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William Shakespeare is widely considered one of the greatest playwrights in the English language. He lived during the 16th and 17th centuries in England and wrote approximately 38 plays and 154 sonnets during his lifetime. Shakespeare's works are known for their universal themes, complex characters, and beautiful language, and continue to be performed and studied all over the world. Some of his most famous works include "Romeo and Juliet," "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and "Othello."
Shakespeare's impact on literature, culture, and language is immeasurable. His plays and sonnets have been translated into many languages and performed countless times, making him one of the most widely-read and influential writers in history. In addition, many common phrases and expressions that we use today can be traced back to Shakespeare's works, demonstrating just how deeply his writing has influenced the English language.
So, whether you are a Shakespeare scholar or simply a fan of his works, test your knowledge with these Shakespeare trivia questions. Can you answer questions about the plots and characters of his plays, the historical context in which they were written, and Shakespeare's life and legacy?
1. Set in Verona featuring two star-cross’d lovers, which famous English playwright wrote the play Romeo and Juliet? He also wrote the famous plays Hamlet and Macbeth.
Answer: William Shakespeare
2. Which two members of the phonetic alphabet double as Shakespearean star-crossed lovers?
Answer: Romeo, Juliet
3. Don't say Christopher Marlowe: poppy and mandrake make up one of the floral displays at a San Francisco garden dedicated to flowers name-dropped in the sonnets and plays of what English dude?
Answer: William Shakespeare
4. Europe's largest library, the Library of Birmingham has the 1623 First Folio of what playwright and poet with a whole memorial collection in the building?
Answer: William Shakespeare
5. Agatha Christie's "By the Pricking of My Thumbs" and Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" are two novels who take their titles from lines in what Shakespeare play?
Answer: Macbeth
6. The Folger Library located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. is home to large collection of printed works by what Bard of English poetry and plays?
Answer: William Shakespeare
7. One of the earliest mentions of the idiom "wild goose chase" is when Mercutio says, "Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase" during a conversation with one of the two title characters of what Shakespeare play?
Answer: Romeo and Juliet
8. Iambic pentameter is a type of metric line used in English verse, most famously by William Shakespeare. While "iambic" describes the unstressed/stressed pattern of each two-syllable "foot," the word "pentameter" indicates that there are how many feet within a given line?
Answer: Five
9. All the moons of Uranus are named after characters that appear in the works of Alexander Pope and which English playwright who died on St George’s Day in 1616?
Answer: William Shakespeare
10. What 14-line poem is often used to express a romantic desire? Billy Shakespeare wrote a whole bunch of them.
Answer: Sonnet
11. What classic Leonard Bernstein Broadway musical re-envisioned Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" in the world of white and Puerto Rican gangs fighting in New York City?
Answer: West Side Story
12. All hail whoever knows in whichWilliam Shakespeare play the title character dies less than halfway through, with his final words including the immortal line “Et tu, Brute?”
Answer: Julius Caesar
13. "Beware the Ides of March" is a line from what Shakespeare play set in ancient Rome?
Answer: Julius Caesar
14. Three cloves of garlic swap in for eye of newt and a turnip is subbed for frog’s toe in a bonkers recipe we found for the Witches’ Stew from what Scottish Shakespeare tragedy?
Answer: Macbeth
15. "The language I have learn'd these forty years / My native English, now I must forego" is a line spoken by Thomas Mowbray in "Richard II," a work by what legendary playwright?
Answer: William Shakespeare
16. Late comedian Gilbert Gottfried’s two most iconic voice-over characters were the Aflac duck and what “Aladdin” talking parrot who shares his name with a Shakespearean antagonist?
Answer: Iago
17. In Shakespeare’s works when you hear an owl at night, it often means something bad is happening. What play does the following line come from referring to what the titular Lady hears during Duncan’s murder? Hark! Peace! | It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, | Which gives the sternest good night
Answer: Macbeth
18. In 2015, NYC's Metropolitan Opera decided to stop asking performers to wear blackface makeup to perform the title role of what Shakespeare-based opera by Giuseppe Verdi?
Answer: Otello
19. In Shakespeare's famous "Romeo and Juliet," what is the family name of Juliet?
Answer: Capulet
20. In spring 2025, you could see Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington on Broadway, with Denzel in the title role of what classic Shakespeare tragedy?
Answer: Othello
21. Two of Uranus's moons are named Oberon and Titania, after fairy characters from what comedy play by William Shakespeare?
Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream
22. Felix Mendelssohn's famous "Wedding March" comes from the incidental music he wrote for what Shakespeare play, which centers on the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta?
Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream
23. In the second act of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," Romeo has an exchange of witticisms about geese, including references to a "wild goose chase," with what other character?
Answer: Mercutio
24. What Shakespeare title character was the mother of Ptolemy XV, the last Pharaoh of Egypt?
Answer: Cleopatra
25. Based on a couple of Shakespearean histories, "My Own Private Idaho" starred Keanu Reeves and what other actor with a Western state capital name that isn't "Boise"?
Answer: River Phoenix
26. "Kiss Me Kate" and "10 Things I Hate About You" both adapted what Shakespeare tale of a guy trying to seduce a small bird or something like that?
Answer: The Taming of the Shrew
27. Ira Aldridge was an African-American actor who made his fame after moving to London in 1824, largely for appearing in stage works by what Bard of Elizabethan theater?
