Crazy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ajax

Written in the 5th century BC (probably between 450 and 430), "Ajax" is one of seven surviving tragedies by Athenian playwright Sophocles. It is set during the Trojan war, after the events described in the "Iliad", but before the fall of Troy. Ajax, son of Telamon, is the strongest of the Greek heroes, and is noted for his courage.

After Achilles' death, both Ajax and Odysseus claim the hero's magical armour, which Odysseus wins with the help of Athena, his protector. Furious at being cheated, Ajax tries to kill Agamemnon and Menelaus, who are responsible for awarding the armour to Odysseus. Athena, however, causes the hero to lose his mind temporarily and slaughter a herd of sheep.

When Ajax comes to his senses, he kills himself out of shame.

Answer: unrequited love

Written by poet Ludovico Ariosto between 1516 and 1532, "Orlando Furioso" ("The Frenzy of Orlando") is one of the masterpieces of Italian literature. The story is set during the war between the Christian armies led by Charlemagne and the Saracens, who have invaded Europe.

The paladin Orlando (known in French as Roland), becomes almost a figure of ridicule in his madness. When he finds out that his beloved Angelica, a princess of Cathay, has eloped with a lowly Saracen knight, he goes mad and starts destroying everything in his path.

He is finally restored back to sanity by the knight Astolfo, who flies to the moon to find Orlando's wits.

Answer: Jane Eyre

"Wide Sargasso Sea" is the best-known work by British novelist Jean Rhys, who was born in the Caribbean island of Dominica. The novel is a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" (1847), partly told from the point of view of Antoinette Cosway, Bronte's novel's Bertha Mason, the violently insane first wife of Mr Rochester. Antoinette, a Creole heiress, is forced to leave her island home when she enters into an arranged marriage with an English gentleman (Mr Rochester), who believes her to be tainted by the streak of mental illness running in her family.

The marriage soon disintegrates, and Antoinette descends into madness, eventually taking her own life. The novel touches upon themes of racial inequality, displacement and cultural shock, as well as feminist issues (such as Antoinette's reaction to England's oppressive patriarchal society).

Answer: Denethor

Denethor, Steward of Gondor, is the father of Boromir and Faramir. Weakened by the loss of his eldest son, he must face the siege of his city, Minas Tirith, by the armies of the Dark Lord Sauron. When Faramir is brought back from the battlefield, seriously wounded and seemingly close to death, Denethor loses his mind for good, and orders his servants to prepare a funeral pyre, on which he intends to burn his son along with himself. Though Faramir narrowly escapes death thanks to the intervention of the hobbit Pippin (who immediately summons Gandalf), Denethor jumps on to the pyre, and succumbs to the flames.

Answer: The Brothers Karamazov

Written in 1879-80, "The Brothers Karamazov" is Fyodor Dostoevsky's final novel, a deeply philosophical work that explores issues such as the existence of God, morality and free will. Ivan, the second of the titular brothers, hides a sensitive soul behind his atheism and cold rationalism. The contrast between the two aspects of his nature causes his mental collapse, which culminates with his delirium in the courtroom during his testimony on behalf of his older brother Dmitri, accused of having killed their father. In the throes of a brain fever, he is taken home by Katerina, Dmitri's former fiancée, who is in love with him, but his fate at the end of the novel remains undisclosed.

Out of the remaining three choices, "Crime and Punishment" was also written by Dostoevsky, while "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" are by Leo Tolstoy.

Answer: Lady Macbeth

In William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth", after goading her husband into killing Duncan, the lawful king of Scotland, Lady Macbeth is haunted by guilt. She sleepwalks, recalling her crimes and rubbing her hands to banish an invisible bloodstain. She eventually takes her own life, just before Macbeth's final confrontation with Macduff - prompting the famous "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." speech (in my view one of Shakespeare's finest moments).

Answer: The Bell Jar

Known for her powerful confessional poetry, Sylvia Plath suffered from major depression for most of her life. Published in January 1963 (about one month before Plath committed suicide) under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas, "The Bell Jar" is a semi-autobiographical novel. The protagonist, named Esther Greenwood, compares depression with being trapped under a bell jar, unable to breathe. After being hospitalised following a suicide attempt, she finds relief from her condition through electroconvulsive therapy and the support of a female psychiatrist, Dr. Nolan.

The remaining three options are all famous novels published in the '50s, a few years before "The Bell Jar": "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, and "The Tin Drum" by Günter Grass.

Answer: The Woman in White

Written and published in 1859, "The Woman in White", Wilkie Collins' fifth novel, was one of the greatest literary sensations of its time. Its plot revolves around Walter Hartright, a young art teacher who solves a case involving a conspiracy aimed at stripping a young woman, Laura Fairlie, of her fortune. Owing to the resemblance between the two women, Laura is substituted for the gravely ill Anne (who eventually dies), and taken to the asylum from which Anne had escaped at the beginning of the novel. Later in the story, Walter finds out that Anne was Laura's father's illegitimate daughter.

After Laura's identity is restored, she and Walter get married.

Answer: H.P. Lovecraft

Though he was only 47 when he died of cancer in 1937, Providence-born Howard Phillips Lovecraft left quite a considerable body of work - mainly short stories and novellas that have proved immensely influential for later generations of horror, science fiction and fantasy writers. Madness caused by encounters with unspeakable cosmic horrors (such as the terrifying Great Old Ones) is a key topic in Lovecraft's work, and mental illness was clearly a concern for him, as both both of his parents died in a mental hospital.

Not surprisingly, quite a few of his characters end up losing their sanity: this is the case, for instance, of the narrator of "The Rats in the Walls", the scientist Danforth in "At the Mountains of Madness", and one of the hapless Norwegian sailors in "The Call of Cthulhu".

Answer: Heart of Darkness

Published in 1899, "Heart of Darkness" was inspired by Polish-British author Joseph Conrad's experience of working on a steamer sailing up the Congo River at the time of the Belgian colonization of Congo. The narrator, Marlow, journeys to an upriver trading station deep in the African jungle, where he meets the sinister Mr Kurtz, whom the natives worship as a god. Kurtz dies of jungle fever, uttering the famous last words "The horror! The horror!". "Heart of Darkness" was the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's famed "Apocalypse Now", set during the Vietnam War. In the film, Kurtz is a renegade officer of the US army, who employed barbaric methods to defeat the enemy.

The remaining options are all works of fiction published in the last decade of the 19th century: "The Mayor of Casterbridge" by Thomas Hardy, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, and "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James.