A Study of William Shakespeare

Question: What Shakespeare play involves a soothsayer’s warning to "beware the Ides of March"?

Answer: In Shakespeare’s play, Roman statesman Julius Caesar foolishly ignores a warning to "beware the Ides of March"—that is, March 15th, the day a group of plotters plan to attempt his assassination.

Question: What fictional character makes a speech that begins with the words "to be or not to be"?

Answer: Hamlet’s "To be or not to be" soliloquy is one of the most famous passages in Shakespeare’s oeuvre—or all of world literature, for that matter!

Question: How many sonnets did William Shakespeare publish?

Answer: William Shakespeare published 154 sonnets in his lifetime.

Question: In what Shakespeare play does Falstaff appear?

Answer: John Falstaff is the leading male character in The Merry Wives of Windsor. He also appears in Henry IV.

Question: How many lines does a Shakespearean sonnet contain?

Answer: A Shakespearean sonnet contains 14 lines, each of which contains 10 syllables.

Question: Which of these is not a play by William Shakespeare?

Answer: Master Harold...and the Boys is by the South African playwright Athol Fugard. It was first produced in 1982.

Question: Which of these is called "the Scottish play"?

Answer: William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, which is set in Scotland, is called "the Scottish play" in theatrical slang.

Question: Where is Romeo and Juliet set?

Answer: William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet is set in Verona, Italy.

Question: Which of these appears in a Shakespearean sonnet?

Answer: A Shakespearean sonnet consists of three four-line stanzas, called quatrains, and one two-line stanza, or couplet.

Question: How old is Juliet in Romeo and Juliet?

Answer: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet takes place just before Juliet Capulet’s fourteenth birthday, making her exceptionally young (even in her time) to be the heroine of a grand tragic romance!