Exam S1

1. “Let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments; love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds…” — Lines are taken from a sonnet by— .

(a) Spencer
(b) Petrarch
(c) Shakespeare
(d) Donne

2. Where is the setting of the play 'Hamlet'?

a) England
b) Italy
c) France
d) Denmark

3. Who speaks the line "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" in Hamlet?

(a) Hamlet
(b) Laertes
(c) Polonius
(d) Gertrude

4. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" is an example of —

(a) Irony
(b) Simile
(c) Metaphor
(d) Paradox

5. How is Gloucester punished for his “treason”?

(a) Burned
(b) Blinded
(c) Branded with a red letter
(d) Exiled

6. In which play of Shakespeare is the concept of colonization and societal hierarchy used to develop the plot?

(a) Hamlet
(b) Macbeth
(c) The Tempest
(d) Othello

7. Which of the following plays best deals with the question of race?

(a) Hamlet
(b) Othello
(c) The Tempest
(d) Macbeth

8. In which Act and Scene does the line “Thou know’st ’tis common, all that lives must die, / Passing through nature to eternity” occur?

(a) Act I, Scene 1
(b) Act I, Scene 2
(c) Act II, Scene 2
(d) Act III, Scene 2

9. Which of the following characters is thought to be most neglected by Shakespeare in terms of development?

(a) Iago
(b) King Lear
(c) Prospero
(d) Ophelia

10. Who speaks the last words in Hamlet?

(a) Hamlet
(b) Horatio
(c) Fortinbras
(d) Ambassador

11. In which text does the following quote occur: “Thou, Nature, art My goddess; to thy law/My services are bound”?

(a) Hamlet
(b) Othello
(c) King Lear
(d) Macbeth

12. What is Ferdinand asked to do in The Tempest, Act 3? [49th BCS-Subjective English]

(a) Singing a song
(b) Writing a poem
(c) Dancing
(d) Fetching wood for fuel

13. What is the first published collection of Shakespeare’s plays?

(a) The First Folio
(b) Shakespeare’s Plays
(c) All in One
(d) Shakespeare’s Works

14. In Shakespearean tragedy, the hero is -----.

a. an ordinary man
b. a high ranking man
c. a sacrilegious man
d. none of these

15. Which critic described Hamlet as the “Mona Lisa of literature” due to its enigmatic quality?

a) Harold Bloom  
b) T. S. Eliot  
c) Samuel Taylor Coleridge 
 d) Sir A. C. Bradley

16. The play-within-the-play (“The Mousetrap”) primarily functions to—

a) Delay Hamlet’s revenge further
b) Establish Claudius’ guilt through performance
c) Provide comic relief in tragedy
d) Reconcile Hamlet with Gertrude

17. The phrase “green-eyed monster” is first used by—

a) Iago
b) Othello
c) Cassio
d) Desdemona

18. Why does Hamlet hesitate to kill Claudius at prayer?

a) Fear Claudius’ soul might go to heaven
b) Doubt about the Ghost
c) Concern for Gertrude
d) Supernatural dread

19. Which character says, “Hell is empty, and all the devils are here”?

a) Ariel
b) Ferdinand
c) Caliban
d) Stephano

20. Which subplot in King Lear mirrors the main plot structurally?

a) Cordelia’s silence
b) Gloucester and his sons
c) Lear’s storm scene
d) Albany’s transformation

21. What happens to Cordelia in King Lear?

a) Becomes queen  
b) Dies tragically  
c) Marries Edgar  
d) Lives happily

22. In Macbeth, what setting is the location of Duncan’s murder?

a) Dunsinane  
b) Scone  
c) Inverness  
d) Forres

23. The Merchant of Venice; is a Shakespearean play about— [36th BCS]

(a) a Jew
(b) A Moor
(c) a Roman
(d) a Turk

24. Which of these plays was based on the prose romance Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge?

A) Twelfth Night
B) The Winter’s Tale
C) As You Like It
D) Cymbeline

25. Who is Juliet’s cousin and is killed by Romeo?

A) Mercutio
B) Tybalt
C) Paris
D) Benvolio

26. Who is the shrew in The Taming of the Shrew?

A) Bianca
B) Katherine
C) Portia
D) Hermia

27. Who is Othello’s ensign and the villain of the play?

A) Cassio
B) Brabantio
C) Iago
D) Lodovico

28. Who kills Macbeth in the final scene?

A) Banquo
B) Fleance
C) Macduff
D) Malcolm

29. Who betrays Julius Caesar?

A) Mark Antony
B) Casca
C) Brutus
D) Octavius

30. The word “assassination” is famously used by Shakespeare in which play?

A) Hamlet
B) Macbeth
C) Julius Caesar
D) Othello

31. The expression “break the ice” (meaning to start conversation) was first used by Shakespeare in:

A) The Taming of the Shrew
B) Julius Caesar
C) The Tempest
D) Twelfth Night

32. The expression “method in madness” originates from:

A) Hamlet
B) Macbeth
C) Othello
D) King Lear

33. The quote `All that glitters is not gold’ is from which play of Shakespeare?

a) The Merchant of Venice
b) Romeo and Juliet
c) Hamlet
d) Othello

34. ‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet’-Who said this?

A) Juliet
B) Romeo
C) Portia
D) Rosalind

35. “Why, then, ‘tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ This extract is taken from the drama-

a. King Lear
b. Macbeth
c. As you Like it
d. Hamlet