Shakespeare

Question 1

Shakespeare’s Biography

Answer 1

• England’s national poet, “Bard of Avon”.
• He wrote 38 plays (including collaborations) 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses.
• He was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon.
• William Shakespeare was baptised on 26 April 1564 at Holy Trinity in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
• His birthday is celebrated three days earlier, on 23 April, St George’s Day.
• His father, John Shakespeare married Mary Arden, the daughter of Robert Arden, a farmer from the nearby village of Wilmcote.
• Henley Street is now known as the ‘Birthplace’ and their family, including William, grew up there. John’s principal business was that of a glover and also a wool and corn merchant and owned property in Stratford. He was elected bailiff (mayor).
• He was forced to mortgage his wife’s inheritance in 1576.
• William’s mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a prosperous farmer, Robert Arden, who had left her some land in Wilmcote, near Stratford.
• John and Mary Shakespeare had eight children: four daughters, of whom only one (Joan) survived childhood. William was the eldest of the four boys.

Question 2

Family

Answer 2

• In 1582, when he was 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. She was 26. Their first child, Susanna, was born in May 1583. Twins, Hamnet and Judith, were christened in February 1585. Anne’s home, now known as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, still stands in the village of Shottery.

Question 3

Who was Richard Barbage?

Answer 3

Leading Actor in Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

Question 4

Who published Shakespeare’s plays?

Answer 4

• In 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death, John Heminge and Henry Condell (two actors from The King’s Company) had Shakespeare’s plays published by William Jaggard and his son, Isaac. This first folio contained 36 plays and sold for £1.

Question 5

Summary of Henry VI part 1?

Answer 5

Source: Raphael’s Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587 edition).
In England, Richard, Duke of York, quarrels with John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset about his claim on the throne. Edmund Mortimer declares Richard his heir. In the meantime, King Henry marries to a French princess, Margaret of Anjou. Suffolk intends wants to control the king through Margaret. Ill feelings grow between him and Duke of Gloucester.

Question 6

Summary of Henry VI part II

Answer 6

” (1590–1591) is a history play. The major obstacle to William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk’s plan is Duke of Gloucester. Eleanor is lured by an agent of Suffolk into dabbling in necromancy, and then arrested, to the embarrassment of her husband, Gloucester. Gloucester is accused of treason and imprisoned, and afterwards assassinated by agents of Suffolk and the Queen. Meanwhile, Richard, Duke of York, wants to be king. The Earl of Suffolk is banished and killed by Walter the pirate. The Duke of Somerset is killed by Richard III. Young Lord Clifford, whose father has been killed by the Duke of York, vows revenge on the Yorkists, and allies himself with King Henry’s other supporters.

Question 7

Summary of Henry VI part III

Answer 7

“Henry VI Part III” (1590–1591) is a history play. Henry makes York his heir. Queen Margarete declares war on the Yorkists, along with young Lord Clifford. The Yorkists get defeated and Clifford murders York’s young son, the Earl of Rutland. Margaret and Clifford kill duke of York. The Earl of Warwick prepares York’s eldest son, Edward. Edward becomes King by killing Clifford. Warwick turns against Edward when he marries Lady Grey, and joins Queen Margaret and marries his daughter to Prince of Wales. King Henry VI is restored to the throne. Edward kills Warwick and Prince of Wales and captures Queen Margaret. Richard of Gloucester wants to get to the throne by murdering King Henry V. Henry prophesies Richard’s career of villainy and his future notoriety. King Edward’s wife has just given birth to a son, the future King, Edward V of England, and the play ends here.

Question 8

Summary of Richard III?

Answer 8

“Richard III” (1592–1593) Richard, Duke of Gloucester, wants to take the throne from his brother the Yorkist King Edward IV. He woos the widow, Lady Ann, at the funeral of her father-in-law, King Henry VI. She marries him. In the meantime, Richard organises the murder of his brother George, Duke of Clarence. The king, Edward IV is ill and Richard is appointed as regent. He places the young sons of Edward in the Tower and consolidates his power with the help of Buckingham. The king dies and Richard is proclaimed king. The young princes are murdered in the Tower. Edward’s widow, Elizabeth, flees with the sons of her first marriage. Buckingham tries to blackmail Richard for the murders demanding an earldom, and when denied raise an army against Richard and gets executed. Richard plans to marry Edward IV’s daughter, Elizabeth. Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond makes war on Richard. On the eve of the battle, Richard is haunted by the ghosts of his victims. He is killed in the battle and Henry Tudor succeeds him.

Question 9

Summary of Comedy of Manners?

Answer 9

Source: Plautus’s comedy The Menaechmi.
The Comedy of Errors is a comedy involving two sets of identical twins with multiple identity confusions. The play begins with Aegeon telling his story. Thirty-three years before the play begins, Aegeon, a merchant of Syracuse, became the father of twin boys. He named them both Antipholus and bought another pair of twins, both named Dromio, to be their servants. Aegeon only managed to save only one Antipholus and one Dromio after a shipwreck and he has never seen the rest of his family since. Antipholus and Dromio arrive in Ephesus in search of their long-lost twin brothers, unaware that their father has also arrived there on the same quest. As a citizen of Syracuse, a city at war with Ephesus, Aegeon has landed illegally in Ephesus and is arrested and condemned to death unless a ransom is paid by sunset. Duke gives him a day to raise ransom for his release. Antipholus of Ephesus’s wife, Adriana, encounters Antipholus of Syracuse and mistakes him for her husband. He leaves his slave to guard the door, and when Antipholus of Ephesus comes home, Dromio of Syracuse refuses him entry to the house. Adriana goes to the Duke and appeals to him to remove the man she thinks is her husband and hand him over to her. Antipholus of Ephesus, her actual husband, has broken out of the cellar and demands that the Duke take action against his wife. All the complications unravel when Emelia, the Abbess, brings the two sets of twins together. She turns out to be the long-lost wife of Egeus. The brothers are reconciled with each other and their parents; the couples are united and the two Dromios embrace.

Question 10

Summary of Titus Andronicus?

Answer 10

“Titus Andronicus” (1593–1594) is a tragedy written in collaboration with George Peele.
Source: It owes much to the tale of the rape of Philomel in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Titus Andronicus, Roman general, returns from ten years of war with only four out of twenty-five sons left. He has captured Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons, and Aaron the Moor. In obedience to Roman rituals, he sacrifices her eldest son to his dead sons, which earns him Tamora’s unending hatred and her promise of revenge.
Tamora is made empress by the new emperor Saturninus. To get back at Titus, she schemes with her lover Aaron to have Titus’s two sons framed for the murder of Bassianus, the emperor’s brother. Titus’s sons are beheaded. Unappeased, she urges her sons Chiron and Demetrius to rape Titus’s daughter Lavinia, after which they cut off her hands and tongue so she cannot give their crime away. Finally, even Titus’s last surviving son Lucius is banished from Rome; he subsequently seeks alliance with the enemy Goths to attack Rome. Each new misfortune hits the aged, tired Titus with heavier impact. Eventually, he begins to act oddly and everyone assumes that he is crazy Tamora tries to capitalize on his seeming madness by pretending to be the figure of Revenge, come to offer him justice if Titus will only convince Lucius to cease attacking Rome. Titus, having feigned his madness all along, tricks her, captures her sons, kills them, and makes pie out of them. He feeds this pie to their mother in the final scene, after which he kills both Tamora and Lavinia, his daughters. A rash of killings ensue; the only people left alive are Marcus, Lucius, Young Lucius, and Aaron. Lucius has the unrepentant Aaron buried alive, and Tamora’s corpse thrown to the beasts. He becomes the new emperor of Rome.

