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Shakespeare Characters Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Shakespeare Characters Quizzes, Trivia

Shakespeare Characters Trivia

Shakespeare Characters Trivia Quizzes

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These quizzes present characters from multiple plays in the Shakespearean canon, some major, some minor, all memorable.
25 Shakespeare Characters quizzes and 260 Shakespeare Characters trivia questions.
1.
  Shakespearean Loons   top quiz  
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Madness - real or faked - seems to be a recurring theme in Shakespeare's plays. While not all of the characters featured in this quiz can be said to have gone insane in a clinical sense, they indeed exhibit various kinds of bizarre behaviour.
Average, 10 Qns, LadyNym, Feb 20 19
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Average
LadyNym gold member
Feb 20 19
318 plays
2.
  Shakespeare's Girls editor best quiz   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Which of Shakespeare's feisty female characters, in which play, fit the descriptions and speak the lines quoted?
Average, 10 Qns, HobbitLady, Dec 22 16
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Average
HobbitLady
2269 plays
3.
  Why That's My Spirit    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A quiz about ghosts, fairies and spirits in Shakespeare's plays.
Easier, 10 Qns, Stoaty, Jul 19 21
Easier
Stoaty gold member
Jul 19 21
300 plays
4.
  Run For Your Life   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Many Shakespeare characters have been banished on pain of death, or end up fleeing for their lives - and while many of them return with a vengeance, at first they're running for their lives. Let's see who Shakespeare sets on the run.
Average, 10 Qns, merylfederman, Dec 22 16
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Average
merylfederman gold member
2013 plays
5.
  The Right Fight editor best quiz   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Shakespearean fight scenes are often tense, glorious events that put you on the edge of your seat. I give you some context, the "challenger" of the fight, and you name the other member of the fight.
Average, 10 Qns, merylfederman, Dec 22 16
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Average
merylfederman gold member
830 plays
6.
  The Strength of Kings   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
There are ten history plays of Shakespeare, each with a king facing major problems and taking action. The strength of those actions can determine the fate of their reign...
Average, 10 Qns, merylfederman, Dec 22 16
Average
merylfederman gold member
2619 plays
7.
  Shakespeare's Characters   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A trip around some of The Bard's more colorful characters...
Average, 10 Qns, EnglishJedi, Dec 22 16
Average
EnglishJedi gold member
420 plays
8.
  Death by Shakespeare   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
"Exeunt severally..."Famous Shakespearean characters and their famous deaths. Do you recall how these characters died in the plays?
Average, 10 Qns, Ruma, Mar 21 17
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Average
Ruma
2563 plays
9.
  Confused Characters   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Shakespearean characters have been spotted in the wrong plays and are being ratted out by those plays' characters. Your job is to identify both the character who is speaking and who is being discussed.
Average, 10 Qns, Kay_Jay_, Dec 22 16
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Average
Kay_Jay_
1015 plays
10.
  Most Evil Villains of Shakespeare   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Shakespeare created some of the best villains in all literature, so here is my *personally and subjectively selected* list of ten characters who most impressed me with their villainy.
Tough, 10 Qns, merylfederman, Dec 22 16
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Tough
merylfederman gold member
205 plays
trivia question Quick Question
In the short play "Macbeth", who kills Macbeth?

From Quiz "Shakespearean Deaths"




