Shakespeare's 'Non-Historical' Queens Quiz

Answer: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'The Two Noble Kinsmen'

Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons is a character from Greek mythology who was the daughter of Ares, the God of War. The stories of that mythology vary quite a bit, but some state that she met Theseus, the Duke of Athens, when he accompanied Heracles on his ninth labour - which involved gaining possession of the magic girdle that had been given to Hippolyta by her father. She then fell in love with him and the couple returned to Athens to be married (other versions suggest that Theseus kidnapped her).

In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta provided the backdrop to the major events of the play. Key characters turned up as wedding guests (the King and Queen of the Fairies), others arrived to petition the duke (Egeus, the father of Hermia) and some simply intended to provide the entertainment (the "mechanicals"). 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' is partially set in Athens, where Theseus and Hippolyta are already married and are the rulers of the city. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' dates to around 1595 while 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' was probably written nearly 20 years later.

Answer: Titania

The name of the Queen of the Fairies in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' was Titania. Cobweb, Mustardseed, Peasblossom (and Moth) were fairies who were Titania's servants. The plot of the play revolved around an attempt by Oberon, the King of the Fairies, to trick Titania into giving up her ward so that he could become Oberon's page.

He enlisted a magical sprite to create a love potion that caused the dosed person to fall in love with the first creature (human or otherwise) that they saw upon waking up.

While Oberon's intention was to make Titania embarrass herself by falling in love with a forest animal, Puck also managed to interfere in the love lives of two other couples before he succeeded in making Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom (while his head had been turned into that of a donkey).

Answer: She was accidentally poisoned by her husband

Queen Gertrude was the wife of both King Hamlet of Denmark (the titular Hamlet's father) and his younger brother King Claudius. As one of Shakespeare's 'Tragedies' (and the full title of the play is actually 'The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark') it shouldn't be surprising that Queen Gertrude's fate - along with that of most of the play's characters - was a distinctly unhappy one. Her second husband had murdered his brother in order to gain the throne and had then married his sister-in-law within weeks of that crime. Gertrude was left to witness her son's descent into insanity and, during an attempt to help him during a fight, she ended up drinking from a cup that Claudius had prepared for Hamlet. The only problem was that Claudius was trying to kill Hamlet and the cup was full of poison - all he had succeeded in doing was killing his wife instead.

There was a real-life medieval Queen Gertrude of Denmark, but she was the wife of King Canute VI and didn't have any children.

Answer: Mark Antony

Although the title characters of 'Antony and Cleopatra' were based on real historical people, the play is often considered to be one of Shakespeare's tragedies rather a history play - mainly because the two titular characters end up dead by the end of it.

Despite Antony and Cleopatra apparently being madly in love with each other, their relationship in 'Antony and Cleopatra' was characterised by jealousy, fighting and betrayal. Cleopatra became enraged when she discovered that Antony had married Octavia, the sister of one of his fellow triumvirs of Rome, and Antony was left angry and ashamed when Cleopatra and her fleet of sixty ships abandoned his forces at the Battle of Actium. When Antony's forces eventually deserted him, he placed the blame squarely on his lover and declared her a "foul Egyptian". Cleopatra then set in motion the chain of events that led to both of them committing suicide - him with a sword and her, famously, with an asp.

Answer: Sleepwalking

Lady Macbeth was the driving force behind her husband's murderous ambitions to become King of Scotland. However, once the deed had been done she appeared to experience crippling guilt and remorse, which eventually led to the scene where a sleepwalking Lady Macbeth attempted to scrub imaginary blood from her hands - presumably the memory of the blood of King Duncan that she had smeared over his drugged attendants with the aim of incriminating them. The scene was witnessed by a doctor and one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting; the doctor stated that she was in more need of "divine" help than his medicines and declared her a suicide risk. Her death was announced to both Macbeth and the audience at Dunsinane Castle in Act V Scene V.

Despite the fact that Macbeth may never have committed murder if it hadn't been for the encouragement of his wife, she had little to do with his subsequent decisions to kill Duncan's guards, his friend Banquo, or Lady Macduff and her family.

