Charlotte Brontė's "Shirley" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars are ongoing during the novel, but more or less kept in the background, while the events of Briarfield village take centre stage. At the time, new machinery is being invented, making the milling process much easier, but it creates a lot of contention among the workers who have been ousted, their positions no longer needed.

These unemployed men are desperate to have money to feed their families, and as such the war in Europe is very much at the back of their minds.

Answer: Robert is her cousin.

Yes, they are cousins, although distantly and not by blood. Caroline visits Robert and his sister Hortense every morning for French lessons, and falls in love with Robert. He, too, becomes fond of her, but he keeps it to himself, considering a marriage for love to be impossible as he needs money to keep his mill running. Caroline keeps her love for him a secret too, but is desperate for him to make a move and reciprocate.

Answer: Mr Branwell of Rosehedge

Mr Sweeting is, as his name suggests, a kind and gentle man, and is respected by the villagers. He is in love with a young woman, Dora Sykes, but feels completely out of her league. They do eventually marry and live happily.

Mr Donne is not well liked by the parishioners, least of all by Shirley, because of his prejudice and dislike of Northerners. He spoils an afternoon tea telling Shirley that he thinks of Yorkshire and its people as miserly and awful, preferring his native London. He is thrown out by Shirley.

Mr Malone is an obnoxious, overbearing man, whose greed leads him to try to court several women in the village, to no avail. In the end he has disappeared from town under suspicious circumstances, but Brontė leaves out the details, to the reader's frustration (or mine, at least!).

Although Branwell is not the name of a character in this novel, it is in fact the name of Charlotte Brontė's brother.

Answer: Shirley was a male name at the time.

Shirley's parents wanted to have a boy, and Shirley was the intended name. When they have a baby girl, they don't bother changing their choice of name and thus Shirley is left with a male moniker. This seems to suit her independent personality, and as lady of the manor, she requests to be jokingly named "Lord" and "Captain Keeldar", as there is no lord of the manor - Shirley has her own property.

The name Shirley become popular for girls after the publication of this novel, and remains almost solely a female name to this day, although it still exists as a rare male name.

The incorrect answer of Shirley's (non-existent) older sister bearing the name before her actually refers to the painter Salvador Dalķ, whose parents considered him to be the reincarnation of his dead brother, also named Salvador, who died nine months before his birth.

Answer: Caroline

Caroline's father, James Helstone, was an alcoholic and mistreated his wife. When Caroline was born, Mrs Helstone couldn't bear to look at her because she simply saw her husband in the baby, so she left the family. Caroline, at the age of eighteen, does not recognize her mother, who has arrived in town in the form of Shirley's governess, but the two strike up a caring friendship.

It is only when Caroline is gravely ill and could die that Mrs Pryor decides to tell her the truth. Caroline embraces her "mamma" and the two are very happy to be reunited.

Answer: Lina

Other characters, particularly Shirley and Mr. Helstone, Caroline's uncle, call her "Cary", though at least once Shirley calls her "Lina" and Robert calls her "Cary"! (I tend to attribute this to an error on Charlotte Brontė's part, but I could be wrong.) Robert's nickname of "Lina" is said to be because he is from Belgium.

"Rolli" and "Lee" are never used by any character.

Answer: A lock of Robert's hair

Shirley discovers this and questions Caroline about it. Caroline had seen Robert's sister Hortense keep such a keepsake in her toolbox, and she asked Robert if she could have one of her own. He agrees only if she gives him a clipping of her own hair in return. She keeps his lock safe in her locket, though she is convinced that he has lost hers in absentmindedness.

Answer: He is shot

Robert is riding home with Mr Yorke as company, when a then-unidentified man cries out odd sentiments and shoots Robert. His injuries lessen with time, but he must remain bedridden for six months. Mr Yorke, enjoying the power of having a fellow man completely depend on him, insists Robert must partake of his hospitality. A nurse is sent in by his surgeon, and his convalescence begins.

It turns out that the man who shoots him is Michael Hartley, a loner and drunkard whom politics intensely angers. It is revealed that after the events of the novel are over, Hartley dies, and Robert is kind enough to give the widow of his would-be killer money to cover the burial.

Answer: Martin

Mrs Yorke allows the patient no guests, a decision made with the permission of his sister Hortense, leaving Caroline severely worried about Robert's health and missing him. Caroline tries several times to access the house to see him, but is barred. She approaches Martin desperate for news about Robert, who likes the attention he is receiving, and agrees to sneak her into the house to visit him, after which he demands a kiss from Caroline in return. Martin dislikes women, considering them useless ("I hate all womenites. I wonder what they were made for.") but he likes, like his father, the power trip that having people in his debt gives him.

Robert and Caroline eventually voice their love for each other, and marry.

Answer: Louis Moore

Louis Moore is the brother of Robert and Hortense, and a tutor for the family of Shirley's uncle, the Sympsons. Shirley does not acknowledge Louis much, treating him simply like a member of the household and barely ever talking to him. Yet it transpires that he was Shirley's tutor in her youth and has fallen desperately in love with her, yet he dare not voice it to her, being a lowly tutor and unworthy of a landowner such as she. He keeps all her old exercises in his desk, which Caroline and Shirley's young cousin Henry find one day.

Shirley rejects the proposals of three other men: Samuel Wynne, on whose behalf his father makes the proposal, Robert Moore, who proposes simply for financial reasons, and Sir Philip Nunnely, to everyone's surprise. Shirley's uncle is outraged that she refuses to marry him, but she does not wish to marry for a reason other than love, and even then she is fiercely protective of her independence and reluctant to give it up. Upon Shirley's insistence that she will not marry Sir Philip, her uncle Sympson decides he and the family will leave, his goal unaccomplished, and this causes Louis to panic that he will never see her again. He quickly declares his love for her and urges her to accept his proposal, which she eventually does, but still very reluctant to switch her independent life for that of marriage.

Shirley and Louis have a double wedding with Caroline and Robert.