What's Love Got to Do With It Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Mayor of Casterbridge (Thomas Hardy)

Most of Thomas Hardy's novels deal with unhappy marriages and troubled family relationships - not surprisingly, as the author was very critical of the institution of marriage, one of the mainstays of Victorian society. The story of Michael Henchard in "The Mayor of Casterbridge" (1886) is a case in point. Described as a "man of character" in the novel's subtitle, in the 21 years that follow his ill-advised auctioning of his wife and child Henchard swears off alcohol and climbs the social ranks. However, his youthful mistake comes back to haunt him, eventually leading to his financial ruin and lonely death.

The early chapters of the book offer a cautionary tale against marrying too young, before reaching full maturity. There is little love between Michael and Susan, his unfortunate wife, who is seen by him as a burden; his lack of feelings also extends to their baby daughter. Even when later he tries to put his life back on track, he remains a tragically flawed hero who is not only self-destructive, but also responsible for ruining a number of other lives.

Answer: The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Few literary marriages are as dysfunctional as Tom and Daisy Buchanan's in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (1925). The spoiled scions of wealthy Midwestern families living in fashionable Long Island, this apparently happy, good-looking couple have nothing in common but their hedonistic lifestyle and a young daughter. Their affairs with other people - Daisy's with Gatsby, and Tom's with equally unhappy working-class wife Myrtle - end in tragedy for both of their partners. Daisy and Tom remain together, bound by their daughter and Daisy's dependence on her husband for social and economic status - a trophy wife despite her apparently emancipated "flapper" persona.

Jay Gatsby's ultimately destructive idealization of his love for Daisy, in spite of her shallow, self-centred nature, is based on a real occurrence in author F. Scott Fitzgerald's life - his romance with Ginevra King, who, like Daisy, was a young debutante forcibly separated from the young writer-to-be (who came from a much poorer family) by her wealthy parents. Later, the young woman married a wealthy businessman and avid polo player, on whom Fitzgerald - who loved her until his death - modeled the character of the rather brutish Tom Buchanan.

Answer: Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)

In Daphne Du Maurier's Gothic novel "Rebecca" (1938), the titular character haunts her husband's second marriage after her death in a sailing accident - mainly through the machinations of the de Winter family's sinister housekeeper, Mrs Danvers. The unnamed narrator, the second Mrs de Winter, grapples with feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt stoked by the housekeeper, eventually isolating herself from society, and nearly attempting suicide - until a providential occurrence reveals the ugly truth behind Rebecca's faēade of perfection and marital devotion.

In writing "Rebecca", du Maurier was inspired by events in her own life, in particular the jealousy she felt towards her husband's previous fianceé, a glamorous beauty (who eventually committed suicide) she suspected her husband had not forgotten. Critics have also remarked about the resemblance of some aspects of the plot with Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre", which also features a doomed marriage between two incompatible individuals.

Answer: Look Back in Anger (John Osborne)

Based on the playwright's own unhappy experience, "Look Back in Anger" (1956) brought success to John Osborne, and helped create a new trend for harsh realism in English theatre. The main characters, Jimmy Porter - an intelligent, educated young man from a working-class background - and his wife Alison, the daughter of an upper-class military family, are modeled on Osborne himself and his first wife, Pamela Lane. Osborne and Lane eventually divorced in 1957.

Confined in a cramped attic, where they live in poverty in spite of their education, Jimmy and Alison live in a constant state of tension, which often culminates in Jimmy berating his wife for what he perceives as cowardice, making her a scapegoat of the contempt and resentment he feels against her family and all they stand for. Alison ends up leaving Jimmy, who takes up with Alison's friend, Helena. The play ends with a reconciliation of sorts between Alison and Jimmy after she loses the baby she was expecting.

With its strong emphasis on domestic abuse, as well as infidelity and class conflict, "Look Back in Anger" is not easy to watch or read. It does, however, reflect the mood of post-WWII Britain, with the simmering anger and disillusionment of the younger generation that led to Osborne and other authors being nicknamed "angry young men".

Answer: The Winter's Tale (William Shakespeare)

Most people would associate the theme of marital jealousy in William Shakespeare's work with the tragedy "Othello". However, the character of Leontes, King of Sicily, in "The Winter's Tale" (1623) also makes a likely candidate for a psychological study on the destructive effects of jealousy. Though his wife, the virtuous Queen Hermione, is luckier than Desdemona in that she eventually survives, she is nevertheless put through the wringer. Believing her to have been unfaithful to him with his childhood friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia, Leontes has her thrown in prison, and her newborn daughter taken away from her to be abandoned in a wasteland. Devastated by these events, the couple's son, Mamillius, dies of a wasting sickness - which causes Hermione's apparent death.

Even though the play's last two acts are full of comic incidents, and the story eventually ends happily for most of the characters, 16 years pass before Leontes, Hermione and their daughter can be reunited, and the death of innocent prince Mamillius contributes a note of lingering sadness to the development of the plot. For these reasons, "The Winter's Tale" - once classified as one of Shakespeare's comedies - is now grouped with his other "problem plays"

Dysfunctional couples and domestic abuse appear in other Shakespearean plays, such as "The Taming of the Shrew" and "All's Well That Ends Well" (the latter also classified as one of the "problem plays").

