Shakespeare Quotes and Lines Questions And Answers
Here, we have discussed William Shakespeare’s quotes and line related questions and answers. These question are taken from different plays from Shakespeare. These questions will help students for their exams like TGT English, PGT English and NET-JRF. This is a practice test.
1 . “There is nothing either good or bad, but………… makes it so.” [from Hamlet]
(a) telling
(b) saying
(c) imagining
(d) thinking
Ans. d – thinking
2. Who says, “Good wombs have borne bad sons.” in Hamlet?
(a) Caliban
(b) Prospero
(c) Ferdinand
(d) Miranda
Ans. d – Miranda
3. ‘Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly’ These words occur in ……..
(a) Hamlet
(b) King Lear
(c) Twelfth Night
(d) As You Like It
Ans. c – As You Like It
4. Which of the following plays begins with the lines: “If music be the food of love, play on”?
(a) The Tempest
(b) Twelfth Night
(c) As You Like It
(d) Romeo and Juliet
Ans. b. – Twelfth Night
5. “Frailty, thy name is woman” is a famous line from the play-
(a) King Lear
(b) Hamlet
(c) Macbeth
(d) As You Like It
Ans. b. – Hamlet
6. Shakespeare’s soliloquies are defined as “……..
a locution dominating the stage and the attention delivered by a speaker who is alone on the stage.” Identify an exception to this definition in the context of Shakespearean tragedy.
(a) Hamlet’s Soliloquy, ‘To be or not to be
(b) Macbeth’s Soliloquy – ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me’
(c) Hamlet’s soliloquy, ‘Now might I do it pat’
(d) lago’s Soliloquy, ‘If it were done when this
Ans. c. – Hamlet’s soliloquy, ‘Now might I do it pat’
7. “Life’s but a walking shadow…It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” given lines spoken by Macbeth occur in
(a) Act III, Scene I of Macbeth
(b) Act V, Scene V of Macbeth
(c) Act IV, Scene I of Macbeth
(d) Act V, Scene III of Macbeth
Ans. b. – Act V, Scene V of Macbeth
8. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand.” Who says this and when?
(a) Lady Macbeth in her sleep walking
(b) Macbeth after murdering Duncan
(c) Banquo’s ghost at the banquet
(d) Macduff’s wife’s murderers
Ans. b. – Macbeth after murdering Duncan
9. According to Macbeth “the chief nourisher in life’s feast” is
(a) rich diet
(b) sleep
(c) love
(d) solace offered by friends
Ans. b. – sleep
10. According to Jacques in his monologue “All the world’s a stage” what is the seventh stage?
(a) a slippered pantaloon with spectacles
(b) second childishness and mere oblivion
(c) a woeful ballad with strange oaths
(d) full of wise saws and modern instances
Ans. b. – second childishness and mere oblivion
11. Who utters the words “O coz, coz, coz, my
pretty little coz. That thou didst know how
many fathom deep I am in love !” in ‘As You Like it’?
(a) Celia
(b) Orlando
(c) Phebe
(d) Rosalind
Ans. d. – Rosalind
12. “As flies to wanton boys, are we to the Gods; They kill us for their sport” – Who uttered these lines?
(a) Gloucester in King Lear
(b) King Lear in King Lear
(c) Othello in Othello
(d) Hamlet in Hamlet
Ans. a. – Gloucester in King Lear
13. “Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell”. (Macbeth) Who is the brightest referred by Shakespeare in this quote?
(a) Macduff
(b) Macbeth
(c) Lucifer
(d) Malcolm
Ans. c. – Lucifer
14. Who speaks the following lines in the Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
“For I am all the subjects that you have, Which first was mine own King:”
(a) Caliban
(b) Sycorax
(c) Ariel
(d) Prospero
Ans. a. – Caliban
15. The line “Present fears/Are less than horrible imaginings” appear in :
(a) Macbeth
(b) King Lear
(c) Othello
(d) Julius Caesar
Ans. a. – Macbeth
16. “Ripeness is all” occurs in :
(a) King Lear
(b) Hamlet
(c) Macbeth
(d) Julius Caesar
Ans. a. – King Lear
17. On seeing whom does Miranda exclaim, “O, father, surely that is a spirit. Lord! How it
looks about?”