11.
  Shakespeare's Impostures    
Multiple Choice
 20 Qns
The Comedies are full of Impostures. Girls pretending to be boys, masters as servants and servants as masters. Here are 20 questions on some of my favourite scenes.
Tough, 20 Qns, jeremyB, Dec 22 16
Tough
jeremyB gold member
588 plays
12.
  Face the Consequences   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Many Shakespearean characters end up punished for crimes or perceived crimes - I'll describe a punishment and you tell me who faces those consequences!
Tough, 10 Qns, merylfederman, Dec 22 16
Tough
merylfederman gold member
310 plays
13.
  Shakespeare's Characters - Not in the Play    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
I'll give you the name of a play. You pick which character is NOT in that play. (At the end, I'll give you the name of at least one play where that odd character can be found.)
Average, 10 Qns, ladymacb29, Dec 22 16
Recommended for grades: 11,12
Average
ladymacb29 editor
2995 plays
14.
  Shakespeare Couples    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
I'll ask you the name of the romantic interest of one of the characters in Shakespeare plays.
Average, 10 Qns, Stageman, Dec 22 16
Average
Stageman
1161 plays
15.
  Who's Who in Shakespeare    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A look at some well known and not so well known characters in Shakespeare. Good luck.
Average, 10 Qns, Fiachra, Apr 23 20
Average
Fiachra
Apr 23 20
1386 plays
16.
  Another Lonely Valentine's Day   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A bunch of Shakespeare characters are in a bar, lamenting their unrequited loves on Valentine's Day. I'll give you the character's situation, you tell me the person who doesn't love them back.
Tough, 10 Qns, merylfederman, Dec 22 16
Tough
merylfederman gold member
342 plays
17.
  Shakespeare's Antonios    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Antonio is quite a popular name for Shakespeare, appearing in several different plays. Can you distinguish one Antonio from another?
Tough, 10 Qns, JohnFalst, Dec 22 16
Tough
JohnFalst
349 plays
18.
  That Doesn't Belong There    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
In each of these questions, you will visit a Shakespearean setting. Three of the four characters are all people who frequent these locations, but one most definitely is *not*. Which one doesn't belong?
Difficult, 10 Qns, merylfederman, Dec 22 16
Difficult
merylfederman gold member
321 plays
19.
  Shakespearean Dukes and Earls II    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
More Dukes and Earls from Shakespeare's history plays.
Tough, 10 Qns, askpau, Dec 22 16
Tough
askpau
262 plays
20.
  Shakespeare Character Anagrams    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Unscramble the name suggested by the clue and fill in a character from one of Shakespeare's plays. Have no fear if you're not an expert on the bard. Most of the names are familiar, but you must correctly spell each one. First one's EASY!
Average, 10 Qns, Nealzineatser, Jun 19 20
Average
Nealzineatser gold member
Jun 19 20
481 plays
21.
  Shakespearean Dukes and Earls I   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Shakespeare's history plays are populated by numerous dukes and earls. How well do you know them?
Difficult, 10 Qns, askpau, Dec 22 16
Difficult
askpau
416 plays
22.
  A Double Take on Names from Shakespeare!    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Almost everyone has heard of a Macbeth or a Hamlet in Shakespearean plays, but did you know the Bard has used some names more than once? Let's see if you can figure out exactly where....
Tough, 10 Qns, Ruma, Dec 22 16
Tough
Ruma
575 plays
23.
  Shakespeare's Smaller Characters    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Remember - there are no small parts, only small actors . . . Select the Shakespearian play that includes these "lesser-known" roles.
Average, 10 Qns, LemonCurry, Aug 14 22
Average
LemonCurry
Aug 14 22
398 plays
24.
  Shakespearean Deaths    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
You may know your Shakespearean characters... but how well do you know their dramatic exits? Questions get gradually more difficult.
Average, 10 Qns, koolguymatt, Dec 22 16
Average
koolguymatt
729 plays
25.
  Shakespeare's Criminals    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
I've found a list of discarded wanted posters of Shakespearean characters, but the names have all gone. Can you work out who each one's about?
Tough, 10 Qns, Bulm, Jun 26 20
Tough
Bulm
Jun 26 20
820 plays

Shakespeare Characters Trivia Questions

1. The title of this quiz, "Why that's my spirit" is a quote from Shakespeare that is said by Prospero to Ariel in which play?

From Quiz
Why That's My Spirit

Answer: The Tempest

'The Tempest' is believed to have been written between late 1610 and mid 1611 and is regarded as one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote. In the play Prospero and his daughter Miranda are living on a remote island, having been exiled by Prospero's brother Antonio. At the start of the play Prospero conjures a storm which leads to his brother's ship being wrecked on the island and Prospero proceeds to trick and torment his brother and his followers. Ariel is a spirit who inhabits the island and is bound to assist Prospero after Prospero released him from a tree he was trapped in. Prospero uses Ariel to assist him in his tormenting of Antonio and his retinue.

2. O TO HELL - Who is the jealous protagonist (c'mon, did you really need a hint)?

From Quiz Shakespeare Character Anagrams

Answer: Othello

"Othello" is the Shakespeare play most likely to have a black actor in the lead. The play also boasts the number one villain of all time, Iago, according to that bastion of literary knowledge, "The Christian Science Monitor".

3. This famous romantic title character is banished on pain of death from his hometown of Verona, where he has just killed Tybalt. He flees to Mantua but comes back when his beloved is reported dead. Which title character is this?

