"F" Characters From Shakespeare Quiz

Answer: Twelfth Night

Feste is the Clown or Fool who is attached to Lady Olivia's household in "Twelfth Night". In the 1623 "First Folio" edition, he is referred to in the stage directions as "Clown", and in fact his name is only mentioned once in the text. As with many of Shakespeare's "Fools", he is wiser and more intelligent than most of the play's other characters, and often offers a wry insight into their emotions and motivations. Nevertheless, he is not averse to mischief-making when it suits him, and he plays an important part in the scheme by Sir Toby Belch and Maria to fool the steward, Malvolio, into thinking Olivia is in love with him. During the play he also sings some of Shakespeare's best-known songs, including "Oh Mistress Mine", "Come away, come away, death" and "When that I was a little tiny boy".

Answer: King Henry IV Parts 1 and 2

Sir John Falstaff is one of Shakespeare's greatest dramatic creations, and appears in both parts of "King Henry IV" as well as the farcical comedy "The Merry Wives of Windsor". In the history plays, he is characterised as a fat, cowardly drunkard who leads a dissolute life in and around the taverns of London.

Despite this, he is shown to be witty and likeable, and happy to take a joke against himself. The young Prince Hal, son of King Henry IV, associates himself with Falstaff and his disreputable gang of cronies, while always keeping one step apart from them.

At the end of "Henry IV Part 2" the old king is dead, and Hal cruelly but necessarily turns his back on his disreputable youth, and Falstaff in particular, in order to take his place as King Henry V.

Answer: The Tempest

Ferdinand is the young son of the King of Naples and is one of the characters who is shipwrecked on Prospero's island in the first scene of "The Tempest". He falls in love with Miranda, Prospero's daughter, who has grown up on the island without ever having seen another human other than her father.

Their love and eventual marriage are all part of Prospero's plan to get revenge on his own brother (Antonio) and the King of Naples, who earlier conspired to usurp Prospero from his Dukedom. The play ends with all the enemies reconciled, and the young couple betrothed to be married.

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

Friar Laurence is a Franciscan friar who agrees to preside over the wedding of Romeo and Juliet, hoping that this will help to heal the feud between their two families. When Romeo is banished from Verona for killing Tybalt, it is Friar Laurence who comes up with the scheme to reunite him with Juliet, by giving her a potion that will make her appear to be dead for two days. Once she has been interred in the family tomb, Romeo will come and rescue her, enabling them to elope together. Of course, the plan goes wrong, and both Romeo and Juliet end up dead.

Answer: Hamlet

Fortinbras is the Crown Prince of Norway in "Hamlet". Before the action of the play, his father, the King of Norway, has been killed by Hamlet's father, and Hamlet's usurping uncle, Claudius, sends a delegation to persuade him not to invade Denmark. Fortinbras turns up fortuitously at the end of the play, when the rest of the Danish Royal Family is dead, and claims the throne of Denmark for himself.

Answer: King Lear

As noted elsewhere in this quiz, fools and clowns appear throughout Shakespeare's work; sometimes named, sometimes not. The Fool in "King Lear" has no name but is one of the most important characters in the play. Throughout, he acts as the voice of common sense and reason, pointing out with brutal honesty how unwise Lear's actions are. Ironically, it is Lear who acts foolishly, while the Fool is anything but a fool.

He is also unfailingly loyal to his master and follows him onto the heath when the King goes half-mad with grief and anger. Strangely, he then disappears from the play, although his death is mentioned in the final scene.

Some commentators have speculated that this is because the actor who played him doubled as Cordelia, Lear's daughter, as they do not appear together on stage.

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Francis Flute is one of the six workmen in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" who decide to put on a play to celebrate the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Flute is a bellows-mender, and he is chosen (somewhat reluctantly) to play the female lead, Thisbe, in the play, which is based on the story of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid's "Metamorphoses".

The story is a tragic tale of two ill-fated lovers, which has many parallels with Shakespeare's own play "Romeo and Juliet", but Flute and his fellow workmen perform the play so badly that the watching nobles think it is meant to be a comedy.

Answer: Macbeth

In "Macbeth", Fleance is the son of Macbeth's friend, Banquo. When the three witches prophesy that Banquo's descendants will be Kings of Scotland, Macbeth (who has himself usurped the throne by killing Duncan, the rightful king) determines that both Banquo and Fleance must die, in order to safeguard his own lineage.

He sends three murderers to kill them, but although Banquo is killed, Fleance escapes. Interestingly, he then disappears from the play, which ends with Duncan's son, Malcolm, being crowned king after Macbeth's death.

Historians have however pointed out that the real-life Banquo was known to be an ancestor of King James VI of Scotland (also James I of England), and the prophecy was thus fulfilled in a later century.

Answer: The Merry Wives of Windsor

Mistress Alice Ford is one of the two titular "Wives" in Shakespeare's farcical comedy. The main plot of the play concerns Sir John Falstaff's attempts to woo both her and Mistress Anne Page, despite their already being married. In this he is singularly unsuccessful, as the two women quickly find out his intentions, and play a series of tricks on him.

These result in him being first thrown into the river while hiding in a linen basket and then beaten up while dressed as an old woman. The jealousy of Alice's husband, Frank Ford, is also the subject of much comic business.

Answer: The Winter's Tale

In "The Winter's Tale", Florizel is the son of Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. While wandering in the countryside disguised as a shepherd, he meets and falls in love with a girl, Perdita, who appears to be a simple shepherdess. Naturally, Polixenes is a bit upset by this unwelcome development, and refuses to allow the match to go ahead. Fortunately, it is revealed in the nick of time that Perdita is in fact the long-lost daughter of Leontes, King of Sicily, having been abandoned as a baby and brought up by an elderly shepherd.

She is reunited with her parents, and the marriage to Florizel goes ahead after all.