Peter & Harriet: "Gaudy Night" Pt. 1 - People Quiz | Literature

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. As the head of Shrewsbury College, my proper title is "Warden".

Answer: Dr. Margaret Baring

Though "warden" sounds as if Dr. Baring is running some sort of prison, in fact, that is her correct title as the senior administrator of the College. Sayers writes: "Dr. Margaret Baring wore her scarlet and French grey with an air. She was a magnificent figure-head on all public occasions, and she could soothe with tact the wounded breasts of crusty and affronted male dons." -from "Gaudy Night"

2. I'm the Dean of Shrewsbury, doing my best to keep the students in order.

Answer: Miss Letitia Martin

Harriet is fond of Dean Martin who is an efficient, energetic, kindly woman, with a good sense of humor and a talent for supervising the students without being a tyrant.

3. I am the History tutor. I have a negative attitude toward men in general, but was very attracted to Lord Peter when he came to Shrewsbury.

Answer: Miss Hillyard

Miss Hillyard has a rather sour disposition and a sharp tongue, and comes across as perpetually annoyed. She is opposed to the College's decision to ask for Harriet's help, believing that Harriet's past history reflects badly on the College. Despite her general antipathy toward men, whomshe believes do not show sufficient respect for academic women (or any women), she unexpectedly takes a strong liking to Lord Peter (one might even call it a "crush").

As a result, her disapproval of Harriet is further exacerbated by jealousy.

4. I fell head over heels in love with Harriet not long after I met her, but she turned down my marriage proposal.

Answer: Reggie Pomfret

Reggie is a second year student at Queens College. He first encounters Harriet while he is attempting to assist an intoxicated Shrewsbury student to get back into the college after hours by climbing a wall. He becomes instantly infatuated, and soon proposes marriage.

The idea is absurd, and yet... "She was surprised to find how much Mr. Pomfret's simple-minded proposal had elated her. She ought to have been thoroughly ashamed of herself. She ought to be blaming herself for not having seen what was happening to Mr. Pomfret and taken steps to stop it. Why hadn't she? Simply, she supposed, because the possibility of such a thing had never occurred to her.

She had taken it for granted that she could never again attract any man's fancy, except the eccentric fancy of Peter Wimsey. And to him she was, of course, only the creature of his making and the mirror of his own magnanimity. Reggie Pomfret's devotion, though ridiculous, was at least single-minded; he was no King Cophetua; she had not to be humbly obliged to him for kindly taking notice of her. And that reflection, after all, was pleasurable." -- From "Gaudy Night," by Dorothy L. Sayers

5. I was discharged from my post at Shrewsbury for stealing packages and taking bribes from students.

Answer: Jukes

Jukes is a thoroughly bad lot. While he was the porter at Shrewsbury, he pilfered packages, accepted bribes from students who came in after hours, and even after he was fired, was found to have stolen items from the rooms of undergraduates at other colleges.

He also attempts to blackmail Harriet and Reggie Pomfret over the incident where he was helping a Shrewsbury student, Miss Cattermole, climb the outer wall. She was deeply intoxicated, had stayed at a party too long, and had missed curfew. Harriet nipped his blackmail attempt in the bud, however, much to Reggie's admiration.

6. Before I took the job as the porter at Shrewsbury, I worked in the camel house at the zoo, and once served in the army under Major Wimsey.

Answer: Padgett

Padgett is quite the opposite of his predecessor, Jukes. He looks, as Harriet says to Miss Lydgate, "a monument of integrity." He is indeed reliable, trustworthy, and loyal to the College, looking after all the ladies with care. He is gratified to discover that Lord Peter remembers him from their army days when Padgett was a corporal. And of course Peter remembers, because Padgett was one of the soldiers who dug him out of a collapsed bunker and saved his life.

7. I'm one of the dons at Shrewsbury. The College poltergeist stole the manuscript for my new book on English Prosody and destroyed it.

Answer: Miss Lydgate

Miss Lydgate is a delightful character and a calm presence in the Senior Common Room. Dorothy Sayers describes her: "To the innocent and candid eyes of that great scholar, no moral problem seemed ever to present itself. Of a scrupulous personal integrity, she embraced the irregularities of other people in a wide, unquestioning charity.

