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Henry IV Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Henry IV Quizzes, Trivia

Henry IV Trivia

Henry IV Trivia Quizzes

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There was too much material for a single play, so we have Parts 1 and 2, forming the middle two plays in the tetralogy of history plays that began with "Richard II" and finished with "Henry V". Part 1 covers the events between 1402 and 1403, and we meet Hotspur, Prince Hal, and the memorable Falstaff. In Part 2 Falstaff is again featured, along with more comic figures, while Prince Hal has rejected his old lifestyle as he matures towards becoming king.
2 Henry IV quizzes and 40 Henry IV trivia questions.
1.
  King Henry IV, Part II   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
Henry IV, Part II includes some of the most memorable characters in literature, including Falstaff. It is the third play in a tetralogy that tells the stories of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V.
Average, 15 Qns, nannywoo, Mar 08 14
Average
nannywoo gold member
471 plays
2.
  Henry IV, Part 1    
Multiple Choice
 25 Qns
I was shocked to find that there were no quizzes on this play, one of my very favorites. Just some general stuff about the play. Enjoy!
Tough, 25 Qns, cheeseboy10000, Mar 08 14
Tough
cheeseboy10000
871 plays
trivia question Quick Question
What does Falstaff, in act 2, scene 4, complain about there being in his sack (a kind of wine)?

From Quiz "Henry IV, Part 1"




Related Topics
  Henry II [People] (3 quizzes)

  Henry III [People] (2 quizzes)

  Henry V [Literature] (3 quizzes)

  Henry VI [Literature] (3 quizzes)

  Henry VII [People] (2 quizzes)

  Henry VIII [People] (11 quizzes)

  Henry VIII, Wives of [People] (28 quizzes)


Henry IV Trivia Questions
1. What personification of an abstract social phenomenon enters "painted full of tongues" to open William Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part II"?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: Rumor

The whole play is characterized by rumor, gossip, self-deceit, dishonesty, betrayal, false reputation, inaccurate memory, and other misinformation and misunderstanding. "Rumor" seeks to revise history at the beginning of "Henry IV, Part II" so that the results of the Battle of Shrewsbury (depicted in "Henry IV, Part I") seem the opposite of what has happened.

2. Who are the three characters with the most lines?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Falstaff, Hotspur, Prince Hal

King Henry has the fourth-most lines, Worcester has the fifth-most, Poins is one of Hal's drinking buddies, and Northumberland is a bit part, only appearing in one scene.

3. In the opening scene of "Henry IV, Part II" the Earl of Northumberland learns that his son, Harry Hotspur, has been killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury. What is the family name of Northumberland and Hotspur?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: Percy

Both Northumberland and Hotspur are named Henry Percy. (Prince Hal, soon to be Henry V, is called Harry of Monmouth and is the Prince of Wales. The Mortimer family, from the Welsh border, aren't in this play.) The Percys were a powerful family in the north of England from the arrival of William de Percy from France in the retinue of William the Conqueror in 1067. The distraught father in the play, the first Earl of Northumberland (1341-1408), puns on his son's nickname as he asks, "Said he young Harry Percy's spur was cold? Of Hotspur, Coldspur? That rebellion has met ill luck?" (1.1.48-50). The failure of the rebellion may be Northumberland's fault, since he has faked illness and failed to lead his troops into the battle. (He hides out in Scotland during this play.) Another Henry Percy, the ninth Earl of Northumberland (called the "Wizard Earl" because of his scientific knowledge), was the head of this wealthy, influential family at the time Shakespeare's plays were written and was considered so dangerous to the crown that James I sent him to the Tower of London for 17 years after a member of the Percy family was involved in the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.

4. How many characters are involved in swordfights?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Six

The six are Douglas, Blunt, King Henry, Prince Hal, Hotspur, and Falstaff (though he doesn't fight much).