Question 11

Summary of The Taming of the Shrew?

Answer 11

“The Taming of the Shrew” (1593–1594) is a comedy,
A wealthy Padua merchant, Baptista, has two daughters. One day Lucentio, a student, comes to Padua, sees Bianca, the younger sister, and falls madly in love with her. He has heard, though, that Baptista will not allow Bianca to be married before her older sister, Katherina, who don’t like men. Two local men, Hortensio and the elderly Gremio, are pursuing Bianca but she doesn’t like either of them. Gremio hires Lucentio, disguised as a Latin tutor, to woo Bianca on his behalf. Hortensio poses as a musician to try and get into her company.
Baptista agrees to Petruchio (Hortensio’s Friend)’s offer to marry Kate, which she opposes but can’t reject. On the journey to Verona Kate rebels against her husband but he begins training her to obey him. She is denied everything including food and sleep, she becomes an obedient wife. Petruchio plans to demonstrate his wife’s obedience to her father.
Lucentio and Bianca married secretly. They return now, while Petruchio and Kate are visiting and Baptista hosts a party for his daughters. Petruchio challenges Lucentio and Hortensio to a competition to see whose wife is the most obedient. Petruchio wins. Kate gives a lecture about how to become a good wife.

Question 12

Summary of Two Gentlemen of Verona?

Answer 12

“The Two Gentlemen of Verona” (1594–1595) is a comedy about two close friends living in Verona, Valentine and Proteus.
Source: the Spanish prose romance Los Siete Libros de la Diana (The Seven Books of the Diana) by the Portuguese writer Jorge de Montemayor.
Valentine is leaving but Proteus stays in Verona for Julia. Julia is attracted to Proteus, but doesn’t express her love.
Proteus’ father, Antonio, sends him on a mission to Milan. He finds that Valentine and Silvia, Duke’s daughter are in love. Proteus falls in love with Silvia at first sight. The duke wants to marriage of Silvia to the foolish Thurio. Valentine plans to elope with Silvia, but the jealous Proteus tells the duke of the plot. The Duke banishes Valentine and Proteus woos Silvia. She reminds him about Julia.
Valentine is made their chief by outlaws. Silvia persuades Sir Eglamour, to find Valentine, and she is also captured. The duke and Thurio go after her, taking Proteus. Julia, disguised as Sebastian, follows him. Proteus rescues Silvia. He tries to force himself on her but Valentine prevents him. They quarrel and are reconciled. All this is heard by Julia and, misunderstanding and faints. Proteus knows she is Julia seeing the ring and his love revives. The duke approves the marriage of Silvia and Valentine; the two couples agree to marry.

Question 13

Summary of Love’s Labour’s Lost

Answer 13

King Ferdinand of Navarre, decides to have three years of study and contemplation at his court. To avoid distraction he imposes a ban on women, who will not be allowed within a mile of the court. His courtier Berowne, doesn’t like the ban as the king has an ambassadorial meeting with the Princess of France.
The Princess, refused entry, protest by camping in front of the court. In the meantime, Don Armado, himself in love with Jacquenetta, lets Costard off his punishment in return for Costard delivering a love letter to her. Before he can deliver it he is approached by Berowne, who asks him to take a letter to Rosaline. Costard gets the letters mixed up.
Ferdinand is in love with the Princess. They decide to stop the silly game. King of France has died, so the Princess has to leave immediately. She tells Ferdinand that if he spends a full year in solitude in a hermitage, in penance she will consider his marriage proposal

Question 14

Quotes from Love’s Labour’s Lost

Answer 14

Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live registered upon our brazen tombs,
And then grace us in the disgrace of death
When, spite of cormorant devouring time,
Th’endeavour of this present breath may buy
That honour which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge
And make us heirs of all eternity.
(King, Act 1 Scene 1)
Our court shall be a little academe,
Still and contemplative in living art.
(King, Act 1 Scene 1)
As painfully to pore upon a book
To seek the light of truth, while truth the while
Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look.
(Berowne, Act 1 Scene 1)
Assist me, some extemporal god of rhyme, for I am sure I shall turn sonnet. Devise, wit: write, pen, for I am for whole volumes in folio.
(Armado, Act 1 Scene 2)

Question 15

Summary of Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 15

“Romeo and Juliet” (1594–1595) is a Tragedy. *
Source: a poem by Arthur Brooke called The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet, written in 1562. He also could have known the popular tale of Romeo and Juliet from a collection by William Painter, entitled The Palace of Pleasure, which was written sometime before 1580.
Servants of the Capulet and Montague families is stopped by the Prince. He says, if anyone breaks the peace, he’ll be punished.
Capulet plans a feast to introduce his daughter, Juliet, who is almost fourteen, to the Count Paris who would like to marry her. Montague’s son, Romeo, and his friends Benvolio hear of the party and decide to go in disguise. Romeo falls in love with Juliet. They are forced to leave the party just as Romeo and Juliet have each discovered the other’s identity. Romeo talks to Juliet when she appears on her balcony.
Mercutio is accidentally killed by Tybalt. Tybalt is killed by Romeo and is banished for the deed. With Friar Lawrence’s help, it is arranged that Romeo will spend the night with Juliet before taking refuge at Mantua. The day for the marriage of Juliet to Paris is brought forward. Capulet is angry that Juliet does not wish to marry Paris.
Friar Lawrence helps Juliet by providing a sleeping potion that will make everyone think she’s dead. Romeo will then come to her tomb and take her away. Romeo, hearing instead that Juliet is dead, buys poison and kills the mourning Paris. Romeo takes the poison and dies just as Juliet awakes from her drugged sleep. She learns what has happened and stabs herself. The deaths of their children lead the families to make peace.

Question 16

Quotes from Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 16

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite. (Juliet Act 2 Scene 2)

O true apothecary,
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.
(Romeo, Act 5 Scene 3)
O happy dagger,
This is thy sheath: there rust, and let me die.
(Juliet, Act 5 Scene 3)

Question 17

Summary of Richard II?