As any student of literature must, she knew all the sins of the world by name, but it was doubtful whether she recognized them when she met them in real life." --from "Gaudy Night"

8. My father thinks I'm too wild and spend too much money. I do tend to get into scrapes, but my Uncle Peter usually helps me get out of them.

Answer: Viscount St. George

Part way through our story, we encounter a member of Lord Peter's family whom we haven't met since he was a small boy visiting his uncle during a school holiday (see the short story entitled, "The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head"). Now he's a student at Oxford, very "high spirited" and perhaps rather reckless. Jerry meets Harriet quite by accident, running into her (literally) and knocking all her packages to the ground.

His voice, manner of speaking, general appearance, and most especially his graceful hands, are so much like Peter's she guesses he must be a Wimsey. Harriet befriends young Jerry after he is injured in a motor accident, and later in the story, he does contribute to the solution of the mystery.

9. I'm one of the scouts and wait on the Senior Common Room. I should not have to be in service, but my poor husband lost his university position and shot himself.

Answer: Annie Wilson

Poor Annie (real name Charlotte Anne Robinson) cherished a deadly grudge against the person she holds responsible for her husband's suicide. Helen de Vine was on the examining body that reviewed Arthur Robinson's thesis, and was the person who detected a serious error which turned out to be intentional misrepresentation.

This being a grave offence in the academic world, he was stripped of his degree and his teaching position. He took to drink and eventually shot himself, leaving Annie and their two daughters on their own. Thus Annie went into domestic service and took a post at Shrewsbury when she discovered that Miss de Vine would be joining the College. Annie's hatred of Miss de Vine extends itself to all academic women whom she believes are taking jobs away from men who have families to support.

In fact, she has become quite deranged on the subject.

10. I'm the new Research Fellow at Shrewsbury. I received an anonymous threat when I first arrived here, but then other people started getting them, too.

Answer: Helen de Vine

Sayers writes of Harriet's initial thoughts upon meeting Miss de Vine at the Gaudy: "The thin, eager face, with its large grey eyes deeply set and luminous behind thick glasses, was sensitive to impressions; but behind that sensitiveness was a mind as hard and immovable as granite.

As the Head of a woman's college she must, thought Harriet, have had a distasteful task; for she looked as though the word "compromise" had been omitted from her vocabulary; and all statesmanship is compromise. She would not be likely to tolerate any waverings of purpose or woolliness of judgment. If anything came between her and the service of truth, she would walk over it without rancour and without pity-even if it were her own reputation." -from "Gaudy Night."

Source: Author RevLauren

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Questions		Choices
1. As the head of Shrewsbury College, my proper title is "Warden".		Reggie Pomfret
2. I'm the Dean of Shrewsbury, doing my best to keep the students in order.		Miss Letitia Martin
3. I am the History tutor. I have a negative attitude toward men in general, but was very attracted to Lord Peter when he came to Shrewsbury.		Helen de Vine
4. I fell head over heels in love with Harriet not long after I met her, but she turned down my marriage proposal.		Annie Wilson
5. I was discharged from my post at Shrewsbury for stealing packages and taking bribes from students.		Miss Hillyard
6. Before I took the job as the porter at Shrewsbury, I worked in the camel house at the zoo, and once served in the army under Major Wimsey.		Miss Lydgate
7. I'm one of the dons at Shrewsbury. The College poltergeist stole the manuscript for my new book on English Prosody and destroyed it.		Jukes
8. My father thinks I'm too wild and spend too much money. I do tend to get into scrapes, but my Uncle Peter usually helps me get out of them.		Viscount St. George
9. I'm one of the scouts and wait on the Senior Common Room. I should not have to be in service, but my poor husband lost his university position and shot himself.		Dr. Margaret Baring
10. I'm the new Research Fellow at Shrewsbury. I received an anonymous threat when I first arrived here, but then other people started getting them, too.		Padgett

Peter & Harriet: "Gaudy Night" Pt. 1 - People Quiz

The plot of "Gaudy Night" unfolds primarily in the grounds of the fictional Shrewsbury College of Oxford University. There is a large cast of characters. See if you can match these characters with their roles.