Friends and Foes in Literature Quiz

Answer: Romeo

Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is, according to some, the greatest of all love stories. The plot derives from older sources, but the characters, the language, and the unfolding of the tragedy are all the unmistakable products of Shakepeare's genius. Among the many modern productions is the 1996 movie "Romeo + Juliet" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes.

Othello, Hamlet, and Lear are the subjects of other Shakespearean tragedies.

Answer: Robin Hood

The outlaw Robin Hood first appears in medieval English ballads and folk stories, and has never really gone out of style. His other friends include Little John, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck. One of the most fascinating modern versions of the Robin Hood legend is the 1980s British television series "Robin of Sherwood."

King John is often pitted against Robin Hood in the tales. He is no friend of Will Scarlet and no foe of the Sheriff of Nottingham. The real King John signed England's Magna Carta in 1215.

Billy the Kid was an American outlaw in the Old West. Aragorn, AKA Strider, is a creation of J.R.R.Tolkien in his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Answer: Mowgli

From Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book," Mowgli is a boy raised by wolves. Baloo the Bear teaches him, and Shere Khan the tiger threatens him.

Kipling spent his early childhood in India, and was inspired to write his best-known works about that land. His "Kim" is the story of an English orphan boy growing up penniless on the streets of India.

Natty Bumppo was created by James Fenimore Cooper, Uriah Heep by Charles Dickens, Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter.

Answer: David Copperfield

"David Copperfield" was Dickens' own favorite of his many works, and was praised by Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, and Sigmund Freud, to name a few. The story is told in the first person, and is said to be the most autobiographical of Dickens' novels. Betsey Trotwood is David's loving but eccentric aunt; Mr. Murdstone is his cold and cruel stepfather.

Oliver Twist, Little Nell, and Sidney Carton are other Dickens characters.

Answer: Gus McCrae

Gus, Call, and Blue Duck are from Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning novel "Lonesome Dove," about two aging Texas Rangers leading a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The book was adapted to become a popular TV miniseries starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones.

Butch Cassidy was the leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang of American Western outlaws. Charles Emerson Winchester is a character in TV's "M.A.S.H." Red Chief is from a story by O. Henry: "The Ransom of Red Chief."

Answer: Christian

John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," subtitled "From this World to That Which is to Come," is an allegory of the spiritual journey. Faithful's personality is everything that his name implies; Apollyon is the demon of spiritual doubt. Among the other characters -- whose basic qualities are not hard to guess -- are Obstinate, Pliable, Talkative, and Lord Hate-good.

Billy Pilgrim is from Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five"; Ishmael is from Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick"; Cyrano is from Edmund Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac."

Answer: Gilgamesh

"The Epic of Gilgamesh" is an ancient Sumerian work, recounting the myths of "the greatest king on earth." The epic may be more than 4000 years old, dating from the 3rd Dynasty of Ur. Enkidu starts out as a wild man, and is tamed in an x-rated manner. He and Gilgamesh together battle the ogre Humbaba.

Churis is a peasant in a story called "The Landowner's Morning" by Tolstoy. Pantagruel is a giant in the satirical poem "Gargantua and Pantagruel" by Rabelais. Aeschylus was one of the three great playwrights of ancient Greece, along with Sophocles and Euripides.

Answer: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes appears in the novels and stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes' powers of deduction make him the consummate fictional detective. His friend Dr. John Watson narrates many of the tales. Professor James Moriarty is often referred to not simply as Holmes' foe, but as his "arch-enemy."

Hercule Poirot is Agatha Christie's creation. Long John Silver is Robert Louis Stevenson's work. Arthur Dimmesdale is a character of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Answer: Anne of Green Gables

L.M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables" is the story of an orphan girl who is adopted by a middle-aged couple on Prince Edward Island, and of her trials and joys as she grows. The character of Anne is sensitive, imaginative, and funny, a masterpiece of individuality.

"Emily of New Moon" is another character of L.M. Montgomery. Diamond Lake and Mountain Hollow are my inventions for real-life friends Felice and Kristin.

Answer: Beowulf

"Beowulf" is the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, perhaps as old as the 8th century, in which the hero Beowulf successfully defends the Danish mead-hall against monsters, but finally is defeated by an irate dragon.

Eadwacer is from an Anglo-Saxon poem entitled "Wulf and Eadwacer." St. Wulfstan was the Bishop of Worcester at the time of the Norman Conquest. Shasta appears in C.S. Lewis' "The Horse and His Boy."