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Tempest Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Tempest Quizzes, Trivia

Tempest Trivia

Tempest Trivia Quizzes

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Generally thought to be Shakespeare's last play, 'The Tempest' tells of the attempts of Prospero, a great sorcerer who was formerly Duke of Milan, to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place as ruler. Of course, there is a bit more to the story.
2 Tempest quizzes and 30 Tempest trivia questions.
1.
  The Tempest    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
General questions on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'.
Average, 10 Qns, cerealqueen, Apr 20 21
Average
cerealqueen
Apr 20 21
1567 plays
2.
  Difficult The Tempest Quiz - 20 Questions    
Multiple Choice
 20 Qns
Twenty questions on Shakespeare's final play
Difficult, 20 Qns, Hatstand, Nov 20 19
Difficult
Hatstand
Nov 20 19
2208 plays

Tempest Trivia Questions
1. At the beginning of the play, the ship's master cries 'yarely or we run ourselves aground'. What does 'yarely' mean?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: briskly

He's telling the boatswain to speak to the mariners. The boatswain himself uses the word 'yare' as an adjective in Act 5: 'our ship...is tight and yare and bravely rigg'd.'

2. Which character does Miranda fall in love with?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Ferdinand

She describes him as "a thing divine".

3. Why does Gonzalo take comfort from the boatswain?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: He was born to be hanged, not drowned

Gonzalo, clutching at straws.

4. Which character attempts to rape Miranda?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Caliban

Prospero says: "Thou didst seek to violate the honour of my child".

5. Of which Italian city state had Prospero been duke before being banished to the island?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Milan

Due to the demands of iambic pentameter, the word Milan should always be ponounced Millen on stage, rather than Mil-AN.

6. How long have Prospero and Miranda lived on the island?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: 12 years

"Miranda, twelve years since thy father was Duke of Milan..."

7. Who provided Prospero and Miranda with the necessities for survival on the island?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Gonzalo

Prospero throughout the play speaks affectionately of {Gonzalo;} it is worth remembering when critics accuse Prospero of being an aloof and autocratic figure.

8. Complete the following quotation:- 'I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin....'

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: I flamed amazement & I flam'd amazement

Difficult thing to do on stage, unless you've got a great big torch.

9. Whose mother is Sycorax?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Caliban

"This island's mine, by my mother Sycorax" Caliban says.

10. What is Caliban's first line in the play?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: There's wood enough within

Caliban is concealed in his den at this point - at The Globe in the early 17th century, the den would have been situated at the back of the stage, enhancing the drama of Caliban's entrance.

11. Who caused the Tempest?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Prospero

He has magic powers from studying his books.

12. When Ariel sings 'Full fadom five thy father lies', to whom does the word 'father' refer?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Alonso

Alonso, of course, is not drowned - ironically, he is simultaneously bewailing the loss of his son.

13. Which three men are being referred to in this quote? "You three men of sin did supplant good Prospero..."

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Antonio, Alonso and Sebastian

Prospero forgives the men at the end of the play.

14. Who tries to console Alonso with a speech beginning 'Sir, he may live: I saw him beat the surges under him...'?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Francisco

Other than this speech, Francisco has only three other words in the {play;} some critics have inferred that there is therefore a 'lost' version of The Tempest in which Adrian and Francisco had a much more prominent part, their goodness paralleling the wickedness of Antonio and Sebastian.

15. Where was Ariel imprisoned?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: a tree

He was imprisoned by Sycorax and freed by Prospero.

16. What major flaw does Sebastian identify in Gonzalo's description of his Utopian commonwealth?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: No sovereignty on the island and yet he would be king of it

Dear old Gonzalo - he deserves better than to be the butt of Antonio and Sebastian's constant gibes. His 'I'th'commonwealth' speech draws heavily from Montaigne's 'Des Cannibales'

17. Fill in the word missing from this speech in which Antonio is explaining to Sebastian how little his conscience troubles him: 'If 'twere a ____ 'Twould put me to my slipper'

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: kibe & cibe

A kibe is a blister or sore on the back of the heel. It also appears in 'King Lear', Act 1 Scene 5: the Fool says 'If a man's brains were in his heels, were't not in danger of kibes?'

18. For which creature does Trinculo initially mistake Caliban?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: fish

It is Caliban's rather dubious scent as he lies beneath his 'gaberdine' that leads Trinculo to make his mistake.

19. What phrase does Stephano use when he invites Trinculo and Caliban to drink from his wine bottle?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Kiss the book

Stephano's ample supplies of wine have come from the 'butt of sack' that he used as a lifeboat during the tempest.

20. What phrase does Ariel, feigning Trinculos' voice, use to infuriate Stephano and Caliban?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Thou liest

This scene is derivative of the 'echo-scene' which was a staple of the commedia del'arte.

21. What two instruments are played by Ariel, prompting Caliban's 'Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises' speech?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: tabour and pipe

A tabour (also sometimes written tabor) was a small drum, worn at the side.

22. Ariel appears to the three men of sin as a harpy. What is a harpy a cross between?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: a woman and an eagle

The best description of the harpy I have ever read comes in Book 3 of Virgil's Aeneid: 'No monster is more grim than the Harpies: no stroke of divine wrath was ever more cruel and no wickeder demon ever soared upwards from the waters of Styx. They are birds with girls' countenances and a disgusting outflow from their bellies. Their hands have talons and their faces are always pallid with hunger.'

23. What does Prospero use to chase away Stephano, Caliban and Trinculo?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: spirits in the shape of dogs and hounds

The critic Thorndike has seen in the hunting scene a kind of 'anti-masque', that should be looked at in conjunction with the wedding masque that immediately precedes it.

24. At what game are Ferdinand and Miranda discovered by Prospero?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: chess

An interesting moment. Might the fact that the young lovers are discovered playing chess hint that the unification of Milan and Naples may not proceed as smoothly as anticipated?

25. What does Sebastian rather surprisingly exclaim when he sees Ferdinand and Miranda?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: A most high miracle!

Hitherto, Sebastian has seemed a snide and cynical figure. Can we at this point, though, see the genuine relief of a fond uncle? If so, it places his earlier, extraordinarily harsh apportioning of blame upon Alonso for Sebastian's death - 'the fault's your own!' - in a slightly kinder context.

26. How many times does Antonio speak in Act Five Scene 1 (the last scene of the play)?

From Quiz The Tempest

Answer: Once

His virtual silence suggests that the reconciliation between the two brothers is superficial at best.

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