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Quiz about Measure for Measure
Quiz about Measure for Measure

20 Question Literature Quiz: Measure for Measure | Shakespeare


One of the Bard's most unique works is this fascinating look at human frailty. It is classified as a comedy, though things frequently threaten to turn tragic.

A multiple-choice quiz by jouen58. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
jouen58
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
120,373
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
20
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
14 / 20
Plays
1150
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 137 (14/20), Guest 157 (18/20), Guest 110 (15/20).
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Question 1 of 20
1. The title of the play comes from a quotation from what source? Hint


Question 2 of 20
2. In what city does the play take place? Hint


Question 3 of 20
3. This play boasts some unusual character names, such as Mistress Overdone, a clown with the unlikely name of Pompey, and a constable named after this body part. Hint


Question 4 of 20
4. The play begins with the Duke, Vincentio, leaving his deputy in charge of the city in his absence. Where does the Duke say he is going? Hint


Question 5 of 20
5. In reality, the duke intends to remain in town incognito in order to observe how Angelo handles the job. Why? Hint


Question 6 of 20
6. What disguise does Duke Vincentio adopt? Hint


Question 7 of 20
7. One of Angelo's first acts is to sentence a young man named Claudio to death. What was Claudio's crime? Hint


Question 8 of 20
8. Claudio's sister Isabella is about to enter a convent belonging to which religious order? Hint


Question 9 of 20
9. Ironically, Isabella's great friend, who brings her word of Claudio's arrest and condemnation, is Lucio, a character whose ribald tongue rivals Mercutio. Lucio later utters one of the great Shakespearean insults when he says of Angelo that "...it is certain that when he makes water, his urine is..." what? Hint


Question 10 of 20
10. When Isabella goes to Angelo to plead for her brother's life what, to Angelo's great surprise, happens? Hint


Question 11 of 20
11. At their second interview, Isabella is horrified when, in exchange for her brother's life, Angelo asks her to do this. Hint


Question 12 of 20
12. A desperate Isabella turns for advice to her confessor, Friar Lodowick (the disguised Duke). He introduces her to Mariana, Angelo's repudiated fiancee. What does Mariana offer to do for Isabella? Hint


Question 13 of 20
13. Angelo had renounced his betrothal to Marianna, citing some question that he had heard about her virtue. What does the Duke believe to have been the real reason Angelo renounced Marianna? Hint


Question 14 of 20
14. Mariana, still hopelessly in love with the man so who heartlessly rejected her, is one of the most poigant characters in Shakespeare. What nineteenth-century English poet was moved to write a poem about her? Hint


Question 15 of 20
15. After the supposed tryst with Isabella has taken place, Angelo goes back on his word and gives the order for Claudio's execution, requiring that Claudio's head be brought to him as assurance. Vincentio tells the jailer to bring Angelo the head of another prisoner, resembling Claudio, who has died that morning. What is this prisoner's name? Hint


Question 16 of 20
16. Yes or no- does the Duke tell Isabella about the business of the switched heads?


Question 17 of 20
17. True or False- Angelo feels no qualms of conscience about his (supposed) seduction and betrayal of Isabella.


Question 18 of 20
18. In the final scene of the play, Angelo is exposed by Isabella, Mariana, and the now undisguised Duke. Angelo begs the Duke to have him put to death as punishment for his gross misuse of power. Does the Duke fulfill his request?


Question 19 of 20
19. In this final scene, Vincentio, whilst disguised as Friar Lodowick, is roundly abused by Lucio, who is much chagrined when he discovers his true identity. How does Vincentio punish Lucio? Hint


Question 20 of 20
20. At the play's conclusion, Vincentio, who has fallen in love with Isabella, asks her to marry him (she has not yet taken her vows). How does she respond? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Today : Guest 137: 14/20
Mar 21 2024 : Guest 157: 18/20
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Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The title of the play comes from a quotation from what source?

Answer: The Gospels

"With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." (Matthew VII.2; there are similar quotes in Mark and Luke). Meaning those who show mercy shall receive mercy.
2. In what city does the play take place?

Answer: Vienna

Unusual; Shakespeare usually seems to prefer Italian or English settings for his plays.
3. This play boasts some unusual character names, such as Mistress Overdone, a clown with the unlikely name of Pompey, and a constable named after this body part.

Answer: Elbow

He is described as "a simple constable", rather like Dogberry of "Much Ado About Nothing."
4. The play begins with the Duke, Vincentio, leaving his deputy in charge of the city in his absence. Where does the Duke say he is going?

Answer: Poland

"...he {Angelo) supposes me travell'd to Poland; for so I have strew'd it in the common ear and so is it receiv'd."
5. In reality, the duke intends to remain in town incognito in order to observe how Angelo handles the job. Why?

Answer: Angelo's moral standards have never been tested by reality.

The duke respects Angelo's fastidious and well-honed moral code, but knows that Angelo's principles have never been tested by human passion or the temptations that come with temporal power. He fears that Angelo, left to his own devices, will adopt a Draconian stance towards the city's laws. And he is right!
6. What disguise does Duke Vincentio adopt?

Answer: A friar

As he tells his friend, Friar Thomas "My holy sir, none better knows than you how I have always lov'd the life removed"
7. One of Angelo's first acts is to sentence a young man named Claudio to death. What was Claudio's crime?

