T1.2.1 Shakespeare: two plays Quiz: KS3 English, Unit 1

The 20 questions

1. In Shakespeare's plays, what is blank verse?

   • Rhyming couplets in which every line has exactly six syllables and a strong opening beat
   • Free lines with no regular rhythm, used mainly by servants and minor characters on stage
   • Prose passages that are always printed in italics to show that a character is speaking privately
   • Unrhymed lines written in iambic pentameter, with ten syllables in a da-DUM rhythm

2. What is an iamb?

   • A metrical foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in 'today'
   • A stage direction that tells an actor to speak quietly while others are speaking loudly
   • A metrical foot with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in 'table'
   • A line of poetry that always contains exactly fourteen syllables and a rhyming couplet

3. What is a soliloquy?

   • A short speech that ends a scene and always rhymes with the line that comes before it
   • A speech in which a character speaks alone on stage, revealing their private thoughts
   • A list of the costumes and props that an actor needs for a particular scene in the play
   • A conversation between two characters in which they argue about the plot of the play

4. What is an 'aside' in a Shakespearean play?

   • A remark spoken to the audience that the other characters on stage are not meant to hear
   • A speech that is sung by the chorus at the start of each act in a tragedy
   • A character leaving the stage for a short break while the rest of the scene continues
   • A stage direction telling actors to move to the side of the stage at the end of a scene

5. In Romeo and Juliet, what is the form of the Prologue that opens the play?

   • A list of the characters in the order they appear on stage in the opening act
   • A sonnet of fourteen lines that introduces the feud and the tragic fate of the lovers
   • A song with a chorus sung by the servants of the Capulet household at a wedding
   • A prose letter written by Juliet to her cousin, explaining the feud between the families

6. Which Shakespeare tragedy features Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene in which she tries to wash away blood?

   • A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which a love potion causes confusion among four lovers
   • The Merchant of Venice, in which a merchant borrows money from a moneylender on a bond
   • Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet drinks a potion and is found by her family in a tomb
   • Macbeth, in which Lady Macbeth says 'Out, damned spot!' while sleepwalking

7. Why was Shakespeare's theatre, the Globe, important in Elizabethan London?

   • It was a school where actors were trained in writing plays for the court of Elizabeth I
   • It was a church where plays were performed only on religious holidays in the winter months
   • It was an open-air theatre where many kinds of people, from groundlings to nobles, watched plays
   • It was a private hall where only members of the royal family were allowed to watch any plays

8. A student is studying Shakespeare's language. Which feature is typical of his plays?

   • Entire scenes that consist of a list of technical instructions for building the set
   • Imagery and metaphor that create vivid pictures and connect ideas across a scene
   • Dialogue written entirely in French, with no English words used in any speech
   • Sentences written in modern slang that a twenty-first-century teenager would use daily

9. Which Shakespeare play includes the famous line 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears'?

   • The Tempest, in which a magician called Prospero controls the weather with his magic
   • Twelfth Night, in which a woman dresses as a man and falls into a series of mistaken identities
   • Julius Caesar, in which Mark Antony addresses the Roman crowd after Caesar's death
   • Hamlet, in which the prince of Denmark plans to test his uncle's guilt with a play

10. In Shakespeare's plays, what does a character's use of prose rather than verse often suggest?

    • The scene has been written by a different author, so the play has no single style
    • The character is a ghost who can speak only in prose while the living speak in verse
    • The character may be of lower status, or may be speaking in a more informal or everyday way
    • The character is always a king or a queen who speaks only in formal rhyme on every occasion

11. What is the main effect of a rhyming couplet at the end of a scene in a Shakespeare play?

    • It means the scene will be repeated again immediately after the audience has left the theatre
    • It shows that the scene was written in a different year from the rest of the play
    • It forces the actors to leave the stage without speaking any further lines in that scene
    • It signals that the scene has finished, giving the audience a sense of closure

12. What does the word 'tragedy' describe in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth?

    • A short comic scene performed between acts to entertain the groundlings in the pit
    • A comedy with a happy ending in which all the lovers are married by the final scene
    • A serious drama in which a central character's fall leads to suffering and death
    • A historical chronicle that lists the kings of England in the order they ruled the land

13. Which character in Romeo and Juliet is killed in a fight after the feud between the families erupts?

    • The Nurse, who helps Juliet to meet Romeo in secret at the Capulet house each night
    • Paris, who is a suitor of Juliet and is approved by her father in the opening scenes
    • Mercutio, who is killed by Tybalt after the duel that follows the feud's outbreak
    • Friar Laurence, who gives Juliet a potion that makes her seem dead for two days

14. A student is asked to identify a 'stage direction' in a Shakespeare script. Which example is correct?

    • 'Out, damned spot!' which is spoken aloud by Lady Macbeth during her sleepwalking
    • 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?', which is a line spoken by the young lover
    • Exit, pursued by a bear, printed in italics rather than spoken aloud by a character
    • 'Friends, Romans, countrymen', which is the opening line of a famous speech by Antony

15. Why do Shakespeare's plays use a mix of verse and prose?

    • Verse can mark formal or heightened emotion, while prose often suits everyday or comic speech
    • Prose was used in place of verse to make the plays shorter for performance in the afternoon
    • Verse was the only form allowed by the royal censors, so prose was used only in the final act
    • Verse was used by actors who could not remember lines, so prose was added as a backup

16. A reader wants to understand why Shakespeare's language may seem difficult. Which explanation is best?

    • His plays were translated from Latin, so every line sounds unnatural to an English reader
    • The plays were written for children, so the words are very simple but the ideas are complex
    • Shakespeare wrote in a secret code that only the nobles of Elizabethan England could read
    • Words and grammar have changed over four centuries, and Shakespeare used many inventive expressions

17. What is the function of a chorus in a Shakespeare play such as Henry V?

    • A list of the actors who will perform each role in the play, printed on the programme
    • A group of singers who perform a dance between scenes to represent the changing seasons
    • A speaker who introduces scenes and asks the audience to use their imagination about the setting
    • A character who has been secretly married to the king and reveals this in the final scene

18. Which quality of Shakespeare's characters makes them still interesting to readers today?

    • Their complex inner conflicts and motives, which are explored through speech and soliloquy
    • Their age, since every character is over sixty years old and therefore wise and calm
    • Their names, which are all taken from a single list of popular names of the Elizabethan era
    • Their costumes, which are described in detail in each scene by the stage directions

19. In Shakespeare's plays, what is the function of a 'stichomythia' exchange?

    • A series of stage directions that tell actors when to exit from the stage in each act
    • A long speech given by a single character who describes a journey across a foreign country
    • A scene in which the characters sing a song that explains the plot to the audience
    • A rapid back-and-forth exchange in which characters trade single lines, often in conflict

20. In Romeo and Juliet, why does Friar Laurence's plan fail?

    • The Nurse tells Romeo's family where the lovers are hiding before the potion has any effect at all
    • Juliet refuses to drink the potion because she has already married Paris in secret at the church
    • Romeo never receives the message explaining that Juliet is only sleeping, so he believes she is dead
    • The Prince reaches the tomb early and stops both lovers before either of them can drink any poison

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