Shakespeare's plays and sonnets have shaped English literature for over four centuries, yet his life remains partly mysterious and his works endlessly interpreted. From the tragic flaws of Hamlet to the romantic entanglements of A Midsummer Night's Dream, his characters grapple with timeless questions about power, love, ambition, and mortality. Whether you're familiar with the Globe Theatre or discovering his language anew, testing your knowledge of the Bard's legacy—his plots, his contemporaries, and his influence—is a rewarding way to appreciate why his work still resonates today.
▶ Play today's quizWhich star-crossed couple die in a famous Shakespeare tragedy?
Source: Both lovers die within days of meeting, yet their feud-ending deaths reconcile two families.
Which English monarch reigned during most of Shakespeare's career?
Source: The Elizabethan era gave its name to the golden age of English theatre Shakespeare dominated.
Which Danish prince hesitates over avenging his murdered father?
Source: His delay drives the longest of Shakespeare's plays, around four hours uncut.
What is a 14-line poem like the ones Shakespeare famously wrote called?
Source: He wrote 154 of them, popularising the three-quatrain-plus-couplet English form.
In which Italian city is the feud between two rival families set?
Source: Tourists still visit a balcony in this city, though it was added centuries after the play.
Which London theatre is most associated with staging Shakespeare's plays?
Source: The original burned down in 1613 when a cannon prop set the thatched roof alight.
Which Scottish general is told he will become king by three witches?
Source: Actors call it 'the Scottish play' because saying its name in a theatre is said to bring bad luck.
Which jealous Venetian general is manipulated into killing his wife?
Source: His scheming ensign Iago has more lines than he does, making the villain the bigger role.
What kind of writing is a Shakespeare play mainly composed of?
Source: Nobles often speak in blank verse while commoners drop into prose, a deliberate social signal.
Which fairy king quarrels with his queen in a moonlit forest comedy?
Source: Their feud over a changeling boy disrupts the very weather of the mortal world.
Which Roman leader is warned to 'beware the Ides of March'?
Source: The Ides fall on the 15th, and his assassination there made the date proverbial.
How many plays are traditionally attributed to Shakespeare?
Source: The exact count shifts as scholars debate collaborations like Henry VIII and Two Noble Kinsmen.
What is the name of Hamlet's loyal friend who survives to tell his story?
Source: Hamlet's dying wish is for him to live and report the truth, making him our narrator.
Which heroine disguises herself as a lawyer to save Antonio in court?
Source: Her 'quality of mercy' speech turns a debt trial into one of theatre's great courtroom scenes.
Which playwright was Shakespeare's most celebrated rival, dead at 29?
Source: He was killed in a tavern brawl over a bill, fuelling centuries of conspiracy theories.
Which acting company did Shakespeare belong to from 1603 onward?
Source: Renamed when James became their patron, raising the troupe to royal household status.
What was the name of Shakespeare's only son, who died young?
Source: He died at 11, and many link his name to the tragedy written a few years later.
Which phrase did Shakespeare NOT coin or popularise?
Source: That one comes from Joseph Heller's 1961 novel, three centuries too late for the Bard.
Who compiled the First Folio that preserved 18 otherwise-lost plays?
Source: John Heminges and Henry Condell gathered the texts in 1623, saving Macbeth and others forever.
What did Shakespeare's will famously leave to his wife Anne?
Source: The 'second-best bed' bequest has puzzled scholars, though it may have been their marital bed.