Answer 17

Source: Raphael Holinshed, The Third Volume of Chronicles (1587).
It opens in the court of King Richard II in Coventry, where a dispute between Henry Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gaunt, and Thomas Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk, is to be resolved by a tournament. At the last minute, Richard stops the contest: he banishes Mowbray for life. Richard is misled into misgovernment by sycophants – his cousin, Aumerle. John of Gaunt, deeply affected by his son’s banishment, dies after expressing disillusionment with Richard’s rule.
When Richard returns he finds that his Uncle, the Duke of York has joined Bolingbroke; his Welsh allies have abandoned him, and his friends have been executed on the orders of Bolingbroke. He agrees to go to London where Parliament will mediate in the dispute. He is forced to accept Bolingbroke as King Henry IV.
Richard is imprisoned in Pontefract castle. Pierce of Exton murders him thinking it was Henry’s wish. King Henry goes to Jerusalem in mourning

Question 18

Summary of Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Answer 18

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1595–1596) is a Comedy. *
Source: Plutarch’s Lives translated by Sir Thomas North, The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes (1579). Shakespeare took both Theseus and Hippolyta from this translation of Plutarch.
Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, A courtier tells him about his daughter, Hermia, doesn’t want Demetrius as a husband: she’s in love with Lysander. The Duke tells Hermia to obey her father, or either die or accept a life as a nun in Diana’s temple. Lysander and Hermia plan to elope, and they tell Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, but he hates her and loves Hermia. The lovers run away from Athens but get lost in the woods. They are followed by Demetrius, and then by Helena.
Oberon, king of the fairies overhears Helena and Demetrius arguing and sends his mischievous servant, Puck, to get a flower whose juice has the power to make people fall in love. He instructs Puck to put some drops on Demetrius’ eyes. He puts the juice in the eyes of the sleeping Lysander, he falls in love with Helena and rejects Hermia. Some artisans are rehearsing a play about the tragic love story of Pyramus and Thisbe to present before Theseus on his wedding day. Puck plays a trick on them by giving Bottom an ass’s head which frightens the others away. Bottom is lured towards the sleeping Titania whom Oberon has treated with the flower juice. Oberon restores Titania’s sight and wakes her. She is appalled and reunites with Oberon. Oberon puts magic juice on Demetrius’s eyes so that both he and Lysander pursue Helena until the four lovers fall asleep, exhausted. Happily reunited with each other, Lysander with Hermia, Demetrius with Helena, they agree to share the Duke’s wedding day.

Question 19

Quotes from Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Answer 19

Ay me, for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth. . . .
Lysander
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
(Oberon, Act 2 Scene 1)
Jack shall have Jill,
Nought shall go ill,
The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.
(Puck, Act 3 Scene 2)
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Puck
I have had a most rare vision. I had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was… The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was.
(Bottom, Act 4 Scene 1)

Question 20

Summary of King John?

Answer 20

Source: The primary source for King John was an anonymous play in two parts: The Troublesome Reign of King John, published in 1591.
King John has been betrayed by his nephew, Arthur, who is conducting a rebellion backed by the French King. The King of France demands that he surrender his throne but, instead, John sends a force against him under Philip Faulconbridge. The armies clash at Angiers but there is no decisive victory. John makes a peace settlement with the French King.
The Pope has excommunicated him. He gives orders for his nephew Arthur’s execution but his chamberlain, Hubert, disobeys the order. While trying to escape, Arthur falls to his death. John is forced to hand over his crown to Pandulph, although receives it back, but his kingdom is now under the Pope’s control. Pandulph’s and French armies meet at Edmundsbury. The nobles don’t trust the French King and they return to John. The French King comes to terms with John through Pandulph, but John is poisoned by a monk. He is succeeded by his son, King Henry III.

Question 21

Summary of Merchant of Venice?

Answer 21

Source: Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, in his collection of tales, Il Pecorone, Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta
A young Venetian, Bassanio, needs a loan of three thousand ducats to get Portia. He approaches his friend Antonio, a merchant. Antonio’s wealth is invested in his fleet, which is currently at Sea. Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who hates Antonio because of Antonio’s anti-semitic behaviour towards him lends him money with condition that the loan must be repaid in three months or Shylock will cut a pound of flesh from him.
Because of the terms of Portia’s father’s will, all suitors must choose from among three caskets, one of which contains a portrait of her. If wrong casket is chosen, they can’t marry any girl. Bassanio chooses the lead casket, which contains her picture, and Portia happily agrees to marry him immediately.
Bassanio comes to know that Antonio’s ships are destroyed. Portia follows him, accompanied by her maid, Nerissa disguised as a male lawyer and his clerk. When Bassanio arrives the date for the repayment to Shylock has passed and Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh. Bassanio offers much more but Shylock, now angry by the loss of his daughter, is intent on seeking revenge on the Christians.
Portia, as a representative of the Duke, decides that Shylock can have the pound of flesh as long as he doesn’t draw blood. Since it is obvious that to draw a pound of flesh would kill Antonio, Shylock is denied his suit. Moreover, for conspiring to murder a Venetian citizen, Portia orders that he should forfeit all his wealth. Half is to go to Venice, and half to Antonio. Antonio gives his half back on the condition that Shylock gives it to his daughter. Shylock must also convert to Christianity. News arrives that Antonio’s remaining ships have returned safely.

Question 22

Quotes from Merchant of Venice?

Answer 22

All that glisters is not gold.
(Morocco, Act 2 Scene 7)
Let him look to his bond.
(Shylock, Act 3 Scene 1)

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
(Shylock, Act 3 Scene 1)
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.
(Antonio, Act 1 Scene 1)
How like a fawning publican he looks!
I hate him for he is a Christian,
But more, for that in low simplicity
He lends out money gratis and brings down
The rate of usance here with us in Venice.
(Shylock, Act 1 Scene 3)
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?
Shylock Act III Scene 1

Question 23

Summary of Henry IV part I?

Answer 23

“Henry IV Part I” (1597–1598)
Henry Bolingbroke has usurped his cousin, Richard II, to become King of England. News comes of a rebellion in Wales, where his cousin, Edmund Mortimer, has been taken prisoner by Owen Glendower, and in the North, where Harry Hotspur, the young son of the Earl of Northumberland, is fighting the Earl of Douglas.
Henry (Hal), his heir shows no interest in princely matters, and spends all his time with hedonistic Sir John Falstaff. Henry helps him after his robbery. Hotspur joins a plot with his father and his uncle, Worcester, to support Glendower, Mortimer, and Douglas against the king. Hal is given a command in the army against Hotspur. Falstaff recruits’ beggars. The King offers to pardon Hotspur. Falstaff’s conduct is cowardly. Hal saves his father’s life and kills Hotspur. Falstaff, claims to kill Hotspur. The king’s army triumphs over the rebels and Worcester is condemned to death. Henry continues the war against Mortimer.

Question 24

Summary of Henry IV part II

Answer 24

“Henry IV Part II” (1597–1598)
King Henry IV has been victorious at the battle of Shrewsbury, but the Earl of Northumberland hears rumours that his son, Harry Hotspur, has been the victor. Northumberland and the Archbishop of York decide to oppose the king’s forces, led by Prince John. The news of Hotspur’s death finally comes and Hotspur’s widow and Lady Northumberland asks them not to go to war.
The Lord Chief Justice criticises Sir John Falstaff for his behaviour in war. Acquaintances between Hal and Falstaff and his companions are renewed. Pistol arrives and tells Falstaff that he should have departed for the wars by now. Falstaff recruits’ men, conforming to his usual corrupt methods.
The king is very ill. Hall arrives from London. He thinks the sleeping king is dead and he lifts the crown and tries it on. The king wakes up and is angered by this, but reconciled before the king prepares himself for death.
When Falstaff hears of the king’s death and Hal’s succession, he expects office. However banishes him. Falstaff left hurt and hoping a change in mind, while King Henry plans a war against France.

