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Title Characters Trivia Quiz

A literary work is often named after its main character. Some titles are descriptions of characters, not names. For example, in John Fowles' novel, Sarah Woodruff is "The French Lieutenant's Woman." How many of these title characters can you identify?

A multiple-choice quiz by TabbyTom. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
TabbyTom

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
167,833

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
7881

Awards
Editor's Choice

Last 3 plays: Guest 147 (8/10), Guest 101 (6/10), chianti59 (7/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. In a novel by Alexandre Dumas the elder, who are Athos, Porthos and Aramis? Hint

The Men of Good Will

The Toilers of the Sea

Les Mis�rables

The Three Musketeers

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Question 2 of 10

2. In a sixteenth-century English play, who is Barabas? Hint

The Alchemist

The Jew of Malta

The Knight of the Burning Pestle

The Woman-Hater

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Question 3 of 10

3. What is the name of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice"? Hint

Bassanio

Shylock

Antonio

Lancelot Gobbo

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Question 4 of 10

4. In an eighteenth-century English novel, who is Dr Charles Primrose? Hint

The Unfortunate Traveller

The Orphan of China

The Pilgrim

The Vicar of Wakefield

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Question 5 of 10

5. In a novel by Anthony Trollope, who is Septimus Harding? Hint

The American Senator

The Warden

The Prime Minister

Ayala's Angel

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Question 6 of 10

6. In a novel by D. H. Lawrence, who is Oliver Mellors? Hint

The Man Who Died

The Trespasser

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Kangaroo

7. Dorothy L. Sayers is best known as a writer of detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, but in 1941 she wrote a series of radio plays about Jesus. What was it called? Hint

Man of Nazareth

The Man Born to be King

The Son of Man

King of Kings

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Question 8 of 10

8. Robert Bolt wrote a historical play called "A Man for All Seasons," which was made into a film directed by Fred Zinnemann. Who was the subject of the play? Hint

Benjamin Disraeli

King Charles II

Sir Thomas More

Giacomo Casanova

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Question 9 of 10

9. In a novel by Kingsley Amis, who is James Dixon? Hint

Lucky Jim

The Green Man

Colonel Sun

One Fat Englishman

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Question 10 of 10

10. The last novel of Anthony Burgess, published in 1993, is called "A Dead Man in Deptford." Who is its central character, to whom the title refers? Hint

Christopher Marlowe

Samuel Pepys

John Evelyn

Jack the Ripper

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Most Recent Scores

Oct 25 2024 : Guest 147: 8/10
Oct 23 2024 : Guest 101: 6/10
Oct 18 2024 : chianti59: 7/10
Oct 15 2024 : JepRD: 9/10
Oct 14 2024 : xxFruitcakexx: 8/10
Oct 06 2024 : Taltarzac: 7/10
Oct 05 2024 : Guest 212: 6/10
Oct 04 2024 : wjames: 10/10
Oct 02 2024 : Guest 136: 4/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In a novel by Alexandre Dumas the elder, who are Athos, Porthos and Aramis?

Answer: The Three Musketeers

The other three choices are not by Dumas at all. The novel had two sequels ("Twenty Years After" and "The Vicomte de Bragelonne") and has been the basis for films starring just about every swashbuckler from Douglas Fairbanks to Oliver Reed (though, strangely, I can't trace a portrayal by Errol Flynn).

2. In a sixteenth-century English play, who is Barabas?

Answer: The Jew of Malta

The play is by Christopher Marlowe, and was performed about 1592 but not published until 1633. The prologue to the play is spoken by "Machiavel," and Barabas is something of a prototype for the "Machiavellian" villains of later Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Barabas' praise of gold and jewels as "Infinite riches in a little room" is often quoted.

3. What is the name of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice"?

Answer: Antonio

Antonio is the merchant: Bassanio is his friend who wants to marry the wealthy Portia. Shylock is the moneylender from whom Antonio borrows three thousand ducats to help his friend, pledging a pound of his own flesh as security. Gobbo is Shylock's clownish servant.

4. In an eighteenth-century English novel, who is Dr Charles Primrose?

Answer: The Vicar of Wakefield

Described by the author, Oliver Goldsmith, as "simple in affluence and majestic in adversity," Dr Primrose is a modern Job who endures the loss of his fortune, the seduction of his daughter, a spell in a debtors' prison and a vicious assault on his son; but of course all comes right in the end.

Some turning-points of the story are marked by some of Goldsmith's best-known poems, including "Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog" ("The dog it was that died") and "When lovely woman stoops to folly."

5. In a novel by Anthony Trollope, who is Septimus Harding?

Answer: The Warden

The novel, in which the Warden of a charitable almshouse is criticized in the press for seemingly using the endowment for his own comfort rather than that of the inmates, was based on a real-life scandal involving the ancient Hospital of Saint Cross at Winchester.

6. In a novel by D. H. Lawrence, who is Oliver Mellors?

Answer: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Originally printed privately in Florence in 1928, the novel was banned for three decades or more in much of the English-speaking world, not so much for its subject as for its "four-letter" vocabulary. In England, Penguin Books published an unexpurgated edition in 1960: they were prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act and acquitted.

7. Dorothy L. Sayers is best known as a writer of detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, but in 1941 she wrote a series of radio plays about Jesus. What was it called?

Answer: The Man Born to be King

Although Ms Sayers was a practising Christian and the daughter of a clergyman, the prospect of her plays caused consternation and outrage among many listeners. Jesus had not been portrayed in a drama since the medieval mystery plays, and Ms Sayers made him speak twentieth-century English rather than the hallowed phrases of the King James Bible.

As usual in such cases, the loudest criticism seems to have come from people who knew little or nothing of the work: once it was broadcast, most listeners seem to have enjoyed it.

8. Robert Bolt wrote a historical play called "A Man for All Seasons," which was made into a film directed by Fred Zinnemann. Who was the subject of the play?

Answer: Sir Thomas More

This is probably Bolt's most performed work. Other historical plays by him include "Vivat, Vivat Regina," concerning Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, and "State of Revolution," about the problems faced by the Bolsheviks after their seizure of power in Russia.

9. In a novel by Kingsley Amis, who is James Dixon?

Answer: Lucky Jim

No, the question wasn't a catch, though all four choices are works by Amis. "Lucky Jim" was Amis's first novel, published in 1954, and immediately established him as a leading comic writer.

10. The last novel of Anthony Burgess, published in 1993, is called "A Dead Man in Deptford." Who is its central character, to whom the title refers?

Answer: Christopher Marlowe

Marlowe was killed in Deptford in 1593, apparently in an argument over a tavern bill. Burgess's novel marked the quatercentenary of his death, which has given rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories over the centuries.

Source: Author TabbyTom

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