From Quiz Run For Your Life

Answer: Romeo

Romeo, of "Romeo and Juliet," kills Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a vengeful rage after Tybalt had killed Mercutio. Romeo is banished for this crime, on pain of death, but cannot resist returning to die next to his wife Juliet when he learns that she is dead. He poisons himself over her apparently-dead body.

4. She's a girl disguised as a boy called Ganymede, who then pretends to be herself to woo her lover by warning him off girls! "Love is merely a madness ... Yet I profess curing it by counsel."

From Quiz Shakespeare's Girls

Answer: Rosalind in "As You Like It"

Elizabethan gender-benders ... Shakespeare used the girl-disguised-as-a-boy plot twist in several plays, including the wrong answers here, a useful device when all roles were played by males. However, only in "As You Like It" were the audience treated to the delight of a boy actor playing the role of a girl disguised as a boy pretending to be a girl! Confused? Rosalind's fella, Orlando, is, but it all turns out happily in the end as they marry in a quadruple wedding ceremony. Yes, quadruple. This play does nothing by halves.

5. "So there I was, washing my hands, when who should come traipsing in but that lovesick boy. Walking around pinning bad poetry to the columns in my house. Disgusting!"

From Quiz Confused Characters

Answer: Lady Macbeth talking about Orlando

Lady Macbeth, from "Macbeth" (or The Scottish Play), is famous for trying to wash bloodstains out of her hands, and Orlando, from "As You Like It," writes bad love poetry to Rosalind, with whom he is head over heels in love. In the forest of Arden, Orlando pins his horrible poetry to the trees. Rosalind finds it and reads it to Touchstone, who comments, "Truly, the tree yields bad fruit" (3.2).

6. Gremio, Tranio, Biondello, and Vincentio are all characters in which Shakespearian play?

From Quiz Shakespeare's Smaller Characters

Answer: The Taming of the Shrew

Gremio was a suitor to the fair Bianca, sister of the shrewish Katherina. Tranio and Biondello were servants to Lucentio, another of Bianca's suitors. Vincentio, an old gentleman of Pisa, also crops up in "Measure for Measure"

7. Which larger than life character appears in three plays?

From Quiz Who's Who in Shakespeare

Answer: Falstaff

Falstaff is the drinking, fun loving coward and companion to Hal in the two parts of Henry IV. He also appears in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'.

8. Who married Portia in "Merchant of Venice"?

From Quiz Shakespeare Couples

Answer: Bassanio

Antonio is the merchant of Venice who lends Bassanio money so he can marry Portia. He borrows it from Shylock until his ships come in, but when they don't, Shylock literally wants his "pound of flesh" (which is where the term comes from). Portia pretends to be a male lawyer and saves Antonio. When she goes to do this she leaves her house in the care of Bassanio's friend Lorenzo (who's married to Shylock's daughter!)

9. In "King John", who is the King talking about when he says "throw thine eye on yon young boy; I'll tell thee what, my friend, he is a very serpent in my way"?

From Quiz Shakespearean Dukes and Earls I

Answer: Arthur, Duke of Brittany

Arthur, Duke of Brittany, is King John's nephew, the son of the King's older brother Geoffrey. Many view Arthur as having a superior claim to the throne than John. John tries to have Arthur killed. He later repents, but Arthur throws himself off a castle wall and dies anyway.

10. Wanted for: regicide, multiple homicides, conspiracy to kill. Prone to hallucination and delusions of invulnerability.

From Quiz Shakespeare's Criminals

Answer: Macbeth

Fans of 'Macbeth', I recommend trying to find a chance to see Bob Carlton's 'From A Jack To A King'. A brilliant take on Shakespeare's work, with a fantastic sixties soundtrack!

11. In the short play "Macbeth", who kills Macbeth?

From Quiz Shakespearean Deaths

Answer: Macduff

In the climax to this bloody play, Macduff avenges the deaths of his wife and son by killing Macbeth, and Malcolm is crowned king. One may recall the line, "Lay on, Macduff."

12. An easy one first. The star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet found it impossible to get past the family feuds of the Montagues and Capulets. Finally, both killed themselves, but by what means?

From Quiz Death by Shakespeare

Answer: Drinking poison and stabbing

Juliet takes a potion which leads Romeo to think she's killed herself. He swallows poison himself... Juliet comes to and finds Romeo's dead body and stabs herself. Oh, tragedy! oh, confusion!