Question 25

Summary of Much Ado about Nothing?

Answer 25

Source: Lodovico Ariosto, translated by Sir John Harington, Orlando Furioso (1591).
Benedick, Claudio and Don Pedro arrive at Leonato’s house in Messina. Beatrice and Benedick argue with each other and Claudio, a soldier falls in love with Leonato’s daughter, Hero. Don John, Don Pedro’s evil half-brother, tricks Claudio into believing that he has seen Hero being unfaithful. Don Pedro and others try to bring Benedick and Beatrice to love each other. Claudio accuses Hero of infidelity and refuses to marry her. Hero’s innocence is proven and Claudio repents. Benedick proposes Beatrice.

Question 26

Henry V summary?

Answer 26

On his succession, King Henry V wanted to prove that he is fit to rule. France sends tennis balls to provoke him and he prepares to invade France. Three of the king’s friends, Scroop, Cambridge and Grey, plotting against him and he condemns them to death. Pistol, Nym, and Bardolph, the companions of Henry’s dissolute days in London and go to war. The news comes of Sir John Falstaff’s death.
The English take the town of Harfleur and the king moves on towards Calais. The French are big in numbers but Henry inspires the troops with a powerful speech. French are defeated, with heavy losses. Henry returns to London in triumph before making peace with the French king. Henry marries French Princess Katherine to link England and France.

Question 27

Julius Caesar summary?

Answer 27

Source: Plutarch’s Parallel Lives
The line, Latin for “you, too, Brutus?,” is lifted from Suetonius’s The Twelve Caesars
While going to his victory celebration, Caesar is stopped by a strange, who says that he should ‘beware the ides of March’ Cassius and Brutus fear that Caesar will accept offers to become Emperor. Cassius, Casca, and their allies visit Brutus to persuade him and plan Caesar’s murder.
On the 15th March Caesar is urged not to go to the Senate by his wife, Calphurnia, who had dreamed his murder. He goes and is stabbed and dies as Brutus gives the final blow (He says Et tu Brute!). Brutus addresses the people of Rome to explain the reasons and their fears for Caesar’s ambition. Brutus calms the crowd, but Antony’s speech stirs them to riot and they are forced to flee from the city. Brutus and Cassius gather an army to fight Mark Antony, who has joined with Caesar’s great-nephew, Octavius, and Lepidus. Away from Rome, Brutus and Cassius quarrel over funds for their soldiers’ pay. Brutus receives news of his wife’s suicide in Rome, but he sees Caesar’s ghost, unable to sleep. In the war, Cassius dies and Brutus commits suicide. Antony praises Brutus as ‘the noblest Roman of them all’, and orders a formal funeral.

Question 28

Quotes from Julius Caesar?

Answer 28

Beware the Ides of March.
(Soothsayer, Act 1 Scene 2)
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
(Cassius, Act 1 Scene 2)
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look:
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous
(Caesar, Act 1 Scene 2)
But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.
(Casca, Act 1 Scene 2)
Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods.
(Brutus, Act 2 Scene 1)
When beggars die there are no comets seen:
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
(Calphurnia, Act 2, Scene 2)
Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
(Caesar, Act 2 Scene 2)
Et tu, Brute?—Then fall, Caesar.
(Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1)
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.
(Antony, Act 3 Scene 1)
Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.
(Brutus, Act 3 Scene 2)
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
(Antony, Act 3, Scene 2)
This was the most unkindest cut of all.
(Antony, Act 3 Scene 2)
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
(Brutus, Act 4 Scene 3)
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
(Mark Antony Act 3, Scene 2)

Question 29

Summary of As You Like It?

Answer 29

“As You Like It” (1599–1600) is a comedy. *
Source: Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie, a novel written by Thomas Lodge, published in 1590.
The Duke banishes Rosalind. Celia her cousin, goes with Rosalind to seek the real Duke, Duke Ferdinand, her father in the Forest. For safety they disguise themselves - Rosalind as the boy Ganymede and Celia as his sister Aliena – and the fool Touchstone accompanies them.
On hearing of a plot by his brother to kill him, Orlando also flees to the Forest and meets exiled Duke. Posting love lyrics through the forest, Orlando encounters Rosalind disguised as Ganymede. Who wants him to show the strength of love by wooing her(as Ganymede) The shepherd Silvius is in love with Phoebe, who loves Ganymede, while Touchstone is pursuing the goat-herd Audrey.
Oliver has his life saved by his brother, expresses remorse for his past behaviour and falls in love with Aliena. Orlando doesn’t want to woo Ganymede anymore as he wants Rosalind in his life. Ganymede promises to bring the real Rosalind(who is herself) to marry him.

Question 30

Quotes from As You Like it?

Answer 30

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
(Jaques, Act 2 Scene 7)
O, how full of briars is this working-day world!
(Rosalind, Act 1 Scene 3)
Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.
(Rosalind, Act 1 Scene 3)
Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,
Frosty, but kindly.
(Adam, Act 2 Scene 3)
In thy youth thou wast as true a lover
As ever sighed upon a midnight pillow.
(Silvius, Act 2 Scene 4)
We that are true lovers run into strange capers.
(Touchstone, Act 2 Scene 4)
Thou speakest wiser than thou art ware of.
(Rosalind, Act 2 Scene 4)
Under the greenwood tree…
(Amiens, Act 2 Scene 5)
I met a fool i’ the forest,
A motley fool.
(Jaques, Act 2 Scene 7)
And thereby hangs a tale.
(Jaques, Act 2 Scene 7)
Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak.
(Rosalind, Act 3 Scene 2)
Down on your knees,
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man’s love.
(Rosalind, Act 3 Scene 5)
I pray you do not fall in love with me,
For I am falser than vows made in wine.
(Rosalind, Act 3 Scene 5)
Forever and a day.
(Orlando, Act 4 Scene 1)
O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes!
(Orlando, Act 5 Scene 2)

Question 31

Summary of Twelfth Night?

Answer 31

Viola and her twin brother Sebastian have been shipwrecked; each thinks the other is drowned. Viola disguises herself as a man Cesario and becomes the servant of the Duke, Orsino. Orsino is in love with Olivia, who rejects him. He sends Cesario (who is Viola) with Oliva falls in love. Viola is in love with Orsino, who is confused by his feelings for the new ‘male’ servant.
Olivia’s butler, Malvolio, disapproves of all the other members of her household – her drunken uncle Sir Toby Belch, his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek and her servants. They play a trick on him. Maria forges a fake letter from Olivia to Malvolio, saying that she loves him and he should wear yellow stockings and smile all the time. When Malvolio does that Olivia thinks he is mad. Sebastian arrives with his friend and rescuer Antonio and meets Olivia, who mistakes him for Cesario and asks him to marry her, he agrees. Eventually, all is revealed, the brother and sister are reunited and the love triangle is resolved into two couples, Sebastian and Olivia, and Viola and Orsino.

