"'He cometh not,' she said" Trivia Quiz

Answer: On the island of Naxos

There must be worst places to be left behind than the beautiful Cycladic island of Naxos! Actually, Ariadne's luck was in, because in ancient times this island was the centre of the cult of Dionysus (Bacchus in Roman mythology). As she was sobbing her heart out on the sea shore, Dionysus himself passed in his chariot, caught sight of her and fell in love. He must have managed to console her, for they were later married.

Ariadne, described in the ILIAD as "Ariadne of the lovely tresses", was the daughter of King Minos, who kept a Minotaur in the labyrinth, and required a yearly cargo of seven Athenian maidens and seven youths for its food. Theseus, son of King Aegeus of Athens, persuaded his father to let him be one of the seven. When he arrived in Crete, he captured the heart of Ariadne, who supplied him with a weapon and a ball of string, to get him out of the labyrinth once he had slain the Minotaur.

The desertion of Ariadne on Naxos has been the subject of numerous works of art through the ages, beginning with Greek vases from the sixth century B.C. A famous oil painting by Titian (completed in 1523) shows Bacchus and his revellers arriving in the island while Ariadne is gazing after Theseus's departing ship.

Answer: Mariana

"He cometh not" was Mariana's desolate refrain, while the rest of the poem builds up word by word a picture of her surroundings and the description of every hour of her day, her misery growing throughout the hot quiet afternoon, so that we are almost in the moated grange with Mariana and feel her suffering.

A little-known fact, if it is a fact, about this poem, is that Tennyson was inspired to write it by the speeches of Isabella and the Duke in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure". The Duke is telling Isabella about Angelo dishonourably abandoning a maiden who loved him. Isabella responds, "What a merit it were in death to take this poore maid from the world."
(Source: Walter de la Mare in "Come Hither")

Sabrina is the subject of a lovely poem by John Milton - "Sabrina fair, under the glassy green translucent wave".

"Rosabelle" is a less well-known work by Sir Walter Scott. It is a dirge for the lovely Rosabelle, drowned at sea.

"Christabel" is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge; the name was probably invented by him.

Answer: Dressing for the wedding

"Everything that ought to be white had been white a long time ago, and had lost its lustre and was faded and yellow... the bride had withered like the dress." This is Pip's first impression of Miss Havisham when he is commanded to go to Satis House in order to amuse her.

Pip also notices that Miss Havisham has one shoe on and her veil is half arranged, understandable when he learns from Herbert Pocket the circumstances of the fatal wedding day:

"The marriage day was fixed, the wedding dresses were bought, the wedding tour was planned out, the wedding guests were invited. The day came, but not the bridegroom, he wrote her a letter which she received when she was dressing, at twenty minutes to nine."

Answer: Miss Charity Pecksniff

The book is "Martin Chuzzlewit" in which the sisters Charity and Mercy Pecksniff appear.

Charity finds life unbearable at home after her sister has beaten her to the altar by marrying Jonas Chuzzlewit. She goes to stay with Mrs Todgers, who lets rooms to young gentlemen, and there she firmly attaches herself to Augustus Moddle, although she is aware that Augustus is still besotted with Mercy. Charity practically forces Augustus to propose, taking Mrs Todgers's advice to "Give him some encouragement." She invites everyone she can think of to witness her triumphant wedding day, which makes it all the more humiliating when the groom is found to be on his way to Van Diemen's Land.

The other names belong to equally unattractive, desperate and comic spinsters in Dickens's books. Fanny Squeers and Miss Knag both appear in "Nicholas Nickleby". Fanny is the schoolmaster's daughter, who falls in love with Nicholas, and whose love turns to spiteful hatred when he proves to be uninterested in her. Miss Knag is an ageing spinster who works with Kate Nickleby at Madame Mantalini's, and who is eaten up with envy. Miggs is the Varden family's maid in "Barnaby Rudge", who is jealous of Simon Tappertit's admiration of Dolly Varden.

Answer: Sybil Grey

The anti-hero is Dorian Grey, from Oscar Wilde's only full-length novel, "The Picture of Dorian Grey". He had fallen in love with Sybil when he first saw her at the theatre, and appeared to think of her not as a real person, but as one of Shakespeare's romantic heroines. Not only can Sybil's Vane's suicide be laid to his account, but his friend Basil is horrified by Dorian's callousness when he tells him of the suicide and finds Dorian already knows, but is unmoved.

This is Dorian's first cruel act which results in his portrait developing its first ugly wrinkle, while his own face remains smooth and innocent-looking. From this time onwards, Dorian rapidly sinks into a life of dissipation and immorality.

