The Worst Uncles and Guardians Committed to Paper Quiz

Answer: William Shakespeare

Claudius is the uncle of Hamlet in the Shakespeare play with the same name. Claudius had seduced his older brother's wife, Gertrude and had killed him by pouring poison in his ear while he was sleeping, in order to usurp the throne of Denmark for himself. Because of the murder of his father, the king, Prince Hamlet swears that he will not allow Claudius go unpunished, even if his crusade for vengeance costs his own life and the life of everyone he holds dear.

Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson

Ebenezer Balfour figures in Stevenson's "Kidnapped". At first, he managed to cheat his brother out of the family inheritance and subsequently tried to murder his own nephew, David, who is the story's main character. When the murder attempt failed, Ebenezer arranged for his nephew to be abducted and sold into slavery.

However, David and his friend, Alan, with the help of a lawyer, manage to have Ebenezer give his nephew what belonged to him by rights.

Answer: Wilkie Collins

Colonel Herncastle appears in Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone". He is the uncle of Rachel Verinder and the one who acquired the Moonstone while in India, using theft and murder. Later, fearing that the moonstone's sworn guardians will come for him, he gifts it to his niece, so that he can get out of trouble.

Answer: J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Silas Ruthyn figures prominently in Sheridan Le Fanu's "Uncle Silas". He is the uncle of the protagonist Maud Ruthyn, as well as the black sheep of the family, due to his opium and gambling addictions, and it is hinted that he had once murdered a man to whom he owed a large sum of money, though the case had been marked as a suicide.

Answer: Lemony Snicket

Count Olaf is the main antagonist in Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events". He is the closest relative of the Baudelaire orphans after the death of their parents and becomes their guardian. However, he shows interest only in the family property. Throughout the series, Olaf uses a variety of disguises and false names in order to succeed in his constant schemes and it is heavily implied that he was behind the fire that claimed the lives of the Baudelaire children's parents.

Answer: William Faulkner

Jason Compson IV appears in Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury". Jason is the third child of Jason III Compson and, at some point in the story, he is appointed as guardian to his niece, Miss Quentin Compson and systematically embezzles her support payments. Jason is also bitter towards life, due to his monetary debts and sexual frustration.

Answer: Charles Dickens

John Jasper appears in Dickens' "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", last novel of the author, which was never finished. John Jasper is the uncle and guardian of Edwin Drood. It has been widely theorized that he was the murderer, since Dickens had told John Forster :"The story ... was to be that of the murder of a nephew by his uncle" and he had remarked to his illustrator: "I must have the double necktie! It is necessary, for Jasper strangles Edwin Drood with it.", Moreover, Dickens' son said that his father had told him that Jasper was the killer.

Answer: Edgar Rice Burroughs

Prince Peter appears in Burroughs' "The Mad King". Peter had schemed to imprison his nephew and rightful heir to the throne, Leopold, so that he could become Regent for life.
While the name of the fictional kingdom the greatest part of the story is set is fictional, the political situation mirrors that in the Balkans in the years before World War One.

Answer: Jane Austen

Sir Thomas Bertram figures in Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park". While he is not a villainous uncle, he thinks that his own sternness has resulted in his children's dissolute and unhappy lifestyle.

Answer: Sophocles

Creon figures prominently in Sophocles' "Antigone". He is the uncle of the eponymous heroine and has assumed rule of Thebes after the exile of Oedipus and the death of both his sons during a fight for the throne. Creon orders that Polynices, who had allied with the city of Argos against his homeland, should be left unburied and unmourned, something against the divine laws. Antigone decides to bury him and is caught in the act. Creon sentences her to die, enclosed in a dark cave and she commits suicide by hanging herself. Later, Creon's son, Aemon, who had been engaged to marry Antigone, is enraged when he learns about that and attempts to kill his father, barely missing. Aemon then commits suicide. Subsequently, Creon's wife, Eurydice, declares him a murderer and also kills herself.

Heartbroken, the king abandons the city.