Question 32

Quotes from Twelfth Night?

Answer 32

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die.
That strain again, it had a dying fall.
(Orsino Act 1, Scene 1)
Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.
(Feste, Act 1 Scene 5)

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
(Feste, Act 1 Scene 5)
Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house,
(Viola, Act 1 Scene 5)

Question 33

Quotes from Hamlet?

Answer 33

O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 2)

Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
(Polonius, Act 1 Scene 3)

…though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honoured in the breach than the observance.
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 4)

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
(Marcellus, Act 1 Scene 4)

That one may smile and smile and be a villain.
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 5)

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy.
(Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 5)

Brevity is the soul of wit.
(Polonius, Act 2 Scene 2)

Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.
(Polonius, Act 2 Scene 2)
(This is often summarised or misquoted as: ‘There’s method in his madness’)

There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.
(Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2)

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
(Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2)

To be, or not to be, that is the question.
(Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1)

The lady protests too much, methinks.
(Gertrude, Act 3 Scene 2)
(This is often misquoted as: ‘Methinks the lady doth protest too much’)

How all occasions do inform against me, and spur my dull revenge.
(This famous soliloquy by Hamlet appears only in the Second Quarto in an extended Act 4 Scene 3)

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: A fellow of infinite jest.
(Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 1)
(This is often misquoted as: ‘Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well’)

If it be now, ‘tis not to come: if it be not to come, it will be now: if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.
(Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 2)

The rest is silence.
(Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 2)

Goodnight, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
(Horatio, Act 5 Scene 2)

Question 34

Summary of Hamlet?

Answer 34

Source: Hamlet is based on a Norse (Scandinavian) legend about the tale of Amlet, composed by Saxo Grammaticus in Latin around 1200 AD. He is also inspired by the death of his younger son Hamnet.
Young Hamlet returns home from university to discover that his father (Old Hamlet) is dead, and his mother, Gertrude, has married his uncle Claudius, who is now the king. Fortinbras is also threatening to attack Scotland.
He meets the ghost of his father who accused Claudius of his murder and urged him to revenge. Hamlet fakes madness to find the proof that the ghost is telling the truth. With the help of his friend Horatio, he asks a travelling band of actors to re-enact the story of his father’s murder in front of Claudius and Gertrude, to see Claudius’s reaction. During an intense meeting with his mother kills the hidden eavesdropper Polonius, father to both Ophelia and her brother, Laertes. Claudius despatched him to England under guard, to have him murdered, but he escapes.
Ophelia, after getting rejected by Hamlet and the death of her father becomes mad and drowns herself. Her brother, Laertes returns and determined to find out the truth. Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is the reason and he seeks revenge. Claudius convinces Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a fencing match and advises Laertes, with a poisoned sword. Claudius also poisons a glass of wine for Hamlet. Gertrude drinks from the glass first and dies.
Hamlet is slightly wounded by Laertes; the swords get switched and Hamlet wounds Laertes with the poisoned one. Realising that he is about to die, Laertes confesses everything, forgives Hamlet and dies. Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the remaining poisoned wine and both die. Young Fortinbras arrives gets the control of Scotland.
Analysis
The play tells us about the dilemma of Hamlet and his inaction, which is his tragic flaw. He wants to find a bigger reason for avenging his father’s death. Another aspect of the play is the relationship of Gertrude and Hamlet which is considered as Oedipus Complex (Freudian Term) It also talks about the difference between appearance and reality where Hamlet was always questioning the ghost.

Question 35

Summary of The Merry Wives of Windser?

Answer 35

“The Merry Wives of Windsor” (1600–1601)
Falstaff takes a fancy to two wealthy married women, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. He writes identical love letters to them, hoping to get some money from them. He tries to engage the assistance of Pistol and Nym but is scorned by them. They inform the husbands of Mistresses Page and Ford of Falstaff’s plot. The wives compare their letters and resolve to trick the “greasy knight.” Twice the wives fool Falstaff, who is dumped in a muddy ditch and, later, disguised as a witch and beaten. The two couples, Pages and Fords plan another attempt to fool Falstaff.
In Windsor Forest, Falstaff dresses himself absurdly as Herne the Hunter. The women and their husbands, are wearing witch and fairy costumes, to frighten and tease him. All identities are revealed at the end, and, in an atmosphere of good humour, Fenton is welcomed into the Page family and Falstaff is forgiven.

Question 36

Summary of Troilus and Cressida?

Answer 36

For seven years the Greeks and Trojans are in war because the Trojan prince Paris has abducted of Helen from her Greek husband Menelaus. The Greek army is inside Troy and the war has reached the stalemate. Achilles, their greatest champion, refuses to fight and is with his lover, Patroclus. Ulysses tries to get Achilles by making his jealous of Ajax. The Trojans are thinking about the war and whether they should return Helen to the Greeks. Hector says that she is not worth the lives she costs, but agrees when later.
Troilus is distracted from military concerns by his love for Cressida. She is the daughter of Calchas. After just one night together the lovers are separated – Cressida is sent to join her father in the Greek camp, in exchange for the captured general Antenor. Hector goes into battle with Achilles, who learns of the death of Patroclus. Achilles can’t defeat Hector in single combat, but catches him unarmed and kills him. Achilles drags Hector’s body around the walls of Troy. Troilus takes over from Hector as the Trojan champion, vowing revenge on Achilles. The dying, disease-ridden Pandarus is left to end the play.

Question 37

Summary of All’s Well that ends Well?

Answer 37

“All’s Well That Ends Well” (1602–1603)
Set in France and Italy, All’s Well That Ends Well is a story of one-sided romance, based on a tale from Boccaccio’s The Decameron.
Helen is under the protection of the widowed Countess of Rossillion after her father’s(physician of the countess) death and loves the countess’ son Bertram. Helen cures the sick French king and is rewarded by an offer to choose a husband. She names Bertram; he resists. When forced by the king to marry her, he refuses to sleep with her and leaves for Italian wars. He says that he will only accept Helen if she obtains a ring from his finger and becomes pregnant with his child.
She goes to Italy disguised as a pilgrim and suggests a ‘bed trick’ whereby she will take the place of Diana, a widow’s daughter whom Bertram is trying to seduce. It enables Helen to fulfil Bertram’s conditions, leaving him no option but to marry her.

Question 38

Summary of Measure for Measure?

Answer 38

“Measure for Measure” (1604–1605) is a comedy.
Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, appoints Angelo to rule in his absence as he wants to take a break. He enforces the immorality laws. Claudio, gets his fiancée, Juliet, pregnant and sentenced to death. His sister, Isabella, about to take her vows as a nun, hears the news and begs for mercy. Angelo denies her request but says he will think about it. Next day he tells her that he will pardon her brother if she sleeps with him. In the meantime, Duke Vincentio disguises himself as a friar, to observe Angelo’s rule. He tells Juliet to prepare for Claudio’s death.
Isabella refuses. She visits Claudio in prison and tells him that he will have to die. Duke tells her that she should agree to it and he will ask Marianna(rejected by Angelo without dowry) in disguise to sleep with him. Angelo is preparing to double-cross Isabella with Claudio’s execution. The Duke, persuades the prison governor to execute a long-term prisoner, Barnadine, instead, and deliver his head, Angelo. Barnadine refuses so they use the head of a dead prisoner.
Marianna fulfils her part and the ‘friar’ tells Isabella that Angelo has deceived her and had Claudio executed. He also announces his return, as Duke. Isabella begs for justice and Angelo is exposed in public. He is forced to marry Marianna. Claudio and Juliet are reunited and Duke proposed to Isabella.