5. Two women share a meal with Sir John Falstaff the evening before he is supposed to go off to war. Mistress Quickly is one of them. Who is the other (in the words of Prince Hal) "honest, virtuous, civil gentlewoman"?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: Doll Tearsheet

Doll Tearsheet is introduced to the audience when she enters with Mistress Quickly in Act 2, scene 4, but it is obvious that Falstaff knows her well. Hal is being ironic when he calls Doll "honest, virtuous, [and] civil": she is just the opposite. The implication is that Mistress Quickly (identified throughout the play as "Hostess") procures the services of Doll, a prostitute, for the use of her patrons at the tavern. The other three names are mentioned in passing, but the women do not appear in the play. There is a great deal of bawdy talk in this scene, in which Prince Hal and Ned Poins eavesdrop on Falstaff, "disguised as drawers" who are serving the drinks. The most honest statement of the play might be Falstaff's words to Doll as they are kissing: "I am old, I am old" (2.4.269). Poins asks as he and Prince Hal voyeuristically view the scene, "Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?" (2.4.259-60).

6. How does Hotspur die?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Killed in battle by Prince Hal

Hotspur and Hal are sort of set against each other the whole play, so it's kind of fitting. If you picked "Brutally betrayed", I laugh at you.

7. What is Hotspur's last name?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Percy

He is one of four Percys in the play, the other three being his wife, father, and uncle. They are Lady Percy, Northumberland, and Worcester, respectively.

8. Which "drawer" (tavern waiter) do Prince Hal and Poins make fun of in act II, scene iv?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Francis

Tom and Dick were other drawers Prince Hal mentioned. Harry I just made up.

9. How many characters named Henry are in the play?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Four

King Henry and Prince Hal, obviously. Also, Northumberland and Hotspur are both named Henry Percy.

10. In "Henry IV, Part II" the king hopes to go on a crusade to the Holy Land after his domestic wars in England and on the borders have ended, because a prophecy has declared that he will die in Jerusalem. Does the prophecy come to pass?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: Yes. "Jerusalem" is the name of the chamber where he dies of his illness.

Puns such as this one are important in Shakespeare's plays, as readers might recall from "Macbeth" in particular. It is the belief of Henry IV that bringing his subjects together in a war outside of England would be beneficial to the nation, and this is one reason behind his desire to go on a Crusade to Jerusalem. His son, Henry V, achieves this unity, leading his "band of brothers" into battle in the war with France that we will see in the following play.

11. Which tavern bum said this? "Come, shelter, shelter: I have removed Falstaff's horse, and he frets like a gummed velvet."

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Poins

Poins is Prince Hal's best friend, with whom he often plays jokes on other tavern folk.

12. After King Henry IV dies and Prince Hal is crowned as King Henry V, who does the new king promise, "You shall be as a father to my youth."?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: The Lord Chief Justice

Given their past relationship, one might expect Sir John Falstaff to be the adoptive father of young King Henry V, as he seemed to be when the king was still called Prince Hal. However, the king needs the counsel of men who have true integrity, and the Lord Chief Justice has shown himself to be such a man. The new king hopes that the older man will still be around to correct his own sons. Furthermore, Henry V needs to mend his reputation so that it will "flow henceforth in formal majesty" (5.2.133), and he cannot do this without rejecting his wild past.

13. Whom does the Earl of Douglas kill?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Sir Walter Blunt

He nearly kills King Henry, before being fought off by Prince Hal. Soon after, it appears that he has killed Falstaff; of course, Falstaff is merely playing dead.

14. What is Mortimer's first name?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Edmund

He is Glendower's son-in-law and one of the chief rebels.

15. When Falstaff calls out to his old friend Prince Hal, now King Henry V, "God save thee, my sweet boy!" what is the new king's reply?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: "I know thee not, old man."

The incorrect responses are quotations from "Henry IV, Part II" but are spoken by other characters. Although the audience must understand by now that Falstaff can never be trusted with power, the young king's cruel rejection of the old man who is calling out his love is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in all of literature, especially when we recall that Prince Hal claimed to have been using Falstaff for his own purposes all along. The newly-crowned Henry V warns Falstaff, "Presume not that I am the thing I was" (5.5.56). King Henry V declares what amounts to a restraining order against Falstaff's approaching him closer than ten miles but also provides financial support for the old man. Falstaff thinks he will be called for in private, but he is arrested and sent to Fleet prison instead.

16. Finish the quote from act 3, scene 1: Lady Percy: "Now God help thee!" What does Hotspur say?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: "To the Welsh lady's bed."

It's Hotspur, making a bawdy joke about how he'd rather sleep with Lady Mortimer than hear her sing. Lucky for him Mortimer doesn't notice...

