Disabled Characters in Literature Quiz

Answer: Homer

Demodocus appears in Homer's "Odyssey". He is a musician whom the Muses robbed of his sight, but granted him the gift of sweet song. He frequently entertains the court of Alcinous, ruler of the Phaicians. When Odysseus is washed by the tides of the sea in the island of Scheria, Alcinous receives him as guest, although he does not know his identity. During the feast, he orders Demodocus to sing a song about Odysseus. Upon hearing the song, Odysseus bursts into tears and, although he attempts to cover them with his cloak, Alcinous knows something is going wrong and privately asks him who he really is.

Answer: Sophocles

Tiresias appears in Sophocles' "Antigone". He is a blind seer serving Apollo and has offered counsel to many kings of Thebes, beginning with Cadmus himself. When King Creon decrees that his nephew, Polynices, who had allied with the city of Argos against his homeland, should be left unburied and unmourned Antigone defies his command, attempts to bury her brother and is sentenced to death. Tiresias then goes to Creon in order to inform him that the gods do not approve of his doings, but the king refuses to see reason.

Answer: William Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare's play, King Richard III of England is portrayed as a crooked and scheming king. In fact, nothing suggests that Richard was deformed, except an observation that his right shoulder was slightly higher than his left and he was most certainly not responsible for the death of his wife, who most probably died from tuberculosis. Nevertheless, the play is considered one of Shakespeare's masterpieces and the bias can be explained as the wish of the Tudor monarchs to portray the overthrow of the Plantagenets as a battle of good vs evil.

Answer: Victor Hugo

Quasimodo appears in Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". Because he was born a hunchback, Quasimodo was marked by the townsfolk of Paris as a monster. Later, because he was subjected to hearing the toiling of the church bells, he also became deaf.

Historical research has confirmed that, at the time Hugo wrote the novel, there was indeed a hunchback bell-ringer in Notre-Dame and it has been suggested that he and Hugo personally knew each other.

Answer: Herman Melville

Captain Ahab figures prominently in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick". Although he was not born with a disability, a sperm whale dubbed Moby Dick tore off one of his legs. Due to this fact, Ahab becomes obsessed with tracking down the whale and killing it.

After recruiting a crew- among the crewmen is the story's narrator, Ishmael- he embarks with his ship, the Pequod, in an attempt to kill the whale. In the process, he has a giant harpoon made which he dunks in a barrel of blood brought to him by harpooners.

When they finally meet Moby Dick, Ahab shoots the whale with the harpoon, but becomes entangled in it and, when the whale dives, it takes him with it.

Answer: Umberto Eco

Jorge of Burgos appears in Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose". He is an elderly and blind monk, living in the monastery where William of Baskerville and his ward, Adso of Melk, stay in order to investigate a string of mysterious murders. Ultimately, it is proved that Jorge was the killer.
The blind monk's name is considered to be a nod to Jorge Luis Borges, an Argentinian librarian and writer who was a major source of inspiration for Eco.

Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle

Henry Wood is the eponymous crooked man in Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Crooked Man", a short story featuring Sherlock Holmes. When he was young, Wood was a corporal in the Royal Mallows regiment and served during the 1857 Indian Rebellion. Wood was in love with Nancy Devoy, daughter of the color-sergeant. Sergeant Barclay also vied for Nancy's hand and found a diabolical way to get rid of his rival.

When the mutiny erupted and the regiment was besieged at Bhurtee, Corporal Wood offered to send a message to General Neill and Barclay sent his servant to the rebels, to warn them of Wood's mission. Wood was caught and repeatedly tortured, thus becoming a hunchback with most of his bones broken.

After years of captivity, he began entertaining soldiers as a conjurer, until fate brought him again face-to-face with both his old love and his rival.

Answer: Agatha Christie

Millicent Pebmarsh appears in Agatha Christie's "The Clocks", a detective novel featuring Hercule Poirot. Miss Pebmarsh is a schoolteacher who has been rendered blind. She lives in 19 Wibraham Crescent and has been secretly passing information to the Eastern Bloc of the Cold War for years, coding her messages in the Braille code.

She appears very staunch on her cause, first by choosing it over her child and secondly by refusing to stop her activities, even if her freedom was forfeit.

Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien

Brandir appears in "The Silmarillion", "Unfinished Tales" and "The Children of Hurin" and is a major character in the tragedy of Turin Turambar. When he was a child, Brandir suffered an accident that left him lame. Despite that, he grew to be the chieftain of the House of Haleth in the forest of Brethil.

When a party of his men found Turin after the Sack of Nargothrond, Brandir had them take care of him and accepted him into his home and hearth. Later, when Turin and a party of Brandir's woodmen go in a ranging, they find a naked young woman at the place where Turin had first been rescued by the woodmen. None of them knows that the girl is actually Turin's sister, who had her memory wiped off by the dragon Glaurung.

She and Turin fall in love- not knowing they are siblings- and marry, despite Brandir's objections.

When the dragon appears again, Turin goes to confront him and succeeds in killing him, but then his spells are removed and Turin's sister understands what has happened and commits suicide.

When Brandir informs Turin of the fact, the Master of Doom slays him unjustly.

Answer: George R.R. Martin

Arnolf Karstark appears in "A Dance with Dragons", fifth book in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire". Arnolf is descirbed as gaunt and crooked, with hid left shoulder half a foot higher than the right. When King Stannis Baratheon begins his campaign to free the North from both Bolton and Greyjoy yoke, Arnolf responds positively to his requests for support.

However, he is in secret league with the Boltons, hoping to gain complete sway over the family castle by usurping it from the main family line.

When the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jon Snow, is alerted of Arnolf's treachery, he sends a letter to Stannis informing him. When the king receives the letter, he has Arnolf and his kin imprisoned. He tells them that their lives are forfeit, but the manner of their death will depend on their willingness to cooperate with him.