And the Speaker Is....? Part I Quiz

Answer: Lady Macbeth

When Macbeth enters in Act III Scene 2, Lady Macbeth sees that he is tormented by fear after killing Duncan. She tells him that the past can't be changed: "Things without all remedy / Should be without regard: what's done is done," and that he should move forward and claim the crown. (III.2:11-12)

Answer: Orsino

Accompanied by attendants and musicians, Orsino indicates that he believes he is deeply in love with Olivia, who is in mourning and refuses to be wooed: "If music be the food of love, play on, / Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die." (I.1:1-3) As events prove, he is only in love with the idea of being in love, and later discovers he truly does love Viola.

Answer: Prospero

In Act IV Scene 1, Prospero conjures up a masque of love and fertility to celebrate the coming union of Miranda and Ferdinand. In the middle of the entertainment, he remembers that he must deal with Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano who are planning to kill him. Prospero ends the masque abruptly: "Our revels now have ended.

These our actors / (As I foretold you) were all spirits, and / Are melted into air, into thin air." (IV.1:148-150)

Answer: Ratcliffe

In Act III Scene 4, Richard openly accuses Hastings of treason and tells Ratcliffe and Lovel that he will not eat dinner until Hastings is executed. As Hastings is lamenting that he helped Richard, Ratcliffe interrupts him: "Come, come, dispatch, the Duke would be at dinner. / Make a short shrift, he longs to see your head." (III.4:94-95.

Answer: Mercutio

Romeo and Mercutio are having a friendly battle of wits. When Romeo suggests that he is about to win, Mercutio replies; "Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase I am done; / For thou hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, / I am sure, I have in my whole five." (II.4:71-73)

Answer: Pistol

At the beginning of Act II Scene 2, Falstaff rejects Pistol's request for a loan by telling him he won't lend even a penny. Pistol then says: "Why then the world's mine oyster, / Which I with a sword will open." (II.2:2-4)

Answer: Shylock

Antonio approaches Shylock for a loan of 3000 ducats. Before he responds to that request, Shylock details how badly Antonio has treated him in the past and asks him if, after such abuse, he should humble himself before Antonio: " Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key / With bated breath and whisp'ring humbleness [agree to lend you money]?" (I.3:123-124)

Answer: Othello

Tortured by the idea that Desdemona is unfaithful, Othello expresses his anguish to Iago, indicating that he is no longer what he was but has lost his vocation, including: "The royal banner and all quality, / Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war." (III.3:353-354)

Answer: Prince Hal

We first meet Hal and Falstaff in Act I Scene 2. When Poins soon joins them to discuss the future Gadshill robbery, he jokingly asks Falstaff if he will keep his earlier bargain with devil when he sold his soul "for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg." Hal replies: "Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have his bargaining for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs.

He will give the devil his due." (I.2:116-119)

Answer: Tranio

Baptista has proclaimed that his shrewish older daughter, Katherine, must wed before his far more desirable younger daughter, Bianca. In Act I Scene 2, Petruchio, Tranio (pretending to be Lucentio), Lucentio (in disguise as a schoolmaster), Grumio and others (mostly suitors of Bianca) are discussing Baptista's edict. When Petruchio indicates that he will woo Katherine, Tranio tells him that if he will "break the ice" and marry Katherine, the rest of them would be free to woo Bianca. (I.2:265)