17. At the end of "Henry IV, Part II" Prince John of Lancaster thinks that his brother, the newly-crowned Henry V, will be leading Englishmen into battle in France soon. What is his evidence of this?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: He "heard a bird so sing."

In the last speech of a real character before the "Epilogue" of the play, Prince John essentially says that a little bird told him there would be war: "Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the King" (5.5.109). The line sets the scene for the next (and last) play of Shakespeare's tetralogy - "Henry V" - which will begin with images of war and climax with the dramatic Battle of Agincourt in France. Two of the incorrect responses are made up, while the quotation by "Rumor" appears in the "Induction" at the beginning of the play.

18. What does Prince Hal say Falstaff's ring is made of?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Copper

Falstaff insists that it's very valuable, but it's really copper.

19. What disclaimer does Shakespeare (or someone) add to the "Epilogue" of "Henry IV, Part II" - the second of three plays in which Falstaff appears - to appease the angry family members of a historical person?

From Quiz King Henry IV, Part II

Answer: "Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man."

Sir John Falstaff was originally named Sir John Oldcastle. It is a mystery why William Shakespeare chose this name of a revered Lollard martyr for a character who is Oldcastle's antithesis, unless he was baiting the Puritans. The name "Falstaff" is more fitting, with its bawdy possibilities. Two of the incorrect responses are my inventions, but "Ascribe it to the fault of my ignorance..." is from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Retraction" at the end of "The Canterbury Tales" - an apology which was probably written during the reign of Henry IV, just before Chaucer's death in 1400. Shakespeare was writing the plays of the "Henriad" almost 200 years later. The majority of those who attended Shakespeare's plays couldn't get enough of Falstaff, and Shakespeare promises in the "Epilogue" to include him in another play. This doesn't happen in "Henry V" - where we learn from other characters that Falstaff has died - but he makes his return in a "prequel" comedy with no connection to the history plays - "The Merry Wives of Windsor" - supposedly at the request of Queen Elizabeth I, who was so delighted with Falstaff she wanted to see him in love: itself a story probably too good to be true.

20. Who has the longest speech in the play?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: King Henry

It's 62 lines long, and he's not talking to himself! That's like monologuing for three minutes and expecting a response. Hal gives a speech back that's about 20-some lines shorter, but that's still pretty long!

21. Hotspur says what? "O gentlemen, the time of life is short! To spend that shortness basely were too _____"

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Long

He's making an antithesis, which is a fancy literary word for "opposite."

22. How many of Prince Hal's brothers appear in this play?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: One

John of Lancaster is the only one in this play. However, in part 2, Thomas of Clarence and Humphrey of Gloucester also appear.

23. How do you spell Owen Glendower's first name in Welsh?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Owain

He was, in real life, a great rebel leader who was captured only once, but broke free that time.

24. What is commonly believed to be Sir John Falstaff's original name?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Sir John Oldcastle

Falstaff is widely considered the greatest comedic character in all of literature.

25. Why did Shakespeare change the original character's name to Sir John Falstaff?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: The relatives of the original got angry

John Oldcastle died a martyr, and the controversy was so strong that Shakespeare actually put a disclaimer in the epilogue of "Henry IV, Part 2"!

26. Which rebel greatly admires Hal?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Vernon

Vernon brings bad news to the rebels pretty much every time he appears.

27. How was Douglas captured?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: He fell down a hill

I really hope you didn't pick magical sleep. "PRINCE. The noble Scot, Lord Douglas, when he saw The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him, The noble Percy slain, and all his men Upon the foot of fear, fled with the rest; And, falling from a hill, he was so bruised That the pursuers took him. At my tent The Douglas is."

28. Who has a red face and is constantly teased for it?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Bardolph

Bardolph doesn't seem to mind, though. He just insults Falstaff's paunch right back.

29. What does Falstaff, in act 2, scene 4, complain about there being in his sack (a kind of wine)?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Lime

"Yet a coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime in it, a villainous coward."

30. Who says that he can "call spirits from the vasty deep"?

From Quiz Henry IV, Part 1

Answer: Glendower & Owen Glendower

Hotspur replies: "Well, so can I, or so can any man, but do they come when you do call for them?"

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