Burn the Witch Trivia Quiz

Answer: Macbeth

Shakespeare's most famous witches, originally called the "weyward sisters" in Early Modern English versions of the play, have come to epitomize witchcraft and likely influenced some of our modern Halloween traditions. In "Macbeth" they represented evil and darkness, and after Macbeth and Banquo met them early in Act 1, things started going downhill.

Answer: Wicked

The musical play "Wicked", or to use the whole title "Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz" began before Dorothy's visit from Kansas and continued afterwards. It followed Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch of the South) through their lives.

Answer: Prospero

The title of the play comes from the meaning of a violent storm, which Prospero called up in the ocean to cause a shipwreck. His sorcery was learned from books, not inherited, and was powerful enough to allow him to raise the dead as well as affect the weather.

Answer: The Witches of Eastwick

Taken from the book by John Updike and the 1987 movie, the musical play is about three women living in mundane Eastwick, Rhode Island, who don't realize they are witches until a charismatic stranger (Could it be Satan?) comes to town. After they learned much from him, and he took advantage of them, they eventually sent him back where he came from.

Answer: The Dear Witches

Walpole wrote his play in 1742 as a parody of "Macbeth" to address political issues of his time. He also had a personal axe to grind and so the witches in his play manipulated political events and elections; Macbeth ended up being Treasurer and Earl of Bath in Walpole's version.

Answer: The Witch of Edmonton

The play was based on Elizabeth Sawyer, who was executed for witchcraft in 1621. The play, by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford, was based on a pamphlet authored by Henry Goodcole, and treated Sawyer more kindly than Goodcole's story.

Answer: Thomas Middleton

"The Witch", considered a tragicomedy, was also something of a musical; there were two songs in the production. The witches in the play were a macabre trio; they were changed only slightly when copied from "Macbeth". Their dialogue in Acts III and IV of "Macbeth" is similar to that in Middleton's play.

Answer: Ben Jonson

With a description that sounds like "The Canterbury Tales, as Told by Tarts", Jonson's play had a mistress witch and her minions dancing and testifying to their crimes. A masque was an elaborately produced play involving dancing, song and acting. Many of the players wore masks.

There was much interest in witchcraft in the early 17th century, some of it because King James I issued the Witchcraft Act of 1604, in which any woman accused of witchcraft could be almost summarily executed.

Answer: The Crucible

Though framed in the Salem witch trials, Miller's play was an allegorical reference to allegations of treason and communism by artists and authors issued by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s. Miller saw that as a modern-day witch hunt. The play has become a core piece of American drama.

Answer: Roald Dahl

Dahl is also known for works like "James and the Giant Peach"and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". "The Witches" was the story of a British boy going to live with his Norwegian grandmother, who told him many stories about evil witches. The novel was adapted into seven plays by David Wood.