Answer: Lechery

Claudio has slept with Juliet, to whom he is married by mutual agreement. Such marriages, before proper witnesses, were recognized in Shakespeare's England as valid. However they could not be consummated without a religious ceremony. The legal punishment for this is death- a law which heretofore was never enforced.
8. Claudio's sister Isabella is about to enter a convent belonging to which religious order?

Answer: St. Clare

The order of St. Clare was one of the most severe of all female religious orders; however, when we first meet Isabella she is complaining about the insufficient strictness of the order!
9. Ironically, Isabella's great friend, who brings her word of Claudio's arrest and condemnation, is Lucio, a character whose ribald tongue rivals Mercutio. Lucio later utters one of the great Shakespearean insults when he says of Angelo that "...it is certain that when he makes water, his urine is..." what?

Answer: congeal'd ice.

He also opines that Angelo "was begot between two stock-fishes". One of Shakespeare's funniest characters.
10. When Isabella goes to Angelo to plead for her brother's life what, to Angelo's great surprise, happens?

Answer: He falls in love (or at least in lust) with her.

It was inevitable that when these two uptight characters met, something like this would happen to one of them.
11. At their second interview, Isabella is horrified when, in exchange for her brother's life, Angelo asks her to do this.

Answer: Sleep with him.

"Redeem thy brother by yielding up thy body to my will."
12. A desperate Isabella turns for advice to her confessor, Friar Lodowick (the disguised Duke). He introduces her to Mariana, Angelo's repudiated fiancee. What does Mariana offer to do for Isabella?

Answer: Take Isabella's place in her tryst with Angelo.

Isabella agrees to Angelo's demand, on the condition that their tryst will take place at night in complete darkness. Mariana will thus take Isabella's place in Angelo's bed.
13. Angelo had renounced his betrothal to Marianna, citing some question that he had heard about her virtue. What does the Duke believe to have been the real reason Angelo renounced Marianna?

Answer: She had lost her dowry.

Poor Mariana's brother perished at sea shortly before her marriage was to have taken place. In the shipwreck, the chest with her dowry was also lost. Angelo, not wanting to marry a dowerless bride, cited some statements that he had heard made in jest about her virtue and renounced his engagement; thus she lost a brother, her dowry, and her husband all at once.
14. Mariana, still hopelessly in love with the man so who heartlessly rejected her, is one of the most poigant characters in Shakespeare. What nineteenth-century English poet was moved to write a poem about her?

Answer: Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Tennyson's poem, subtitled "Mariana in the Moated Grange", memorably depicts her state of desolation after Angelo's abandonment ("She cried 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead'"). The poem begins with the line "With blackest moss the flower pots were thickly crusted, one and all" which, you may remember, is the line Henry Higgins has poor Eliza Doolittle try to recite with a mouthful of marbles in "My Fair Lady".
15. After the supposed tryst with Isabella has taken place, Angelo goes back on his word and gives the order for Claudio's execution, requiring that Claudio's head be brought to him as assurance. Vincentio tells the jailer to bring Angelo the head of another prisoner, resembling Claudio, who has died that morning. What is this prisoner's name?

Answer: Ragozine

Ragozine is described as "..a most notorious pirate, a man of Claudio's years; his beard and head just of his color."
16. Yes or no- does the Duke tell Isabella about the business of the switched heads?

Answer: No

The duke tells Isabella that her brother has been executed as per Angelo's order, prompting Isabella to denounce Angelo publicly along with Mariana.
17. True or False- Angelo feels no qualms of conscience about his (supposed) seduction and betrayal of Isabella.

Answer: False

In his speech in act IV, scene 6, a demoralised Angelo voices his anguish over his actions and explains that he would have let Claudio live, but for fear that the rash youth would have sought to avenge his sister's honor. He ends by crying "Would he had liv'd! Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, nothing goes right! We would and we would not." (Similar to Macbeth's "I am in blood stepp'd in so far" quote.)
18. In the final scene of the play, Angelo is exposed by Isabella, Mariana, and the now undisguised Duke. Angelo begs the Duke to have him put to death as punishment for his gross misuse of power. Does the Duke fulfill his request?

Answer: No

Vincentio seems about to grant Angelo's request. In one of the most moving moments in Shakespeare, Mariana appeals to Isabella to join her in pleading for Angelo's life. Isabella (not yet knowing that Claudio is still alive) does join her, whereupon Vincentio reveals the ruse and produces Claudio. Vincentio, feeling that this experience has reformed Angelo, entreats him to love Mariana.
19. In this final scene, Vincentio, whilst disguised as Friar Lodowick, is roundly abused by Lucio, who is much chagrined when he discovers his true identity. How does Vincentio punish Lucio?

Answer: Requires him to marry a whore.

Vicentio at first threatens to have Lucio whipped, then hanged. In the end, he forgives Lucio's slanders, but orders him to marry any "punk" (whore) who could be found whom Lucio had gotten with child. Lucio complains "marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging." Vicentio replies "Slandering a prince deserves it."
20. At the play's conclusion, Vincentio, who has fallen in love with Isabella, asks her to marry him (she has not yet taken her vows). How does she respond?

Answer: She does not reply.

The play ends without Isabella having given a response, however in most productions it seems clear that she accepts Vincentio's proposal.
Source: Author jouen58

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Bruyere before going online.
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