Answer: The Goths

Tamora, Queen of the Goths was the unfortunate woman who had been captured by the Roman forces before the events of 'Titus Andronicus', and it was her desire for revenge against the titular character that sparked many of the violent deaths that then ensued. Tamora's feelings towards Titus seemed somewhat justified since he hadn't just captured and imprisoned her, but had also ordered the execution of her eldest son. During her failed plot to avenge her son, Titus killed Tamora's two other sons, turned their bodies into a pie and fed it to their unsuspecting mother. Titus then killed Tamora; Saturninus, the Emperor of Rome and Tamora's new husband, killed Titus; and Lucius, Titus's son, killed Saturninus.

The Goths were a Germanic people who controlled a large portion of western Europe - particularly after the successful sack of Rome in 410 AD by the Visigoths (the other main branch of the Gothic people were known as the Ostragoths).

Answer: Cymbeline

The woman in question, who was simply referred to as "Queen", was the wife of Cymbeline, King of Britain. The play was set during the time of the Roman Empire and borrowed the name of a real ancient king of Britain recorded in the 'Historium Regae Britanniae' by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century. That chronicle mentioned a King Cunobeline who probably ruled from about 10 AD to 40 AD, but otherwise bears little resemblance to the somewhat comedic play produced by Shakespeare.

In 'Cymbeline' the title character had placed all his hopes of a royal heir on his daughter Imogen (also referred to as Innogen), since his two sons had been kidnapped as infants and his second Queen had not born him any further children. However, his Queen was secretly plotting to place her son Cloten on the throne instead, by having both Cymbeline and Imogen killed. Her plan was foiled, though - firstly, by the fact that Imogen had fled after secretly marrying one of her father's courtiers and, secondly, when Cloten was killed in a sword fight while searching for her. In addition to these setbacks it turned out that the 'poison' she had obtained from Cymbeline's doctor was actually just a simple sleeping draught.

Answer: Cordelia

At the start of 'King Lear', the eponymous character decided to split up his kingdom between his three daughters - Goneril, Regan and Cordelia - on the condition that they publicly declared how much they loved him. Goneril and Regan both made flowery but insincere speeches and earned their share of the country, but Cordelia - who truly loved him - refused to pander to his vanity and simply stated that "I love your majesty according to my bond; nor more nor less". Lear swiftly both disinherited and disowned her. Cordelia's honest nature recommended her to the King of France and he married her despite her loss of fortune and position.

After Goneril and Regan had stripped their father of all power and left him cast out and destitute, loyal Cordelia returned to England at the head of a French army and attempted to save him. However, they were both captured and Cordelia was killed, while Lear died soon afterwards of a broken heart.

Answer: The Two Noble Kinsmen

The three unnamed queens appeared at the start of 'The Two Noble Kinsmen', when they visited Athens to seek the help of Theseus, Duke of Athens in the defeat of Creon of Thebes - who had murdered their husbands. They were dressed in black to symbolise their mourning and gave several speeches detailing their grievances against Creon, which also included his refusal to return their husbands' bodies or allow them to hold a funeral. Although the queens were simply referred to in the script as "1 Queen, 2 Queen and 3 Queen", one of their dead husbands was identified as a King Capaneus. In Greek mythology, Capaneus was an immensely strong warrior who attempted to scale the walls of Thebes and was killed by Zeus.

'The Two Noble Kinsmen' has been the subject of much academic debate over its provenance and authorship as it was not included in Shakespeare's 'First Folio'. Subsequent analysis has suggested that John Fletcher probably wrote the prologue, the majority of Acts II, III and IV and the epilogue, while Shakespeare was likely to have been responsible for most of Acts I and V.

Answer: Hermione

In 'The Winter's Tale', King Leontes of Sicilia wrongly accused his wife, Queen Hermione, of having an affair with his best friend, King Polixenes of Bohemia. He also became convinced that his and Hermione's new-born daughter, Perdita, had been fathered by Polixenes and banished the baby from his kingdom. At Hermione's trial, a message from the Oracle at Delphos declared that Hermione was "chaste", Polixenes was "blameless" and that Leontes was a "jealous tyrant". It went on to add that "the king shall live without an heir" if baby Perdita wasn't found and returned. A stubborn Leontes refused to believe the Oracle and immediately a servant arrived to announce the death of Leontes and Hermione's only son and Hermione collapsed - also apparently dead.

Many years later, Perdita - who had grown up believing herself to be a shepherd's daughter - met and fell in love with Prince Florizel, the son of King Polixenes. Eventually her true identity was discovered and the return of the lost princess to Sicilia heralded another surprise - on a visit to see a statue of the late Queen Hermione, the 'statue' came to life and a repentant Leontes was reunited with both his wife and daughter.