Question 39

Summary of Othello?

Answer 39

Source: Giraldi Cinthio’s Gli Hecatommithi, (1117). This was a collection of a hundred tales printed in Italy in the Sixteenth Century.
Iago complains to Roderigo that Cassio has been promoted by Othello as his Lieutenant instead of him and wants revenge. Brabantio is informed that his daughter has left to marry Othello, who is a moor. He confronts Othello, and they take their argument to the Duke, who has summoned Othello to ask him to sail to Cyprus to stop a Turkish invasion. Othello and Desdemona convince him that they love each other, and are permitted to travel together.
Iago manipulates Cassio to make him drunk and get into a street fight with Roderigo. Othello strips Cassio of his rank for misbehaviour. Then Iago decides to make Othello believe his wife is unfaithful. And ask Cassio to plead to Desdemona for instalment. Iago suggests to Othello that Desdemona is Cassio’s lover. Mad with jealousy, Othello promotes him and asks for help to kill Cassio and Desdemona. Iago plants Desdemona’s handkerchief in Cassio’s room. Cassio gives it to his mistress, Bianca. Othello believes Iago. Cassio wounds Roderigo; Iago stabs Cassio in the leg. Othello thinks Iago has killed Casio. He returns home, ready to kill Desdemona. Iago kills Roderigo.
Othello kisses sleeping Desdemona her, wake her, and accuses her again and smothers her after she pleads innocence. Emilia enters and Desdemona declared herself guiltless and Othello is innocent and dies. Iago and others enter, and Emilia defends Desdemona’s innocence, blaming Iago. Othello tries to kill Iago. Iago kills Emilia and runs away. Othello commits suicide. Iago is seized.

Question 40

Some important quotes from Othello

Answer 40

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
(Iago, Act 1 Scene 1)
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe.
(Iago, Act 1 Scene 1)
She wished she had not heard it, yet she wished
That heaven had made her such a man.
(Othello, Act 1 Scene 3)
My noble father,
I do perceive here a divided duty.
To you I am bound for life and education:
My life and education both do learn me
How to respect you. You are the lord of duty,
I am hitherto your daughter.
(Desdemona, Act 1 Scene 3)
Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.
(Iago, Act 1 scene 3)
Put money in thy purse.
(Iago, Act 1 Scene 3)
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have wakened death!
(Othello, Act 2 Scene 1)
Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.
(Cassio, Act 2 Scene 3)
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy:
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
(Iago, Act 3 Scene 3)
O, now, for ever
Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content.
(Othello, Act 3 Scene 3)
‘Tis not a year or two shows us a man:
They are all but stomachs, and we all but food:
They eat us hungerly, and when they are full
They belch us.
(Emilia, Act 3 Scene 4)
Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
(Othello, Act 5 Scene 2)
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.
(Emilia, Act 5 Scene 2)
I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
(Othello, Act 5 scene 2)

Question 41

Summary of King Lear?

Answer 41

“King Lear” (1605–1606) is a tragedy. *
Source: Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England and an old play called The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three daughters Goneril, Ragan and Cordella.
Lear, King of Britain has retired and dividing his kingdom between his three daughters according to how much they love him. Goneril, Duchess of Albany, the oldest, and Regan, Duchess of Cornwall, the second, both speak eloquently and receive their portion, but Cordelia, the youngest, can say that she loves him according to a daughter’s duty to a father. Lear in anger enrages disowns her.
King of France takes her as his wife and Earl of Kent is banished for taking Cordelia’s side. The king will live alternatively between Goneril and Regan.
Meanwhile, Edmund persuades his father Gloucester, that his legitimate brother, Edgar, is plotting against his life and warns Edgar that his life is in danger. Edgar flees and disguises himself as a beggar. Goneril feels anguished with Lear’s followers at Albany’s castle. Kent in disguise becomes the servant to Lear, supporting the King against Oswald, servant of Goneril. Lear eventually curses Goneril and goes to Regan.
Edmund is courted by each sister and persuades Cornwall that Gloucester is more loyal to the King, Gloucester assists Lear and fool when the King is rejected by Regan. King regrets his behaviour Cordelia turns mand and goes out into the wilderness in a storm. Gloucester takes them to a shelter.
Edgar, pretending to be mad, shares shelter with king and fool. Gloucester has been blinded by Regan and Cornwall. Cornwall is killed by a servant, but Regan continues to rule with Edmund’s help. Edgar leads Gloucester, who doesn’t recognize Edgar, to the coast and helps him to come to an acceptance of his life. Lear is rescued and reunited with Cordelia. Gloucester meets him but dies after he reconciles with Edgar.
The French forces are defeated by Edmund, and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Goneril has poisoned Regan in jealousy as they both love Edmund, but Edgar, challenges Edmund in disguise and kills him. Seeing no way out, Goneril kills herself. The dying Edmund confesses his crimes, but Cordelia is hanged. Lear’s carries the body of Cordelia in his arms and dies.
Some Points: In this tragedy, we see how Pride and arrogance of Lear leads to disastrous results. He rewards his greedy daughter and abandons his truthful and honest daughter Cordelia. That results in him being thrown out of their houses and the death of Cordelia. The play also tells us about how if one supports flattery over honesty, even with their servants, it can result in downfall. People like Kent and Gloucester were true servants who didn’t abandon Lear even when he was old and bankrupt.

Question 42

Quotes from King Lear?

Answer 42

Cordelia: Nothing.
Lear: Nothing can come of nothing, speak again.
(Act 1 Scene 1)

Now, gods, stand up for bastards!
(Edmund, Act 1 Scene 2)

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child!
(Lear, Act 1 Scene 4)

Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.
(Fool, Act, 1 Scene 5)
Blow winds and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow,
You cataracts and hurricanoes.
(Lear, Act 3 Scene 2)

I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.
(Lear, Act 3 Scene 2)

As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods:
They kill us for their sport.
(Gloucester, Act 4 Scene 1)

So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough.
(Gloucester, Act 4 Scene 1)

They told me I was everything: ‘tis a lie, I am no ague-proof.
(Lear, Act 4 Scene 5)

Get thee glass eyes,
And like a scurvy politician seem
To see the things thou dost not.
(Lear, Act 4 Scene 5)

When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools.
(Lear, Act 4 Scene 5)

Men must endure
Their going hence, even as their coming hither.
(Edgar, Act 5 Scene 2)

When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness.
(Lear, Act 5 Scene 3)

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all?
(Lear, Act 5 Scene 3)

We that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
(Edgar, Act 5 Scene 3)

Question 43

Summary of Macbeth?

