| 1. Shakespeare’s plays are set in 12 different countries but not in:
A] Austria
B] Australia
C] Cyprus
D] Turkey | B] Australia
Measure for Measure takes place in Vienna; Cyprus is one of the two settings of Othello. Both The Comedy of Errors and Pericles are set in Ephesus, i.e. modern-day Turkey. |
| 2. If you were to go to Bohemia of The Winter’s Tale, you would discover that:
A] it doesn’t exist.
B] it doesn't have cold winters.
C] it doesn't have a coastline. | C] it doesn't have a coastline.
Bohemia is the largest region of the Czech Republic, next to Moravia and Silesia. The country has no sea. |
| 3. Which of these plays is NOT set in France?
A] All’s Well That Ends Well
B] Love Labour’s Lost
C] Henry V.
D] As You Like It | B] Love Labour’s Lost
Love Labour’s Lost is set in Navarre, i.e. in what is now the Basque country in north-eastern Spain. All the other plays take place in France. |
| 4. Which of these characters is Irish?
A] Macmorris
B] Macduff
C] Fortinbras | A] Macmorris
Macmorris is a fiery Irish soldier in Henry V. Macduff is Scottish, Fortinbras is Norwegian and Shylock is a Venetian Jew. |
| 5. About one third of Shakespeare's plays is set in Italy, mostly in:
A] Venice
B] Verona
C] Rome
D] Messina | C] Rome
The Merchant of Venice and Othello are set in Venice; Romeo and Juliet and The Two Gentlemen of Verona take place in Verona, and the setting of Much Ado About Nothing is Messina. However, all of the following plays happen, or partly happen, in Rome:
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Julius Caesar
Titus Andronicus |
| 6. Where do these famous quotes come from? Match.
[A] “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
[B] “If music be the food of love, play on.”
[C] “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
[D] “Life is a tale told by an idiot.”
[E] “All the world’s a stage.”
[F] “Jealousy […] is the green-eyed monster.”
1. Macbeth 2. As You Like It 3. Sonnet XVIII. 4. Othello 5. Twelfth Night 6. Richard III. | [A] “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
6.Richard III.
[B] “If music be the food of love, play on.”
5. Twelfth Night
[C] “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
3. Sonnet XVIII.
[D] “Life is a tale told by an idiot.”
1. Macbeth
[E] “All the world’s a stage.”
2. As You Like It
[F] “Jealousy […] is the green-eyed monster.”
4. Othello |
| 7. Elizabethans had a thing for death on stage. In Shakespeare’s plays, deaths happen most frequently due to:
A] stabbing
B] poisoning
C] grief
D] execution
E] drowning | A] stabbing
There are about 74 onstage deaths in Shakespeare, about half of which are due to stabbing. |
| 8. Shakespeare’s plays also dramatize various mental health issues, including madness, melancholy, morbid jealousy and senile dementia. Which of the following characters sleepwalks?
A] Hamlet
B] Ofelia
C] King Lear
D] Lady Macbeth | D] Lady Macbeth
In Act 5, scene 1, Lady Macbeth enters sleepwalking, which symbolizes her distress and guilt in the murders of Duncan, his two guards and Banquo. |
| 9. Which of the following words were reportedly invented by Shakespeare?
A] assassination
B] birthplace
C] eyeball
D] zany
E] puke | A] assassination
B] birthplace
C] eyeball
D] zany
E] puke
Experts don’t agree on the exact number but most sources credit William Shakespeare with the invention or introduction of over 1,700 words that are still used in English today. |
| 10. Why did Shakespeare wear hoop earrings?
A] Many men did in his time.
B] It was a sign of his eccentricity.
C] He most probably didn’t; the fact he’s pictured wearing one in the Chandos portrait is an artistic licence. | A] Many men did in his time.
According to many scholars, in Elizabethan England, men wore earrings more often than women. Other sources point out that wearing earrings was customary for poets |
