Much Ado About Muffins Trivia Quiz

Answer: Romeo and Juliet

The plot of "Romeo and Juliet" revolves around the title characters, and their forbidden love for one and other. Despite a bitter feud which has separated their families for a very long time, Romeo and Juliet find that they are hopelessly in love. Married by Friar Lawrence, who hopes that their union will eventually end the feud, they pledge to keep their love and marriage a secret, at least until they feel the time is right to tell their families.

However Tybalt has other plans, having been offended by Romeo's presence at the Capulet Ball.

He challenges Romeo to a duel, which the latter refuses, as unbeknown to Tybalt, Romeo is now related to him through marriage. As a result, Mercutio, Romeo's best friend steps in, and is slain by Tybalt, who is an expert sword fighter. Horrified at the death of his friend, Romeo vows to avenge it, and murders Tybalt, before fleeing to Friar Lawrence's cell.

In his absence he is banished from Verona, and thus from his Juliet. However Friar Lawrence, as always, has a plan to help the lovers out, and insists that Romeo should flee to the neighbouring Mantua, (after first spending his wedding night with Juliet). Lord Capulet, however, has other ideas, and orders Juliet to marry the Count Paris, something she is adamant she will not go through with.

This is the very reason she agrees to take the potion offered by Friar Lawrence, which will make her appear dead. In the meantime, the Friar sends a letter to Romeo, explaining his plans for Juliet. Unfortunately for all involved, the letter never arrives, and thus Romeo really does believe that Juliet is dead. Desperate to join her, he purchases poison before going straight to her side, killing Paris in the process. Moments before Juliet awakes, Romeo commits suicide, horrifying Friar Lawrence who has come straight to Juliet, having discovered that Romeo never received his letter. When Juliet awakes she is inconsolable, and she too commits suicide, in order to be with her Romeo. Thus the play ends with a hefty body count, which brings an end to the feud. We also discover that Lady Montague is also dead, from what is thought to be a broken heart.

Answer: The Tempest

The plot of "The Tempest" revolves around the plight of Prospero, who is the rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda, who reside on an island in the middle of the sea, where they have lived for twelve years, after being deposed by Prospero's jealous brother, Antonio. An inhuman-looking creature named Caliban is a servant of Prospero's, a punishment inflicted upon him after he once attempted to rape Miranda.

A sprite named Ariel also obeys the former Duke of Milan, who has honed his magical skills of illusion in the years he and his daughter have been on the island.

Therefore when a ship carrying the usurping Antonio lands on the island, following a powerful tempest, it is part of Prospero's master plan. Indeed through trickery and illusion, Prospero forces his brother to reveal his awful deeds, and the end result is that Prospero and his daughter, (who has now fallen in love with Ferdinand, the Prince of Naples), are both returned home to Milan, where Miranda and Ferdinand will be married.

Answer: Macbeth

The plot of "Macbeth" revolves around the title character's lust for power, and with the encouragement of his formidable wife, Lady Macbeth, and the prophecies of the three witches, he commits regicide, killing King Duncan, so that he himself may become king. Along the way, he also has one of his closest friends, Banquo, killed, and also attempts to kill his son, though Fleance does escape.

He orders the murder of Macduff, but in his absence, his wife and son are killed instead. Just as Macduff and Malcom, Duncan's eldest son, make their way to fight Macbeth, the latter's wife commits suicide, unable it seems to live with what she has had a hand in bringing about. Thus Macbeth sinks deeper into despair, and is eventually killed by Macduff, which restores order to Scotland.

Answer: Hamlet

The plot of "Hamlet" revolves around Prince Hamlet's attempts to avenge the death of his father, who was murdered by his own brother, Hamlet's uncle, Claudius. Moreover within a month of Old Hamlet's death, Claudius is married to his widow, Gertrude, much to Hamlet's disbelief and disgust.

Indeed much of the play focuses on Hamlet's disturbed psyche, and his inner turmoil, as he tries to figure out what to do. Unfortunately for Hamlet, he is surrounded by corrupt individuals, and it seems that his only true friend is his comrade, Horatio. During the course of the play, a great number of people die, including Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes and finally, Hamlet himself.

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

The plot of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" revolves around the marriage celebrations of the Duke of Athens and the Queen of the Amazons. However one of its subplots focuses on the plight of Hermia, whose father insists that she marry Demetrius, despite the fact that she is in love with Lysander, who also loves her. Meanwhile Helena loves Demetrius, but he, at least initially, does not love her back.

The king of the fairies is also key to the events of the play, as it is he who orders Puck, (also known as Robin Goodfellow), to splash his estranged queen, Titania, with a magical love potion, in an attempt to shame her into giving him the Indian changeling they are arguing over.

He also orders Puck to splash Demetrius with the same love potion, after witnessing him being cruel to Helena. Puck does as he is told, and in due course Titania falls in love with one of the players responsible for re-enacting the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe.

However as the mischievous Puck had previously changed the man's head into that of a donkey, Titania falls in love with a man that is half man, half beast. Meanwhile things go horribly wrong elsewhere, as it is revealed that Puck splashed Lysander instead of Demetrius. Eager to remedy this, Puck also splashes Demetrius with the love potion, which results in Helena being followed by both men. Matters eventually come to a head when Demetrius and Lysander decide to duel in order to prove which one of them loves Helena the most, but are, at the very last moment, prevented from doing so by Puck, who reverses all of his spells. Thus Hermia and Lysander are reunited, and Demetrius finally realises that he does indeed love Helena. Thus the two couples are married in the end, and the changeling is taken by Oberon, who took advantage of the time his estranged wife spent with Bottom.

