

From Quiz What Did I Ever See in Him?

Answer: Odysseus

Known to the Greeks as Odysseus, "Ulysses" is a blank verse poem by Victorian Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published in 1842. "I cannot rest from travel; I will drink life to the lees" is from Tennyson's work, though Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" (about 700-700 B.C.) were first to record these adventures. Brave explorer, fierce leader, clever with wit, I could sail away with that one! Yet, when Ulysses returns home from "the drunk delight" of war, he finds life in Ithaca tiresome and the crown a burden. He did abandon his kingdom, his wife Penelope and his loyal dog, drawn instead to wandering. Note to self: Ulysses might swoop in and save you, but he's not going to stick around! Interesting that as Tennyson wrote "Ulysses" he too felt burdened by demands of family, looking after many siblings.

26. Which best describes James Joyce's "Ulysses"?

From Quiz Heroes and Mock-Heroes

Answer: Leopold Bloom is a mock-hero in that he is deliverer of neither himself nor his culture.

Joyce's "Ulysses" mimics the structure of "The Odyssey" (not "The Iliad"), but Joyce's Bloom falls spectacularly short of Homer's epic hero.

27. This man lusts so much for a particular woman, that he promises to deliver her imprisoned brother from death-if only she will sleep with him.

From Quiz Spurned Suitors

Answer: Angelo

In William Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure," Isabella cannot renounce her purity, not even to save her brother. But with the help of Angelo's rejected fiancée Mariana, she is able to fool the man into sleeping with another.

28. What is the name of the son named by King Duncan as his heir in Shakespeare's classic tragedy "Macbeth"?

From Quiz No Women Allowed!

Answer: Malcolm

Early in the play, King Duncan announces that he will visit Macbeth's castle in Inverness overnight. He also names his son Malcolm as his heir. Meanwhile, the evil Lady Macbeth is busy persuading her husband that he must kill the king while he is visiting the castle. When the king is found murdered, Malcolm flees to England fearing that his life is in danger, but his flight makes him a suspect in his father's murder and Macbeth claims the throne. There is still plenty of intrigue and skullduggery left in one of Shakespeare's most dramatic works.

29. In this story, written by Margaret Landon, a British governess agrees to work at the royal court for an intelligent and arrogant King. Which country does he rule?

From Quiz What Did I Ever See in Him?

Answer: Siam (Thailand)

According to her memoirs and a 1944 novel by Margaret Landon, "Anna and the King of Siam", Indian-English born writer, educator and activist Anna Leonowens was governess and language secretary in the Royal Palace of Bangkok from 1862 to 1867. She was hired by Mongkut, the revered King of Siam (Thailand). King Mongkut wanted a modern education for his 39 wives and 82 children, and he did much to modernize Siam. The story of Leonowens and the King was deemed "lese majeste" in Siam, though, a criminal violation of majesty. For instance, he was well-educated and spoke fluent English, but in her story he struggles with both. Despite his desire to open Siam to Western ideas, Mongkut considered Leonowens, an independent lady, to be "difficult". This story inspired the popular Broadway musical "The King and I", as well as two award-winning films.

30. He is rejected by the woman he loves, all because she allows herself to be persuaded not to marry the man she truly loves.

From Quiz Spurned Suitors

Answer: Captain Wentworth

The heroine of Jane Austen's "Persuasion," Anne Elliot, does, however, receive a second chance. She must first surmount Wentworth's injured pride.

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