Answer 43

“Macbeth” (1605–1606) is a Tragedy. *
Sources: Macbeth was Holinshed’s Chronicles (Macbeth), who based his account of Scotland’s history, and Macbeth’s in particular, on the Scotorum Historiae, written in 1527 by Hector Boece.
King Duncan’s generals, Macbeth and Banquo, encounter three witches who give prophesy that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and then become King of Scotland, while Banquo’s heirs shall be kings. Duncan creates Macbeth Thane of Cawdor in thanks for his success in the recent battles and then proposes to make a brief visit to Macbeth’s castle.
Lady Macbeth receives the news of prophecy and vows to help him become king by any means she can. Duncan comes to their house and is killed by Macbeth after Lady Macbeth drug the guard with wine and leaves the bloody daggers beside the dead king and the guards are killed by Macbeth. Macduff arrives and when the murder is discovered Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain flee and are blamed for the murder using the guards.
Macbeth is elected King of Scotland and arranges for Banquo and his son, Fleance to be killed, but the Fleance escapes. At a banquet, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo. Macbeth learns from the witches that he won’t be killed till Birnam Wood comes to his castle, Dunsinane. No-one born of woman can kill him. Macbeth kills Macduff’s family while Macduff joins Malcolm at the court of the English king, Edward. Malcolm and Macduff decide to lead an army against Macbeth.
Macbeth is told that Birnam Wood is moving towards his Dunsinane. The situation is that Malcolm’s army is carrying branches from the forest as camouflage for their assault on the castle. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep and tries to wash the imaginary blood on her hand. She kills herself.
Macduff challenges Macbeth. Macbeth learns his adversary is the child of a Caesarian birth, Macduff kills Macbeth and brings his head to Malcolm, who is crowned king.
Some Points: Macbeth is a great warrior and liked by the king, but the three witches and his wife aroused the over-ambition inside him and he kills the king. He is always in doubt and feels the guilt. That guilt also kills Lady Macbeth. In the fear of losing the crown, he commits murders after murders and in the end tragically killed by Macduff.

Question 44

Quotes from Macbeth?

Answer 44

First Witch: When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: When the hurly-burly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.
Third Witch: That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch: Where the place?
Second Witch: Upon the heath.
Third Witch: There to meet with Macbeth.
(Act 1 Scene 1)
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
(Witches, Act 1 Scene 1)
If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well
It were done quickly.
(Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 7)
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
(Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 1)
That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold:
What hath quenched them hath given me fire.
(Lady Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 2)
Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep: the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
(Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 2)
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?
(Macbeth, Act 2 Scene 2)
It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood.
(Macbeth, Act 3 Scene 4)
Double, double toil and trouble:
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
(Witches, Act 4 Scene 1)
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
(Second Witch, Act 4 Scene 1)
Macbeth shall never vanquished be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.
(Third apparition, Act 4 Scene 1)
What’s done cannot be undone.
(Lady Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 1)
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee: Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped.
(Macduff, Act 5 Scene 7)
Lay on, Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’
(Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 7)

Question 45

Summary of Julius Caesar?

Answer 45

Source: Plutarch’s Lives, which was translated by Thomas North in 1579.
After defeating Brutus and Cassius, following the assassination of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony becomes one of the three rulers of the Roman Empire, together with Octavius Caesar and Lepidus, He loves the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra, and settles in Alexandria. However, he returns to Rome when Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey attacks them.
After wife’s death, Antony marries Octavius’ sister, Octavia, for peace with Pompey. When Cleopatra hears about Antony’s marriage, she is angry with jealousy. Antony goes to Athens, but when there is a war between Caesar and Pompey, Antony goes to Egypt.
Caesar declares war on both Antony and Cleopatra. When the Romans arrive Antony is offered a choice of how to fight and he chooses to fight on sea. The Egyptian navy is not strong and Caesar defeats him.
Cleopatra goes to her tomb and sends a message to Antony that she is dead. Antony He botches wants to commit suicide and wounds himself. His followers take him to Cleopatra’s tomb, where he dies in her arms. Cleopatra bits herself with some poisonous snakes. Caesar arrives just after her death and orders that the two lovers be buried together.

Question 46

Summary of Coriolanus?

Answer 46

“Coriolanus” (1607–1608) Roman war tragedy.
Unrest due to Famine in Rome between people the aristocrats of Rome. The people hate Caius Martius, son of Volumnia and he hates them. The citizens revolt against the patricians thinking that they are hoarding corn for themselves. They are rewarded with the creation of two people’s representatives, or tribunes, who are given new powers to sit in the Senate. Caius Martius leads the Roman army to win against Volscians and honoured with the title ‘Coriolanus’.
Coriolanus seeks for consulship (the highest elected office of Rome and agrees to display humility to win the citizens, but he reveals his hate for them and they turn against him and banish him. He joins the Volscians and his former enemy Tullus Aufidius to march on Rome. He is persuaded by his family to spare the city. He establishes peace, but is killed by the resentful Volscians.

Question 47

Summary of Timon of Athens?

Answer 47

“Timon of Athens” (1607–1608) is a tragedy
Timon is a rich and Generous Athenian. Timon shows her generosity, by paying a friend’s debts to free her from prison. Philosopher Apemantus doubts her friend. Timon welcomes young general Alcibiades and friends to a banquet, and gives gifts. Her steward Flavius finds out that the extravagant lifestyle has emptied her treasury. Timon’s creditors start to ask for payment. She asks her friends for help, but refused
Alcibiades’s servants committed a murder. She pleads for the soldier’s life and banished from Athens.
Timon hosts a party calling friends who betrayed her and serves them rocks and lukewarm water. Disillusioned she goes to a recluse outside Athens. She gives away the gold she found to Alcibiades, to pay the army she against Athens and Alcibiades’ two prostitutes, Timandra and Phrynia. More false friends come out to flatter her and driven away, along with the senators from Athens for war. Alcibiades wins war against Athenian senators, Timon died in the wilderness. Alcibiades ends the play reading an epitaph that Timon wrote for herself

Question 48

Summary of Pericles?

Answer 48

“Pericles” (1608–1609) is a tragi-comedy.
Source: The play draws upon two sources for the plot. The first is Confessio Amantis (1393) of John Gower, an English poet and contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer.
The medieval poet John Gower returns from the grave to tell the story of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

King Antiochus offers his daughter’s hand in marriage to any man who answers his riddle, with those who fail sentenced to death. Pericles hears the riddle and understands that it is a trick, were revealing the truth of the king’s incestuous relationship with his daughter will also result in death and flees the city, but Antiochus sends an assassin after him.
He is rescued by fishermen in a shipwreck and wins Theisa’s(King Simonides’ daughter) hand after a jousting contest. After Antiochus’s death, Pericles sets sail for Tyre to reclaim his throne with Thaisa. Thaisa dies giving birth to a daughter and is buried at sea in a storm. Pericles lands at Tarsus gives daughter Marina, to the care of Governor Cleon and his wife Dionyza. Thaisa’s is revived by the doctor Cerimon and becomes a nun.
After fifteen years, Marina’s stepmother, Dionyza, is envious of her beauty arranges her murder and pirates sell her into a brothel in Mytilene. Lysimachus, the governor, in disguise, is greatly impressed by her.
Pericles, still wandering the seas, arrives by chance at Mytilene, where his ship is visited by Lysimachus. He has Marina brought aboard the ship and their conversation reveals her to be his daughter, Pericles is overjoyed. In a dream, the goddess Diana directs him to make sacrifice at her temple in Ephesus.