Answer: Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)

Together with Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" (1878), "Madame Bovary" (1856) is probably the best-known 19th-century literary work dealing with the devastating consequences of adultery. Put on trial for obscenity after its first release in serial form, "Madame Bovary" is now viewed not only as Flaubert's masterpiece, but as one of the undisputed classics of literature. It does, however, make for harrowing reading even in our more cynical times. Young, beautiful Emma mistakes life for the romance novels she enthusiastically devours, and neither her middle-aged husband Charles's devotion nor the birth of their daughter assuage her restlessness. Her affairs with two worthless men and her descent into debt lead to an inevitable, tragic conclusion. Emma's downfall and death are described in unflinching detail by the author; her husband and innocent daughter's lives are also ruined in the aftermath.

Like many other literary masterpieces, "Madame Bovary" was inspired by a real-life incident, the suicide of the daughter of a rich landowner, who had married a former student of Flaubert's father. The author was encouraged to adopt a realistic, objective style in his novel, in contrast with the fantastic content of his previous work, "The Temptation of St. Anthony".

Answer: Moll Flanders (Daniel Defoe)

Often described as a picaresque novel, Daniel Defoe's "Moll Flanders" (1722) may read like a seemingly endless series of dysfunctional family relationships - marital and otherwise. In spite of that, the somewhat bawdy story of this tough survivor contains a message of female empowerment, which leads to a happy ending of sorts for Moll and her fourth husband, the true love of her life.

Among various occurrences of seduction, adultery, bigamy, and child neglect - as well as Moll's numerous illegal money-making schemes - a particular episode may prove even more disturbing to modern readers: Molly's marriage to her half-brother, which produces three children. Unlike other stories that involve incest, there is no tragedy attached to the revelation of the couple's close kinship, as Molly simply dissolves the marriage and goes looking for another husband.

"Moll Flanders" is at least partly based on the life of a true person, a London criminal named Moll King whom Defoe met while visiting the notorious Newgate Prison (where Moll Flanders' life begins). Defoe's last novel, "Roxana, or the Fortunate Mistress" (1724), unfolds along similar lines, though without the final religious conversion. Not surprisingly, "Moll Flanders" was banned in the US in the late 19th century because of its scandalous content (though it would be rather tame for our modern standards).

Answer: Middlemarch (George Eliot)

Marriage - both successful and disastrous - is one of the main themes in George Eliot's novel "Middlemarch" (1871-1872). The account of the highly frustrating marriage of Dorothea Brooke and Reverend Edward Casaubon is one of the novel's four plots. The union stems from a gifted young woman's desire to find a role in life that goes beyond that of a mere wife - only to find bitter disappointment. Casaubon, far from viewing Dorothea as an intellectual equal, treats her with coldness and near contempt, and tries to ruin her chances at finding happiness through his mean-spirited will.

The marriage of idealistic doctor Tertius Lydgate and beautiful, shallow Rosamond Vincy is almost a mirror image of Dorothea and Casaubon's - though in this case it is the man whose aspirations are frustrated by an unwise union. However, while Dorothea - in spite of her husband's attempts at controlling her life even after his demise - finds happiness at the end of the novel, Lydgate dies at the age of 50, after having attained the financial and social status his wife craved, but not his personal fulfillment. In contrast with these two couples' struggles, the relationship between Fred Vincy, Rosamund's brother, and Mary Garth provides a sympathetic depiction of courtship and marriage.

Answer: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Tennessee Williams)

Many people will be familiar with Elizabeth Taylor's unforgettable portrayal of Maggie "the Cat" Pollitt, the protagonist of Tennessee Williams' play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955). Maggie and Brick's tempestuous marriage is set against the larger backdrop of the Pollitts' dysfunctional family, entangled in a web of lies and power struggles that come to a head during a birthday celebration for Big Daddy, the family's doomed patriarch. Maggie's relationship with Brick is undermined by her husband's own personal struggles with alcoholism, and the remorse for the suicide of his close friend Skipper, who had confessed his attraction to Brick and been rejected by him. The play ends with a tentative reconciliation between the pair, who finally resume their marital relations after Maggie takes away liquor from Brick and vows to make the "lie" about her pregnancy come true.

The play illustrates how the hypocrisy inherent to societal norms - especially when status and wealth are privileged over genuine family relationships - can do almost irreparable damage. Brick's disgust with the lies by which he is surrounded - as well as with himself - turns self-destructive, threatening his relationship with his wife and his father.

Answer: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Anne Brontė)

Like her older sisters, Charlotte and Emily, Anne Brontė put the plight of women caught in troubled relationships at the centre of her oeuvre. While in "Agnes Grey" (1847), based on her own experiences as a governess, the unhappy marriage does not involve the heroine, but one of her former charges, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (1848) deals with a young woman who tries to make a life for herself as an artist after leaving her abusive husband - who is not only unfaithful to her, but tries to debauch their son.

Like Emily Brontė's "Wuthering Heights", the novel has an idiosyncratic timeline: the story is mostly narrated through a series of letters exchanged 20 years later by Gilbert Markham and Jack Halford, his brother-in-law. The second part consists of an account of Helen Graham's marriage to Arthur Huntingdon and its disintegration, as told in the diary she gives to Gilbert. Arthur's moral and physical decline, due to alcoholism and other vices cultivated in his aristocratic milieu, parallels some of the events in the life of the Brontė sisters' only brother, Branwell, also a writer and artist, who died at the age of 31 of the effects of his addictions. The character of Helen, on the other hand, was probably inspired by Annabella Milbanke, the wife of Lord Byron, who - like Helen - believed that reforming her husband's wicked ways was her religious duty.