Answer: Mrs Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell's thrilling story contains tragic family relationships, concealed manslaughter, lovers' misunderstandings, a wrongly accused criminal and a happy ending.

"A Dark Night's Work" was first published in Charles Dickens's magazine, "Household Words", in 1872. In the story Ellinor's fiancé, Ralph, is truly fond of her, but he is also an ambitious young lawyer who wishes to rise in the world. He begins to find Ellinor too provincial and unworldly. Her father has promised to settle a large sum of money on her when they marry, but it is soon obvious that this is not forthcoming. Added to this, Ellinor unwisely hints to Ralph at some secret disgrace that is hanging over her father. It is too much for him; he leaves Ellinor and marries a rich young society beauty. Years later he meets Ellinor again, and in spite of the fact that he is now a successful and prosperous barrister, seems regretful and aware that she really was too good for him.

Ellinor, in her obstinate and almost excessive devotion to her father, is akin to other Victorian heroines such as Little Dorrit, and Agnes in "David Copperfield". The plot in which the heroine must urgently clear someone wrongly accused of murder also has some similarities with Mrs Gaskell's novel "Mary Barton", although with a completely different social background.

Answer: The Vicar of Wakefield

"The Vicar of Wakefield" is the book, written by Oliver Goldsmith and published in 1766.

The vicar of the title, Dr Primrose, has to endure many tribulations during the book, mostly relating to his troublesome family. Olivia Primrose is left penniless and shamed, after she realises that the phony wedding was simply a trick, and the neighbour apparently spends his time seducing girls. Her father rescues her and takes her back into the family, although she feels she has brought deep shame on them and can never hold up her head again.

But the twists of the plot lead to the discovery that the false wedding was actually, unknown to the groom, a real one, and he and Olivia are married, whether he likes it or not.

The various incredible elements of the plot were recognised even in Goldsmith's time as outrageous. Sir Walter Scott, writing in 1821, remarks that some of the characters are "extravagantly unnatural" and regrets that Goldsmith did not take the time to revise the story and remove "certain improbabilities, or rather impossibilities". However, he goes on to say that "'The Vicar of Wakefield' is one of the most delicious morsels of fictitious composition on which the human mind was ever employed."

"Manon Lescaut" (1749) by Abbé Prévost, "Moll Flanders" (1722) by Daniel Defoe, and "Tom Jones" (1749) by Henry Fielding are all examples of the picaresque novel of the eighteenth century, which was an early stage in the development of fiction. Typical devices of the plot include a hero who encounters a new adventure in each chapter, frequent reversals of fortune, coincidences, scheming and deceit and, often, low-life characters. (The word picaresque, I only found out recently, comes from the Spanish word pícaro" meaning a vagabond or rascal.)

Answer: The Buccaneer

The Buccaneer's real name is Philip Bosinney, an architect who meets Irene Forsyte when her husband, Soames, is planning to build a house on the river. Soames is the Man of Property of the title of this book, the first in the John Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga" trilogy. Superior Dossett was the nickname of Soames's grandfather.

The meeting of Philip and Irene, which leads to Philip's death and Irene's separation from her husband, has tragic results not only for those directly involved, but also for the next generation, as related in the next two books of the series, "In Chancery", and "To Let", and in the second trilogy, "A Modern Comedy".

June Forsyte never marries, but opens an art gallery and takes many young struggling artists under her wing, who are called by the family "June's lame ducks".

Answer: A tall, fat successful businessman

In this hilarious account of Mr Pooter's everyday joys and irritations, we have only his views of Lupin's engagement, so we do not know what Daisy's feeling are or why she deserted Lupin for Murray Posh.

The irrepressible Lupin is at first furiously angry and upset but later he forgives the Posh couple and invites them to dinner. This is when his parents meet Murray Posh's sister, Lillie Girl. They are not favourably impressed by her, but on the last page of the book Lupin tells them in a letter: "I am engaged to be married to Lillie Girl...with much love to all from The Same Old Lupin."

Answer: Rose, Simon and Neil

The book is "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith.

Cassandra is the narrator and the main character, who is trying to "capture" the people in her life by means of her diary.

Stuck in the castle, penniless and bored, with no prospects for the future, Rose is determined to find a rich husband. When the American brothers turn up it seems to be her chance. At first both Simon and Neil are attracted to her, and Cassandra is kept busy trying to interpret everyone's feelings and actions, including her own first experience of falling in love.

Topaz, Stephen, Thomas, Aubrey and James are all other characters in the book. Ella, Alec and Eddie are real-life relations of the author, Dodie Smith - Ella was her mother, Eddie was an uncle, and Alec was her husband.