Shakespearean Women Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Nurse - "Romeo and Juliet"

The nurse is a humorous character. In an early speech in the play, she admits that she only has four teeth!

Answer: Desdemona - "Othello"

Desdemona is a sweet, innocent, faithful character. She has genuinely fallen in love with the dashing, yet older, Moorish General and secretly married him without her father's knowledge. Othello's insecurity makes him easy prey for Iago, who convinces Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Othello succumbs to "the green-eyed monster" and kills his wife.

As she dies, she even blames herself for her own death.

Answer: Lady MacBeth - "MacBeth"

Although Lady MacBeth sees herself as ruthless and takes charge of the plan to kill King Duncan, her own guilt drives her insane in the end, leading to her suicide. In Act I, she is much more confident than her husband that they can easily kill Duncan in their very own castle, but cracks begin to appear the night of the murder when she can't bring herself to stab the king because he reminds her of her own father.

It is perhaps, then, not surprising that by Act V she is succumbing to her own conscience and goes insane.

Answer: Juliet Capulet - "Romeo and Juliet"

The nurse who knows Juliet well mentions that since the celebration of Lamas-tide is a fortnight and odd days away, she knows that then Juliet will turn 14. The nurse's own daughter, Susan, was born at the same time so she knows her age to the hour. Juliet's mother also tells Juliet that when she was Juliet's age she was already her mother! They began their families very early in the Middle Ages.

Answer: Calpurnia - "Julius Caesar"

Although Caesar loves his wife and wants to make her happy, he does not want to be seen by his people as "giving in" to the whims of a woman. Her warning is, of course, accurate and timely, but he tells her that he "shall go forth" anyway.

The housekeeper in the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" is named after this character.

Answer: Titania - "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Titania is not a mere mortal Queen. In "A Midsummer Night's Dream" she is the Queen of the fairies. She falls in love with a man with a donkey head because her husband, Oberon, had placed a spell on her to fall in love with the first thing she sees and the donkey-headed Nick Bottom is it!

Answer: Ophelia - "Hamlet"

Poor Ophelia! She is treated poorly or ignored by every man in her life - Hamlet her boyfriend, Polonius her father, and Laertes her brother. Just before her watery end, she sings songs as her clothing seems to allow her to float along "mermaid-like". The grave diggers say she drowned herself "wittingly".

Answer: Viola - "Twelfth Night"

These were dangerous times for women, so when a shipwreck tosses Viola onto the shore she feels her best bet is to impersonate a young man rather than be an unaccompanied young woman with no protection. It's easy to see why she is so good at writing love pledges that a woman would want to hear since she is one, herself.

The movie "She's All That" with Amanda Bynes is loosely based on the plot of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night".

Answer: Cordelia - "King Lear"

King Lear intentionally leaves Cordelia until last when he asks his three daughters to describe their love for him. He assumes she will be the most eloquent and profuse in her lavish praise of him. His shock at her refusal to speak at all results in him exiling her.

The premise of the tv series "Succession" has many similarities to the plot of Shakespeare's "King Lear".

Answer: Katherina - "Taming of the Shrew"

Audiences of today, especially women, cheer for strong and independent women on stage and in real life. Katherina is admirable to audiences but exasperating to her father. When her nature changes to suit her husband, many women of today feel betrayed and silenced.

The musical "Kiss me Kate" and the movie "The 10 Things I Hate about you" are both based on the Shakespearean play "The Taming of the Shrew".