Question 49

Summary of Cymberline?

Answer 49

“Cymbeline” (1609–1610) is a tragedy.
Cymbeline is the King of Britain marries an unpleasant woman with an arrogant son Cloten. Cymbeline arranges the marriage of his beautiful daughter, Imogen, to Cloten but she defies him and marries the poor but worthy Posthumus Leonatus in secret.
Cymbeline banishes Posthumus, who goes to Rome. Imogen gives him a diamond ring and he gives her a bracelet. Cymbeline banishes Posthumus to Rome, where he meets Iachimo, who wagers with him that he can seduce Innogen. Arriving in Britain, Iachimo realises that she is incorruptible, but, hiding in her bedroom, obtains evidence which convinces Posthumus that he has won the wager.
Posthumus commissions his servant Pisanio to kill Innogen at Milford Haven, but Pisanio helps her and she disguises herself as Fidele, a page, and go to Wales. Cloten pursues her to Wales disguised as Posthumus. He is determined to rape her and kill Posthumus. Instead, he is killed by his brother. Imogen who takes potion that makes her appear to be dead. Posthumus wages war against the Romans and defeats them. Iachimo confesses to his misdemeanours, lovers are reunited.

Question 50

Summary of Winter’s Tale?

Answer 50

“The Winter’s Tale” (1610–1611) is a tragi-comedy. *
Polixenes, King of Bohemia, has been on a nine-month visit to the court of his childhood friend Leontes, King of Sicilia, and his pregnant wife, Queen Hermione. Leontes wrongly thinks that his wife is in an affair with Polixenes. Leontes tells his trusted courtier, Camillo, to poison Polixenes. Camillo warns Polixenes of queen’s innocence and they depart for Bohemia together. Antigonus is ordered to leave Hermione’s newly born daughter on a desert shore.
Leontes tries Hermione for treason; when he denies Apollo’s declaration of her innocence, his son Mamillius dies and Queen is dead.
Antigonus leaves the baby girl on the coast of Bohemia and killed by a bear. An old shepherd bring her up and name her Perdita. Perdita is being courted by Polixenes’ son, Prince Florizel, disguised as a shepherd, Doricles.
Polixenes and Camillo come in disguise when the king denounces his son for courting a low-born shepherdess, Florizel and Perdita flee to Sicilia, with the assistance of Camillo
The shepherd and clown follow, bringing tokens that reveal Perdita’s true identity. Paulina reveals a statue of the dead queen and they say how beautiful and realistic the statue is, and it comes to life. Hermione and Leontes are reunited as their daughter, Perdita, is betrothed to Florizel.

Question 51

Summary of The Tempest?

Answer 51

“The Tempest” (1611–1612) is a tragi-comedy *
Source: The Tempest directly references Bermuda in Act I, scene ii, when Ariel says Prospero asked him to “fetch dew / from the still-vex’d Bermooths
Twelve years ago, Prospero was Duke of Milan, but more interested in books he leaves the state to his brother Antonio. Antonio gets the kingdom with Alonso, King of Naples, and King’s brother Sebastian. Prospero and his baby daughter Miranda were put to sea in a rotten boat and land on a distant island once ruled by the witch Sycorax but now inhabited only by her son, Caliban, and Ariel, a spirit.
Since then Prospero has ruled the island by using magic. He uses his powers to raise a storm which shipwrecks his enemies. Ariel leads Ferdinand, the King’s son, to the island, where he and Miranda fall instantly in love. Prospero sets heavy tasks to test Ferdinand.
The King of Naples searches for his son, although fearing him to be drowned. Sebastian, the king’s brother, plots to kill him and seize the crown. The drunken butler, Stephano, Trinculo, encounter Caliban and are persuaded to kill Prospero to rule the island. Ariel manages to create a fight between them
Satisfied that Ferdinand has met all his challenges, Prospero presents the young couple with a betrothal masque and agrees to the marriage.
Prospero’ vows that he will abandon his magic arts. Ariel brings Alonso and Prospero, in his persona as Duke of Milan, confronts his enemies and forgives them. The rift between Naples and Milan is healed. Prospero grants Ariel his freedom and prepares to leave the island for Milan.

Question 52

Quotes from Tempest?

Answer 52

O, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer.
(Miranda, Act 1 Scene 2)
My library was dukedom large enough.
(Prospero, Act 1 Scene 2)
Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring – then like reeds, not hair –
Was the first man that leaped; cried ‘Hell is empty
And all the devils are here.’
(Ariel, Act 1 Scene 2)
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king.
(Caliban, Act 1 Scene 2)
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
(Trinculo, Act 2 Scene 2)
Hast thou not dropped from heaven?
(Caliban, Act 2 Scene 2)
I am your wife, if you will marry me:
If not, I’ll die your maid: to be your fellow
You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant,
Whether you will or no.
(Miranda, Act 3 Scene 1)
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
(Caliban, Act 3 Scene 2)
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on: and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
(Prospero, Act 4 Scene 1)
Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie:
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily, shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
(Ariel, Act 5 Scene 1)
O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t.
(Miranda, Act 5 Scene 1)
As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
(Prospero, Epilogue)

Question 53

Summary of Henry VIII

Answer 53

“Henry VIII” (1612–1613) is History play
The Duke of Norfolk tells Buckingham of the meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold and Buckingham is arrested for treason due to Cardinal. The Queen interrupts the indictment of Buckingham to demand that the king undo a tax imposed by Wolsey to finance the French war.
Henry meets Anne Bullen and falls in love with her at a party. Buckingham is tried and executed. The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk fail to turn the king against Wolsey. Henry, questioning the legality of his marriage to Katherine, sets up a tribunal with Cardinal Campeius. Anne secretly marries Henry.
Wolsey is disgraced and dies. Katherine is divorced, Anne is crowned queen. Katherine kills herself. Anne gives birth to a girl, who will become Queen Elizabeth. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester fails to charge Cranmer due to Henry.

Question 54

Summary of The Two Noble Kingsmen?

Answer 54

“The Two Noble Kinsmen” (1612–1613) is a Jacobean tragicomedy attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare
Source: Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale”
Duke Theseus of Athens is petitioned by three queens to go to war against King Creon of Thebes. In Thebes, the ‘two noble kinsmen’, cousins Palamon and Arcite, realise that their hatred of Creon’s tyranny and Theseus is victorious.
Jailed in Athens the cousins fall in love with Hippolyta’s sister, Emilia and Arcite is set free, but disguises himself. Theseus wants a dual in which whoever wins will marry Emilia and the one to lose will die.
Before the tournament, Arcite makes a lengthy invocation to Mars, while Palamon prays to Venus and Emilia to Diana – for victory to go to the man who loves her most. Although Arcite wins he is thrown by his horse and with his last breath offers his blessing for Emilia to marry his friend.