I Pity the Fool Trivia Quiz

Answer: As You Like It

"As You Like it" was a play written by the one and only Bard, William Shakespeare. Touchstone is a jester employed by Frederick, who has usurped the throne of Duke Senior, his older brother. Touchstone's comments on the main characters of the play help the reader understand more about their personalities.

It is claimed that the first actor to portray Touchstone was a famous actor of the Elizabethan Era, Robert Armin.

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of the most famous plays by William Shakespeare. Robin Goodfellow, also called Puck, is the jester of King Oberon of the realm of fairies. Oberon sends him to use the juices of a love-flower in order to fix things between the main couples of the story, and also to use the same juice on Queen Titania, so that she will fall in love with the first being she sees after waking from her sleep.

However, Puck's mischievous nature turns this simple mission into chaos. At the end of the play, he addresses the viewers and tells them to pretend everything they witnessed was just a dream.

Answer: Twelfth Night

"Twelfth Night" is one of the comical plays written by William Shakespeare. Feste is a jester serving at the court of Countess Olivia and it is said that Olivia's father was very fond of the fool. Throughout the play, it is hinted that Feste knows more of Viola's disguise as Caesario than any one of the main characters.

He also sings a unique repertoire of songs, such as "O Mistress Mine" and "I Am Gone, Sir".

Answer: The Queen's Fool

"The Queen's Fool" was written by Philippa Gregory. Hannah Green is a young girl that becomes a jester in the Royal Court of England during the Tudor era. Gregory's book is criticized by some historians because of the unsympathetic depiction of Queen Elizabeth I, whom Hannah describes as "little more than a whore", while Queen Mary I, aka "Bloody Mary", is portrayed in a more positive way than most scholars describe her.

Answer: Ivanhoe

"Ivanhoe" was penned by Sir Walter Scott. Wamba is the court jester of Cedric the Saxon. He is extremely loyal to his lord. When Cedric is captured by the freelancer Maurice de Bracy, Wamba disguises himself as a priest and takes his master's place, allowing him to rejoin his friends and allies.

Answer: Le Morte D'Arthur

"Le Morte D'Arthur" was written by Thomas Malory. In it, Dagonet was the royal jester of King Arthur. While he was a Knight of the Round Table, he was not a skilled knight, and would flee with the first hint of danger.

Answer: Wyrd Sisters

"Wyrd Sisters" was written by Terry Pratchett and was the sixth novel in the author's "Discworld" series. Verence is the son of the previous royal fool, but ends up being installed as king of Langre, when his younger half-brother, Tomjon, rejects the throne, despite being the rightful heir.

While Verence takes governance seriously and wants to do the best for his people, things do not turn out as he wants.

Answer: Hamlet

The play "Hamlet" is one of the most famous Shakespearean tragedies. Yorick was a jester in the Royal court of Denmark, but by the time the events of the play happen, he has been dead for years. In Act 5, when the gravediggers debate whether Ophelia deserves a Christian burial, they exhume Yorick's skull. Upon seeing it, the young prince delivers the following monologue on mortality: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it.

Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?"

Answer: The Princess and the Queen

"The Princess and the Queen" was written by George R. R. Martin, and is set in the fictional universe of Westeros. Mushroom was a jester in the royal court of King Viserys I Targaryen. Because nobles considered him a lackwit, they spoke freely when he was around.

As a result, he was able to collect many scandalous and often slanderous tales about the protagonists of the civil war known as Dance of the Dragons. Mushroom dictated his memoirs to an unknown scribe and "The Testimony of Mushroom" was consulted by Archmaesters Gyldayn and Yandel when they discussed the Dance in their writings.

Answer: A Clash of Kings

"A Clash of Kings" was written by George R. R. Martin, and is the second book in "A Song of Ice and Fire". Patchface was a fool that Lord Steffon Baratheon and his lady wife found in the Free City of Volantis, when the Mad King Aerys II sent them there to find a bride for his son. On the way to their castle, the ship was wrecked and everyone aboard perished, save for the fool. Patchface is largely considered a lackwit and sings eerie songs about things that happen under the sea.

The red priestess Melisandre, advisor to Lord Steffon's second son, Stannis, considers Patchface a dangerous creature.