Answer: Titus Andronicus

The plot of "Titus Andronicus" revolves around the vicious circle of revenge sustained by the title character and the Queen of the Goths, Tamora. Having captured the latter, along with her three sons and secret lover, Aaron the Moor, Titus kills her oldest son, Alarbus, to avenge the death of his own sons, whom he lost in battle against the Goths. Vowing revenge, Tamora and her remaining sons, Demetrius and Chiron, set out to hurt Titus, and things begin to work in their favour once the Emperor of Rome renounces the Andronicus family.

The Emperor then marries Tamora, who convinces him to pardon Titus and his family, with the aim of furthering her own plans of revenge. A short while later, Titus' daughter Lavinia is raped by Tamora's sons, who also kill her fiancé, and cut off her tongue and hands in order to prevent her from communicating the names of her attackers. Aaaron then frames two of Titus' remaining sons for the murder of Bassianus' (Lavinia's fiancé), and convinces him to cut off his hand in order to save them.

This does not work however, and Titus' sons are executed and their heads are sent home to their father. Everything goes downhill from here, and Lavinia is killed by her father in order to save her the shame of having to live with the knowledge that she was raped. However shortly before this she manages to reveal the names of her attackers, by writing them in the dirt, while holding a stick in her mouth and guiding it with her arms. What follows is truly shocking, as Titus exacts his ultimate revenge on Tamora by feeding her two sons to her in a pie, before then killing her. Titus himself is then slaughtered by the son of the late Emperor of Rome, who is, in turn, killed by Titus' only remaining son, Lucius. Thus the play ends with Lucius being crowned the Emperor of Rome.

Answer: Much Ado About Nothing

The plot of "Much Ado About Nothing" revolves around two very different pairs of lovers: Beatrice and Benedick and Hero and Claudio. While the latter couple are shy and sweet, the former engage in plenty of verbal banter, starting off as old adversaries, and it is indicated that they have had a prior relationship. Both Benedick and Beatrice swear they will not get married, but both are eventually tricked by the Prince of Aragon, Don Pedro, into falling in love with each other. Claudio and Hero however, do not fare so well initially, due to the meddling of Don John, who casts aspersions on Hero's character, thus leading to her being publically humiliated on her wedding day.

In order to extract the truth, Hero fakes her own death, which then leads to a public duel, and finally the revelation that Hero is in fact innocent, following the capture and confession of the followers of Don John.

A mortified Claudio then pledges to marry another of Hero's cousins, and is delighted when Hero reveals herself at this second wedding.

The play ends with both sets of lovers married, while the villain Don John has also been captured.

Answer: Twelfth Night

The plot of "Twelfth Night" revolves around the newly shipwrecked Viola, who believes that her twin brother, Sebastian, is dead. Fearing for her future, Viola disguises herself as a man, and is employed by Duke Orsino, whom she soon falls in love with. Meanwhile he, who believes Viola is a man named Cesario, is attempting to woo a woman named Olivia, who has no interest in him.

However Olivia is fooled by Viola's disguise, and falls for the man she thinks of as Cesario. Meanwhile Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, eventually finds his way to Illyria, and stumbles across Olivia, who mistakes him for the disguised Viola.

This case of mistaken identity ends in the pair marrying secretly. Finally, when brother and sister are present in the same room, Viola's secret is finally revealed, and she does eventually marry Duke Orsino.

Answer: The Merchant of Venice

The plot of "The Merchant of Venice" revolves around the borrowing of money, and the subsequent consequences of not honouring the terms of its repayment. Antonio, who is the Christian merchant mentioned in the play's title, borrows money from a Jewish moneylender named Shylock, who initially refuses the loan, on account of Antonio's hatred of Shylock's faith, and his habit of lending "out money gratis", which brings "the rate of usance" down.

However when Shylock stipulates his conditions, which are that should Antonio fail to pay the money back on time, Shylock shall have the right to cut off "an equal pound" of Antonio's flesh as payment, the latter agrees. Three months later, when Antonio's ships are lost and he is unable to pay his debt to Shylock, the latter takes the former to court to demand his pound of flesh, even refusing the money Bassanio, (the man who Antonio gave the money to originally), offers him, which is nearly twice as much as the original loan. Shylock is hell bent on receiving his revenge, and just as he is about to receive it, Portia, Bassanio's wife, points out that the bond allows for "no jot of blood" to be spilled, as the terms ask expressly for a "pound of flesh". Thus Shylock is prevented from obtaining his grisly revenge, though his misfortunes do not stop there, due to a little known law that Portia reveals to the court. Referring to Shylock as an "alien", Portia reveals that his attempts to "seek the life" of Antonio will result in the "party 'gainst" which he "doth contrive" seizing "one half of his goods", while the other half goes to the "coffer of the state". Finally, Shylock's life is left to the mercy of the Duke of Venice, who does spare him. Yet Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity, and also to "record a gift" of all "he dies possess'd" unto his turncoat daughter, Jessica, and her beloved, the Christian Lorenzo.

Answer: Othello

"Othello" is one of William Shakespeare's tragedies, which revolves around the title character, a Moor named Othello, who, having secretly married the daughter of a Senator, sets a chain of events in motion, which results in him killing his wife, and subsequently committing suicide.

Indeed from the moment that Othello marries Desdemona, he is doomed, as his ensign, (and supposed friend), Iago, sets out to destroy him. Iago is incensed that Othello has chosen to promote another, less-experienced man (Cassio) above him, and vows to get his revenge. What follows is a host of manipulated occurrences, orchestrated by Iago, which serve to undermine Othello's trust in his wife.

Moreover the result is catastrophic, as Othello eventually believes Desdemona to be unfaithful, (which is not true), and he kills her in a fit of anger.

When Othello finally realises that his wife is completely innocent, he kills himself with his own sword.