Schnitzler's "La Ronde" Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Whore

The Whore begins the play with The Soldier end finishes the play with The Count. The play's title, which in English means "The Round", refers to the way characters interact with each other - one starts with another, and the following scene is the second person with a third, then the third with a fourth, and so on until we come full circle, back to The Whore, who is like the bookend.

Answer: One daughter

The Husband reminds his wife, "Remember, my child, you're a mother - our little girl is sleeping in there."

The Husband and The Young Wife serve as the typical "perfect" family. Hardworking husband, naive little housewife, home, and child. This play being set in the 1890s, that was what was expected of everyone. These two characters provide an insight into the imperfections of that cookie-cutter life, from a sensual compatibility standpoint.

Answer: A castle in India

The Poet declares, "Let's enter our Indian castle", and The Little Miss asks if he really loves her.

In this scene and the one following it, The Poet imagines things like this aloud to his lovers. Sadly for him, and so like the stereotypical poet, everyone fails to understand him and his daydreams. The Little Miss doesn't follow his fantasies, as she takes everything literally, and The Actress dismisses them, telling The Poet he's talking "like an idiot."

Answer: Alfred

The Young Gentleman is Alfred, The Husband is Karl, The Poet is Robert, and The Soldier is Franz.

Answer: Cavalleria Rusticana

The Little Miss tells The Poet she saw "Cavelleria Rusticana" with her girl friend's uncle and her girl friend. "Zanetto", "L'amico Fritz", and "Le Maschere" have something in common with "Cavalleria Rusticana" - all four were composed by Pietro Mascagni.

Answer: His chambermaid

The Count's chambermaid enters The Count's room after The Whore leaves at the play's close, and is the only person to appear outside of the play's ten members of the "round" referred to in the title.

Answer: Her sister

The Young Gentleman insists, "You can see your sister any time." He and the other male characters each show a certain masculine insistence. However, all ten characters, male or female, express the play's theme with their sexual vulnerability.

Answer: The Husband

At the top of scene five, The Husband comes to his wife, unable to work anymore because he's been longing for her. That spousal affection is quickly contrasted by his speech about the two of them needing periods of time to forget they're in love, supposedly in order to fall in love all over again.

Answer: A picture of The Blessed Virgin

When The Actress kneels and prays, The Poet asks "You believe in God?", to which The Actress replies, "What do you think I am - an anarchist?"
This is one of the rare "laugh lines" in the play - but they do exist, even in such a deep piece. This infrequent but existent humor brings more believable life to Schnitzler's characters. In the case of The Husband's teasing manner when talking with The Little Miss, the small flecks of humor contrast behavior with a spouse versus behavior with a paramour.

Answer: Nineteen

The Little Miss tells The Husband that she's nineteen, and then guesses that he's thirty, to which he says, "And... a little more... Don't let's talk of it."
These are the two interacting characters who have the largest age gap, and so they are the two who most blatantly expose the play's theme of equating lust and sexuality with a false love in order to feel secure about the lust.

Answer: Marie

The Parlor Maid is Marie. The Young Wife is Emma. The Whore calls herself Leocadia. The Soldier mistakenly calls The Parlor Maid Kathi, which is also the name of one of The Little Miss's sisters, as she mentions to The Husband later in the play.

Answer: Venice

The Young Wife reminds her husband of Venice, and says "Tonight... you love me like that."

The couple agree that not all couples can remember their Venice after five years, a notion that brings their scene to a close. In the true spirit of the play, they are under the illusion that their sudden lust for each other that night means that their marriage is solid.

Answer: Fritz

The Actress mentions Fritz and then tells The Poet, "I worshiped that man."
Despite her current rendezvous with The Poet, The Actress brings up Fritz quite frequently in conversation, when she's not praying or teasing her newfound lover.

Answer: Hello Again

Michael John LaChiusa's musical "Hello Again" was based on "La Ronde" and debuted in 1994 off-Broadway.

Frank Loesser's "The Most Happy Fella" was based on the Sidney Howard play "They Knew What They Wanted", Jonathan Larson's "Rent" came from the Puccini opera "La Boheme", and the Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler musical "A Little Night Music" used the Ingmar Bergman film "Smiles of a Summer Night" as its source material.

Answer: Whore, Soldier, Parlor Maid, Young Gentleman, Young Wife, Husband, Little Miss, Poet, Actress, Count

Ten characters is a lot to keep track of!