E-asy Shakespeare Characters Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Merry Wives of Windsor

In "The Merry Wives of Windsor", Sir Hugh Evans is a Welsh parson and schoolmaster who is a friend of Abraham Slender, one of Anne Page's rival suitors. He is challenged to a dual by Doctor Caius, another suitor, although this ends in farce when each is told to meet in a different place.

He joins in the final plot against Sir John Falstaff, in which the fat knight is persuaded to dress up as Herne the Hunter in Windsor Forest. Evans then dresses his school pupils as fairies and instructs them to pinch Falstaff and burn him with candles, as punishment for his behaviour.

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

Prince Escalus is the ruler of Verona, home of the feuding Montague and Capulet families. At the start of the play, he announces that he is tired of the damage their enmity is doing to Verona and threatens the death penalty for anyone causing a further breach of the peace.

When, later in the play, Romeo kills Tybalt during a brawl, Escalus has him exiled, on pain of death if he ever returns. In the final scene, when the bodies of Romeo and Juliet are discovered, it is Escalus who spells out to the two families how much misery their feuding has caused - the deaths of not only the two lovers, but of Paris, Mercutio and Tybalt as well.

Answer: Antony and Cleopatra

Enobarbus is the trusted lieutenant of Mark Antony. It is he who makes the famous speech describing Cleopatra with the words "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety". In a crucial scene, he advises Antony to fight Octavius on land rather than at sea, but Antony ignores him and is soundly defeated. Enobarbus then deserts Antony and joins Octavius, although Antony refuses to condemn him. Enobarbus then regrets his disloyalty and dies, apparently of shame.

Answer: Othello

Emilia is the wife of Iago (the chief villain in the play) and also maidservant to Othello's wife, Desdemona. It is she who finds Desdemona's dropped handkerchief, which she gives to her husband. Iago then uses this handkerchief to persuade Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio.

When Emilia realises her husband's villainy, she denounces him to Othello. Iago kills her in a vain attempt to shut her up, before himself being wounded by Othello, who realises too late that Desdemona is innocent.

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Egeus is the father of Hermia, a young lady of Athens who is in love with a youth named Lysander. Egeus disapproves of this match and would much rather she marry his choice, Demetrius. So annoyed is Egeus at being disobeyed by his wilful daughter that he calls on Duke Theseus to invoke an ancient Athenian law that compels a daughter to marry the man her father chooses, on pain of death. Fortunately, at the end of the play Theseus overrules Egeus and declares that Hermia should be free to marry the man of her choice, while Demetrius marries Hermia's friend Helena instead.

Answer: Richard III

Elizabeth Woodville is the wife of King Edward IV, who is the eldest brother of Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III. After the death (by natural causes) of Edward, Richard plots his own way to the throne by bringing about the deaths first of his other brother, George Duke of Clarence, and then of the two sons of Elizabeth and Edward (the so-called Princes in the Tower).

Although Elizabeth has a daughter as well, Elizabeth of York, who is now next in line to the throne, Richard contrives to get himself crowned King ahead of her.

He then tries to enlist Elizabeth Woodville's help in persuading this daughter to marry him, although she wisely stalls his advances. Fortunately, Richard is killed soon afterwards at the Battle of Bosworth, and Elizabeth of York goes on to marry Henry Tudor, who becomes King Henry VII.

Answer: Measure For Measure

Elbow is a dim-witted constable in "Measure for Measure", who arrests Froth (a dissolute young gentleman) and Pompey (a bawd or pimp) for insulting his (Elbow's) wife. Much of the comedy of his character arises from his tendency to use the wrong words - in much the same way as Dogberry, another comic constable, in "Much Ado About Nothing". Shakespeare obviously had a low opinion of the standard of literacy among the police of his time.

Answer: The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Sir Eglamour is a chivalrous knight who agrees to help Silvia, daughter of the Duke of Milan, to escape from the city in search of Valentine, with whom she is in love. Unfortunately, he turns out to be a bit of a coward, since when they are attacked by a band of outlaws in the forest, Sir Eglamour flees, leaving Silvia in their clutches.

He is never seen again, although as Valentine turns out to be the leader of the outlaws, everything turns out all right in the end.

Answer: The Comedy of Errors

Egeon is the father of the Antipholus twins in "The Comedy of Errors". Having many years ago become separated during a shipwreck from his wife and one of his twin sons, at the start of the play he is in prison in Ephesus and facing execution unless he can pay an extortionate fine within 24 hours. Unknown to him, both of his sons and their servants (also twins) and his long-lost wife are all in Ephesus as well, and after a day of much confusion and misunderstanding, he is reunited with all of them.

He also escapes execution.

Answer: King Lear

Edmund is the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester. He is jealous of his older half-brother, Edgar, and resents the fact that Edgar is Gloucester's heir while he, Edmund, will receive nothing. He therefore resolves to do away with both his father and brother, and thereby inherit the Earldom for himself.

He first deceives Gloucester into thinking that Edgar has attacked him for no reason, leading to Edgar's banishment, and then plots with Lear's two evil daughters, Goneril and Regan, to betray both Lear and Gloucester.

At the end of the play, Edgar returns in disguise and kills Edmund in a dual.