13. In the play 'Hamlet', what relation to Hamlet is the ghost which appears in Act 1?

From Quiz Why That's My Spirit

Answer: Father

'Hamlet' is set in Denmark and is the longest play written by Shakespeare. In Act 1 of the play a ghost appears on the battlements of the castle and tells Hamlet that it is the ghost of his father and that he was murdered by Hamlet's uncle Claudius who is now the king. The rest of the play sees Hamlet pretending to be mad while he tries to find out if the ghost is telling the truth and to take revenge on his uncle.

14. The ninth villains are the tag-team of Lear's daughters, Goneril and Regan. Their lack of family feeling is cold enough that it not only destroys their father but also leads to their own demises. How exactly does this happen?

From Quiz Most Evil Villains of Shakespeare

Answer: Goneril poisons Regan and then stabs herself

Goneril and Regan start to self-destruct as the war pitting Albany and Cornwall's forces against Lear and the forces of France starts up. Regan, newly widowed after Cornwall's death, is interested in Edmund, and still-married Goneril becomes too angry about this to let her sister live. She then commits suicide offstage.

15. "Kiss Me Kate", a well-known adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", gives a clue to the name of the main character in The Bard's play. What, though, is the name of Katherina's more-desirable sister who attracts numerous suitors?

From Quiz Shakespeare's Characters

Answer: Bianca

The bad-tempered Katherina Minola is the 'shrew' from the title of Shakespeare's play, and the focus of the story is her relationship with Petruchio. Bianca, the other sister of the Paduan lord Baptista, has sworn not to marry until Katherina has done so, with the result that Bianca's various suitors (Gremio, Lucentio and Hortensio) agree to work together to get Katherina married off. In the 1967 Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton film version of the play, Natasha Pyne plays Bianca. In the 1953 adaptation, "Kiss Me Kate", Ann Miller plays Lois Lane (ie Bianca). The alternatives are the three major female characters in another Shakespeare play, "The Comedy of Errors".

16. MEN SO DEAD - Name the female lead from the classic tragedy of betrayal and murder set in Venice?

From Quiz Shakespeare Character Anagrams

Answer: Desdemona

Desdemona is the central female character in the the tragedy of "Othello". Much to her father's dismay, she elopes with the Moorish nobleman and becomes entangled in a web of lies, jealousy and deception which ultimately leads to the death of both her and Othello. To be fair, it is the snubbed "inhuman dog" Iago whose evil nature really is responsible for so many "men so dead" at the play's end. Her name is derived from the Greek, and really means "ill-fated" not "of the devil."

17. Still in northern Europe, let's hit up Elsinore in Denmark - after all, they'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart! Who would we never meet at the Elsinore castle?

From Quiz That Doesn't Belong There

Answer: Imogen

Imogen is the heroine of "Cymbeline," and thus never ends up in the Danish castle of Elsinore. However, the other three - Hamlet, Horatio, and Gertrude - all spend the vast majority (or all) of "Hamlet" confined to the castle.

18. "Ack! What is that thing? I said that a man with a beard is less than a youth, and a man with no beard is less than a man, but his entire head is furry! It looks like a donkey!"

From Quiz Confused Characters

Answer: Beatrice talking about Bottom

In "Much Ado About Nothing," Beatrice has a speech explaining why she could not marry a man with a beard or without, stating, "he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him" (2.1). In this question, she's not sure what to do, however, as she's spied Bottom, from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," whose head has been changed into that of an ass by Puck.

19. Who was Gertrude's second husband in "Hamlet"?

From Quiz Shakespeare Couples

Answer: Claudius

Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, the queen of Denmark. Hamlet's father was killed by his brother Claudius so he could become king and also marry Gertrude. Hamlet's father then comes back as a ghost and convinces Hamlet to avenge his murder. Polonius is the king's advisor, who is mistaken for Claudius and killed by mistake. Bernardo is one of the guards who first sees the ghost and reports it to Hamlet's friend Horatio.

20. Wanted for: regicide, conspiracy to kill. Has a reputation for being quiet. Likes to "let his hands do the talking".

From Quiz Shakespeare's Criminals

Answer: Casca

As in "speak hands, for me", which he says before he stabs Caesar. (From 'Julius Caesar', obviously.)

21. Those who have read Shakespeare would be familiar with VINCENTIO, the Duke in "Measure for Measure". But there is yet another Vincentio in another of Shakespeare's comedies. Can you recall which one?

From Quiz A Double Take on Names from Shakespeare!