Answer: William Shakespeare
28. The fancy hats of Magneto from the X-Men saga and Gandalf from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy were donned by what classy alum of the UK's Royal Shakespeare Company?
Answer: McKellen
29. Passwords have been in existence long prior to the digital world. From Shakespeare, Bernardo uses what four-word password to verify his identity to Hamlet? It is the second half of the phrase, "the king is dead."
Answer: Long Live the King
30. 1988's "Big Business" cast Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler in dual roles as two sets of mismatched identical twins. It adapted equal parts Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" and what fable-ous guy's "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse"?
Answer: Aesop
31. From 2011 - 2024, visitors to the McKittrick Hotel in NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood were treated to a nightly immersive production called “Sleep No More.” Deprived of almost all spoken dialogue, the audience wanders through the rooms as actors recreate which Shakespearean tragedy about a Scottish general whose ambition to become king leads him to commit regicide?
Answer: MacBeth
32. What Italy-based Shakespeare play involves a lengthy courtroom scene in which Shylock is tried for his crimes?
Answer: The Merchant of Venice
33. At 4,000 lines, what is Shakespeare's longest play? The titular protagonist accounts for 37% of the play's script, making it the meatiest role in Shakespeare's canon.
Answer: Hamlet
34. Although he's the title character in the play Julius Caesar, the man himself actually has more lines in what other Shakespeare play?
Answer: Antony and Cleopatra
35. The line, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark", comes from what Shakespeare play, which also includes the famous "To be, or not to be" speech?
Answer: Hamlet
36. You can ride Bird scooters in Verona, an Italian city famous as the setting for the two young, tragic lovers in what Shakespeare play from the 1590s?
Answer: Romeo and Juliet
37. Which modern version of the strategy game Reversi is named after a play by Shakespeare? Apart from the titular character, protagonists of this play include Iago and Desdemona.
Answer: Othello
38. According to various sources, what Florida city is either named for a distinguished soldier in the Seminole Wars, or a character from the Shakespeare play As You Like It?
Answer: Orlando
39. The Lion King's villain Scar is inspired by what character from Shakespeare's Hamlet, another uncle who murders the protagonist's father?
Answer: Claudius
40. Hypoplectrus is a genus of fish that are more commonly known by what name? They share this name with Shakespeare's longest play.
Answer: Hamlet
41. According to the Folger Shakespeare Library, his complete works contain how many words?
Answer:
42. Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies aka the First Folio was published in 1623 as Shakespeare's colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell wanted to codify WS's works. How many plays are contained in the First Folio?
Answer:
43. In what Shakespeare history play did the Bard write "Thou ominous and fearful Owl of Death" and "An Owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign"?
Answer: Henry VI
44. Back in 2016, the Guinness World Records certified William Shakespeare as the “most filmed author” noting that he had how many total writing credits on film and television productions?
Answer:
45. Featuring historic characters including Calpurnia, Claudius and Cicero, what Shakespearean tragedy was one of the first plays performed at the Globe Theatre when the performance venue first opened in 1599 in London?
Answer: Julius Caesar
46. What jokester and comic glutton of Shakespeare's Henry IV plays was so popular that Shakespeare wrote him his own play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, reportedly at the request of Elizabeth I?
Answer: Falstaff
47. Starring Heath Ledger, "10 Things I Hate About You" is a film loosely based on which Shakespeare play?
Answer: The Taming of the Shrew
48. What joint in the human body is named after a word that was invented by William Shakespeare?
Answer: Elbow
49. The Danish castle of Kronborg was immortalized as "Elsinore" in what play by William Shakespeare?
Answer: Hamlet
50. Curtain up on a Shakespeare analogy. Iago is to "Othello", as Claudius is to which tragedy?
Answer: Hamlet
51. Virginia Woolf imagined a hypothetical sister of William Shakespeare named Judith in what early feminist essay, written in 1929?
Answer: A Room of One's Own
52. What was the name of Shakespeare's son who passed away at age 11? The young boy's name was only one letter different from one of Shakespeare's most famous plays.
Answer: Hamnet
53. What Shakespearean play, in which two couples wind up marrying, coined a modern day term for an unnecessary dispute?
Answer: Much Ado About Nothing
54. The impolite, unpleasant Katherina is referred to metaphorically by the name of a small mammal in the name of what Shakespeare play?
Answer: The Taming of the Shrew
55. Gemini, Google’s contribution to the ever-growing LLM/AI lineup, started out with what Shakespearean name?
Answer: Bard
56. What body of work by William Shakespeare is sometimes split into sections called "Fair Youth" and "Dark Lady"?
Answer: Sonnets
57. With a title that refers to a quote from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," what 1930 novel by Somerset Maugham has sweet food and a type of beer in its title?
Answer: Cakes and Ale
58. In ancient Greece, owls were often seen as a symbol of good fortune, but other cultures saw them as more foreboding. In a Shakespeare play, we hear an owl hooting in a scene leading up to what title character's death?
Answer: Julius Caesar
59. Palamon and Arcite are the title characters of what play, a collaboration with John Fletcher believed to be the last written by William Shakespeare before his death in 1616?
Answer: The Two Noble Kinsmen
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