How You Get the Girl Trivia Quiz

Answer: he wins an archery competition

Odysseus and Penelope had got married before the Trojan War, and their only son, Telemachus, was born before Odysseus' departure. During Odysseus' absence, a group of 108 rowdy young men had taken residence in the hero's house on the island of Ithaca. Penelope had managed to keep them at bay for three years with the well-know stratagem of weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus' father, and then unweaving it at night.

When her ruse was found out, inspired by the goddess Athena she announced that she would marry the man who managed to string her husband's bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads. Odysseus, disguised as a beggar by Athena, easily won the contest.

Then he killed all the suitors and their accomplices before revealing himself to his wife.

Answer: Colonel Brandon

In Jane Austen's first published work (1811), the romantic Marianne represents "sensibility", while her more practical, elder sister Elinor represents "sense". At the beginning of the novel, Marianne is 16, and Colonel Brandon 35. She falls in love with the handsome John Willoughby, who leads her to believe he returns her feelings, but turns out to be a rather unsavoury character. When he rejects her in order to marry an heiress, Marianne is devastated, and falls dangerously ill. Though Willoughby eventually repents of his behaviour, Marianne has grown up, and starts falling in love with Colonel Brandon (portrayed by a dashing, swoon-worthy Alan Rickman in Ang Lee's film adaptation of the novel).

The remaining choices are all Austen leading men, though appearing in different novels: Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" George Knightley in "Emma", and Frederick Wentworth in "Persuasion".

Answer: Lancelot and Guinevere

Francesca Da Polenta, from the town of Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy, was married to Gianciotto Malatesta, who was lame and older than her. Paolo was Gianciotto's younger, handsome brother. Francesca tells Dante that she and Paolo shared their first kiss while reading about the adulterous affair between Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur, and Lancelot, one of the Knights of the Round Table. Unfortunately, a few years later the lovers were surprised by Gianciotto, who killed them both. As they died in a state of mortal sin, they were sentenced to be trapped forever in a whirlwind, but were allowed to remain together. In my opinion, the episode is one of the most beautiful and poignant in the history of literature.

Unlike the tale of Lancelot and Guinevere, the other three famous love stories are not medieval in origin, but either earlier (Paris and Helen/Anthony and Cleopatra) or later (Romeo and Juliet).

Answer: maybe - the ending is left open

Raised by the sinister Miss Havisham, who taught her to despise all men as a form of revenge for having been jilted on her wedding day, Estella claims to have no heart. Throughout the novel, however, the reader suspects she harbours some feelings for Pip, because she does not toy with him as she does with other men.

She eventually marries the brutish Bentley Drummle, who mistreats her. When Estella and Pip meet again eleven years later, shortly after her husband's death in a riding accident, she asks him to forgive her.

He takes her hand, and - though they mention friendship rather than love - knows they will never be parted again. In the original ending, Dickens had Pip and Estella meet in London when she had already remarried. The author rewrote it after Edward Bulwer-Lytton (the author of "The Last Days of Pompeii") commented that the ending was too sad.

Answer: lead

Written at the end of the 16th century, "The Merchant of Venice" features one of Shakespeare's most appealing female characters, a young woman who is as intelligent and resourceful as she is beautiful. While Portia's other two suitors choose respectively the gold and the silver casket, Bassanio (helped by Portia's servants) chooses the least valuable of the three caskets, which contains the lady's portrait.

The lovers are then able to marry, and later in the play Portia will impersonate a lawyer and save Antonio (the titular merchant) from Shylock's demand of a pound of flesh in exchange for a defaulted loan.

Answer: in the Houses of Healing

Éowyn, sister of Éomer and niece of Théoden, king of the Mark, in her despair over her unrequited love for Aragorn disguises herself as a man, and rides to Gondor's help with the other Rohirrim. During the battle of the Pelennor Fields, outside the walls of Minas Tirith, she kills the Lord of the Nazgûl (with the help of the hobbit Merry Brandybuck), but is seriously injured. Faramir, almost fatally wounded in the battle, narrowly escapes being burned on a pyre by his mad father, Denethor, the Steward of Gondor.

The two are brought to the Houses of Healing, and healed by Aragorn. While the Captains of the West ride to the gates of Mordor, Éowyn and Faramir remain behind, and gradually grow close. Faramir first declares his feelings to her just as the darkness lifts, and Sauron is finally defeated.

Answer: he rescues her from a funeral pyre

In Verne's classic adventure novel (published in 1873), Aouda is a young Indian woman forcibly married to a prince, who eventually dies. Phileas Fogg and his inseparable companion,the French valet Passepartout, have reached India in their attempt to win the wager set by his friends at the Reform Club in London. During their journey by elephant towards the railway station at Allahabad, they come across a suttee (widow-burning), in which the drugged Aouda is about to be burned on her husband's funeral pyre. Passepartout impersonates the dead prince, and scares off the priests by rising from the pyre during the ceremony, so that they can make off with Aouda.

The novel ends with Fogg marrying Aouda after having unexpectedly won the wager.

Answer: The Importance of Being Earnest

"The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895) is Oscar Wilde's most popular play, and a witty, though light-hearted, satire of Victorian social conventions, especially as regards marriage. Its main character, the young gentleman Jack Worthing, falls in love with Gwendolen Fairfax (the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff), who claims she will only marry a man named Ernest (hence the play's punning title). For this reason, Jack leads a double life, pretending to be his dissolute brother Ernest when he is in London, and reverting to his true identity when staying at his country residence. At the end of the play, it is revealed that Jack is Algernon's older brother, and his real name is Ernest.

While the three remaining titles are all famous English plays, none of them was written in the 19th century. "Much Ado About Nothing" (1598-99) is by William Shakespeare, "he School for Scandal" (1777) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and "Private Lives" (1930) by Noël Coward.

Answer: Florence

The titular "room with a view" is the one George and his father occupy in Florence's Pensione Bartolini, and which they swap with Lucy and her traveling companion, Miss Bartlett, so as to allow them to enjoy the view of the river Arno. George falls in love with Lucy, but the two are separated, and back in England she gets engaged to the proper but boring Cecil Vyse. It is George's father that eventually forces her to admit her love for his son, prompting the couple's elopement and return to Florence.

Forster's novel, published in 1908, was adapted into a successful (and quite delightful) film, directed by James Ivory and starring Helena Bonham-Carter, Julian Sands, Daniel Day-Lewis, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.

Answer: Ginny Weasley

Ginny (short for Ginevra), the youngest of the Weasley children, falls for Harry right from the start, but is too shy to tell him openly. Later in the series, she dates other people, though always keeping a soft spot in her heart for Harry, who feels the same about her. In the sixth volume, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", during the celebrations for Gryffindor's triumph in the Quidditch Cup, the two share their first kiss. After the tumultuous events of the last book and the downfall of Voldemort, Harry and Ginny marry, and are seen at the end of the seventh book with their three children.

Hermione Granger, together with Ron Weasley (whom she marries at the end), is Harry's best friend and helper, while Cho Chang is Harry's first girlfriend. I hope no one picked Minerva McGonagall, the strict but fair Transfiguration teacher who is Head of House Gryffindor!