Answer: "The Taming of the Shrew"

Vincentio is the father of Lucentio, who loves Bianca, the shrewish Katherine(Kate)'s sister.Unfortunately for him, Baptista, the girls' father has decreed that Bianca cannot marry unless the shrewish Kate is married first...But that doesn't stop him from trying!

22. Robin Goodfellow is another name for which fairy who appears in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'?

From Quiz Why That's My Spirit

Answer: Puck

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a comedy by Shakespeare set in and around the city of Athens in Greece. In Elizabethan England, the time that Shakespeare was writing his plays, Puck was believed to be a mischievous fairy type character who would play pranks on people such as misdirecting travellers or turning milk sour. The name Robin Goodfellow was an alternative name in England for the sprite Puck and that is likely why Shakespeare used both names in the play. In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Puck serves Oberon, the King of the Fairies, who uses him to carry out many of the pranks he plays on the other characters including, most famously, giving a donkey's head to the character Bottom.

23. BLAME THY CAD - She's the wife of the power mad Scot who kills to become king. Her name?

From Quiz Shakespeare Character Anagrams

Answer: Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is literature's iconic sleepwalker, and is additionally cursed with a terminal case of obsessive compulsive disorder, as she tries in vain to wash the blood of multiple murders from her hands.

24. It's time for a drink. Who would we not meet in Mistress Quickly's tavern?

From Quiz That Doesn't Belong There

Answer: Hotspur

The Quickly tavern is the hangout of Prince Hal, Falstaff, and the gang of rowdy bar-goers (including Poins as well as Bardolph, Pistol, Nym, and others) from the Henry IV plays. Hotspur (the nickname of Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland) is a straight-laced soldier, and does not hang out with ruffians in bars like the prince does.

25. In "Titus Andronicus", two of Titus' sons are falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death. Titus' oldest son tried to free them, and for that crime he was banished from Rome on pain of death. Who is Titus' oldest son?

From Quiz Run For Your Life

Answer: Lucius

Lucius tries to rescue his brothers Martius and Quintus but is prevented and banished. But he gathers an army of Goths and returns to visit his vengeance on the Romans who have wronged him.

26. She's very obedient to her father, unlucky in love, goes mad and meets a watery end. "And I, of ladies most deject and wretched..."

From Quiz Shakespeare's Girls

Answer: Ophelia in "Hamlet"

Ophelia doesn't really count as feisty, does she, poor lamb. Why she gets so grief-stricken over her father's death is beyond me, after he's wrecked her relationship with Hamlet with his meddlesome suspicions. However, after that, when she's not spending her time singing faintly dirty folk-songs, she's hanging around the river picking water-flowers, and once she's fallen in, she's got little hope of getting out again, given the voluminous clothes she would have been wearing. Shame. Yes, the other girls in the wrong answers all have problems with their daddies too.

27. "I was gathering wood when I saw someone hobbling along the shore, hands outstretched as if to feel the way. I'll not tell my master--perhaps danger will follow this figure and curse my master."

From Quiz Confused Characters

Answer: Caliban talking about Gloucester

In "The Tempest," Prospero has enslaved the island's native man-beast Caliban and often forces him to gather wood. Caliban hates Prospero and curses his name. Unfortunately for Caliban, however, he won't find any relief with this visitor, as Gloucester, blinded by Cornwall in "King Lear," will most likely not want to hurt Prospero.

28. Brabantio, Gratiano, Lodovico, and Bianca all play a part in which of Shakespeare's plays?

From Quiz Shakespeare's Smaller Characters

Answer: Othello

Brabantio is a high-ranking senator in Venice. Gratiano is his brother; Lodovico, his kinsman. Bianca (not the Shrew's sister!) is the mistress of Othello's lieutenant, Cassio.

29. Who is one of the featured female characters of 'Much Ado About Nothing'?

From Quiz Who's Who in Shakespeare

Answer: Beatrice

Beatrice is a witty clever woman who engages in verbal battles with Benedict. Both long to have the last word. One memorable example from Benedict, when he could not think of anything else to say is, 'I wish my horse had the speed of your tongue'.

30. Who married Katherina in "The Taming of The Shrew"?

From Quiz Shakespeare Couples

Answer: Petruchio

She is the shrew, and he is the one who tames her. Baptista is her father who says that she has to be married before her younger (and prettier, and sweeter) sister Bianca. Lucentio and Hortensio are two of Bianca's many suitors. This is the play on which the musical, "Kiss Me, Kate!" is based.

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