I'm Entitled to This No 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Oliver Twist

"Oliver Twist" was written by Charles Dickens in 1838. It tells the story of a young orphan boy who finally makes good after a series of misadventures in his young life. At the same time, it's a grim portrayal of what life was like for England's poor at that time of the nation's history.

Many of Dicken's works helped to awaken the country's conscience in this regard, so that social change, slow at first, began to eventuate.

Answer: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Written by the Brothers Grimm 1812, and made into a movie by the great Walt Disney in 1937, this rather frightening children's story tells the story of a beautiful young princess who is harshly treated by her jealous and cruel step-mother. Fleeing from an attempt on her life, she stumbles into the home of seven small miners.

They take her in and her time with them is happy until the wicked step-mother reappears again with a poisoned apple. Appearing to be dead after biting into its juicy flesh, Snow White is placed in a glass coffin by the grief-stricken little men.

There her prince appears, and unable to resist the beautiful sleeping girl, he kisses her. Snow White awakens, and everybody, except the wicked step-mother, lives happily ever after.

This story must surely delight the heart of psychiatrists everywhere.

Answer: Othello

This powerful tragedy was written by William Shakespeare in 1603. Like most of Shakespeare's tragedies, it tells the tale of a great leader brought undone by one fatal character flaw. Othello's weakness is jealousy, and when his beautiful young wife is made to seem to be unfaithful by the evil scheming of Iago, he gives in to jealousy's terrible grip and suffocates her. Iago's motivation is also jealousy.

Another soldier was promoted over him by Othello, and Iago's resulting jealous rage sets in motion his terrible scheme to destroy Othello.

Many of Shakespeare's plays have this duality of theme running through them. "Othello" has a terrible relentless grip on its audiences everywhere, as they watch the sweet and loving Desdemona drawn inexorably to her death.

Answer: Emma

This is another of Jane Austen's delightful works. Written in 1815, it is a light-hearted look at the behaviour and romances of upper class people in Georgian England. Emma Woodhouse, the beautiful young heroine of the piece, feels she is quite the expert at creating happy marriages and accordingly sets out to interfere in as many people's lives as she possibly can, to bring about what she sees as desirable outcomes.

Her efforts prove disastrous, but comical. Emma is ultimately aghast at what she has done, when her conscience is given one or two mighty prods by Mr Knightley along the way. Mr Knightley, the hero of the piece, is a wealthy man who has loved Emma all her spoiled life. All is not lost by Emmas's interference however.

The interweaving stories all end successfully, and the spoiled but sweet-natured Emma, having learned her lesson, realises she has loved Mr Knightley for as long as she can remember.

The novel concludes to the satisfaction of all.

Answer: The Merchant of Venice

The exact date this play by Shakespeare cannot be determined, but it first appeared between 1596 and 1598. It tells the story of Bassanio, who is currently strapped for cash, and who has fallen in love with Portia, the daughter of a nobleman. To bide him over in the meantime he borrows money from his good friend Antonio, a practice that is normal between the two, and one that is always repaid. Antonio, however, is also short of funds temporarily, and foolishly decides to borrow the money from Shylock, a merchant in Venice. Shylock secretly hates Antonio and makes him agree to the terms that if he cannot repay the full amount of the due date of the loan, Shylock is entitled to a pound of Antonio's flesh. Foolishly, Antonio agrees, and when that time arrives and the funds are indeed unavailable to repay the loan, Shylock demands Antonio's heart - the pound of flesh.

It is only by the quick-witted thinking of Portia and her friend that this wicked plot is foiled. She points out, in her disguise as a lawyer that though Shylock is entitled to a pound of flesh, he is not entitled to any of Antonio's blood to obtain it. And, to borrow from another play by the great Shakespeare, all's well that ends well.

Answer: The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1841, this murder-mystery, classed as the first of its kind, involves the murder of two women in Paris by an unknown assailant. The murderer, at the story's conclusion, turns out to be an escaped orang-utan. It belongs to a sailor and has escaped with its master's razor. Scaling the outside walls of a house in the Rue Morgue, it attempts to shave a terrified woman there in the same manner it had seen has seen its master shave himself.

Her terrified struggles ensure her throat is slit instead.

The blood lust this invokes in the creature sees it killing the woman's daughter as well. All is revealed at the story's conclusion. One darkly amusing aspect to this tale is the testimony of the witnesses who have overheard the sounds coming from the apartment of the victims.

They all disagree as to the language of the unknown murderer.

Answer: The Princess and the Pea

Hans Christian Andersen wrote this children's story in 1835. It tells of the search for the perfect wife for a prince of the land. He is having great difficulty in this search as there is always something failing in all the candidates for this position.

Their individual flaws reveal they are truly not the one perfect princess this picky member of royalty is seeking. Eventually one stormy night, a young woman seeks refuge in the castle, and the prince's mother sends her to sleep on a bed piled high with many mattresses and quilts. Under the very bottom mattress, she places a remarkably resilient pea.

The following morning the young woman is covered in bruises and complains something hard kept digging into her. It is then that the prince and his wily mama realise she is the perfect woman they seek, because only a peerless and pure blooded princess would have skin so tender that a pea would bruise it. So Prince Seinfeld and his beautiful bride live happily ever after.

Answer: Wuthering Heights

Often described as the most passionate love story ever written, this magnificent novel by Emily Bronte was published in 1847. The breath-takingly powerful, but doomed, love between its two main protagonists, Catherine and Heathcliff, is as wild and savage as the landscape in which it is set.

It survives beyond death and into the realm of the supernatural until the two spirits of Healthcliffe and Catherine are re-united at last. Superimposed on the background of this passionate love story runs the dual love story of Catherine's child Cathy and her brutalised cousin Hareton. Yet, where the primary story of Catherine and Heathcliffe moves from a more or less civilised beginning ending towards its savage and supernatural ending, Cathy and Hareton's love eventually moves back from a savage beginning towards a more civilised ending.

Answer: Pinocchio

Written by Carlo Collodi in 1883, this story is that of a lonely woodcarver, Geppetto, who carves a little wooden puppet to keep him company. He names his self-aware puppet Pinocchio, and all that Pinocchio ever wants is to become a real boy. After a series of adventures that befall our little splintered hero, in which his nose grows longer every time he tells a fib, Pinocchio is finally granted his wish by the beautiful blue fairy, and is made a real boy at last.

Answer: Macbeth

Written by Shakespeare between 1603 and 1607, this play features dark supernatural overtones, and the ultimate penalty that is paid when one succumbs to the darker side of his or her nature. Macbeth, the main protagonist, is a fine and brave soldier, but with one fatal flaw: he is overly ambitious. And he has an equally ambitious wife. Together they conspire to murder the king of their land, so that Macbeth can take his place. Given incentive to Macbeth's ambitions is the dark advice he receives from three witches. Only too late he realises that their words, seemingly so clear when first he falls prey to their allure, were clothed in deception. Though succumbing to his one fatal flaw in this engrossing work, Macbeth ultimately reverts to type at the play's conclusion, and dies as brave and valiant a soldier as he began.