(a) Ferdinand
(b) Caliban
(c) Alonso
(d) Stephano
Ans. a. – Ferdinand
18. “His life was gentle and the elements/So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up/And say to all the world, This was a man!” Who is the speaker, and about whom is this spoken?
(a) Enobarbus on Antony
(b) Brutus on Caesar
(c) Cleopatra on Antony
(d) Mark Antony on Caesar
Ans. d. – Mark Antony on Caesar
19. The words “If it were done when tis done, then ’twere well/ It were done quickly…” are uttered by
(a) Hamlet
(b) Lear
(c) Othello
(d) Macbeth
Ans. d. – Macbeth
20. Which Shakespearean play contains the line: ” ………….. there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow”?
(a) King Lear
(b) Hamlet
(c) Coriolanus
(d) Macbeth
Ans. b. – Hamlet
21. “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.
Good Signior, you shall more command with years. Than with your weapons.”
The above lines are addressed by Othello to
(a) Roderigo and officers
(b) Brabantio, Roderigo and Officers
(c) The Duke and Senators
(d) Montano and Cassio
Ans. b. – Brabantio, Roderigo and Officers
22. In ‘As You Like It’ who said to whom the following?
“All the world is a stage.”
(a) Touchstone to Celia
(b) Rosalind to Orlando
(c) Jacques to Duke Senior
(d) Adam to Duke Fredrick
Ans. b. – Jacques to Duke Senior
23. “Kill Claudio”.
Who made this demand and in which play of Shakespeare?
(a) Ophelia in Hamlet
(b) Olivia in Twelfth Night
(c) Jessica in the Mrechant of Venice
(d) Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing
Ans. d. – Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing
24. “Was the hope drunk, wherein you dressed yourself”? What hope is Lady Macbeth talking about in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth?
(a) to kill Macduff
(b) to be “King hereafter”
(c) to get the “damned spot” of blood out
(d) to believe that Banquo’s ghost would not plague Macbeth
Ans. b. – to be “King hereafter”
25. The last prophecy of the witches “… for none of woman born/shall harm Macbeth” is fulfilled when Macbeth fights against Macduff
(a) Malcolm
(b) Rosse
(c) Macduff
(d) Lenox
Ans. c. – Macduff
26. “……….There is none but he/whose being I do fear.” Who is the person Macbeth admits to being fearful of?
(a) Macduff
(b) Malcolm
(c) Rosse
(d) Banquo
Ans. d. – Banquo
27. “All is but toys, renown and grace is dead,
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere less
Is left this vault to brag of.” In which play of Shakespeare do the above lines appear?
(a) Hamlet
(b) King Lear
(c) Othello
(d) Macbeth
Ans. d. – Macbeth
28. ‘Things without all remedy Should be without regard : What is done is done.’
The above lines are from the play
(a) Macbeth
(b) King Lear
(c) Hamlet
(d) Othello
Ans. a. – Macbeth
29. The lines “The lunatic, the lover and the Poet./Are of imagination all compact” are spoken by
(a) Theseus
(b) Bottom
(d) Thisbey
(c) Pyramus
Ans. a. – Theseus
30. In William Shakespeare drama “Hamlet”, who said this ‘A dream itself is but a shadow.’?
(b) Francisco
(a) Bernardo
(c) Horatio
(d) Hamlet
Ans. d. – Hamlet
31.”to be, or not to be: that is the question”
(Act III, Scence I) is a famous quote from which play of William Shakespeare’s?
(a) The Merchant of Venice
(b) Romeo and Juliet
(c) Othello
(d) Hamlet
Ans. d. – Hamlet
32. Macbeth utters his soliloquy “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” when?
(a) he comes to know the truth about Macduff
(b) he receives the news of Lady Macbeth’s death
(c) Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane
(d) Malcolm and Siward enter the castle
Ans. b. – he receives the news of Lady Macbeth’s death
33. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not our stars. But in ourselves that we are underlings.” Who said this and in which play?
(a) Cassius in Julius Caesar.
(b) Antony in Julius Caesar.
(c) Caliban in The Tempest.
(d) Antony in Antony and Cleopatra.
Ans. a. – Cassius in Julius Caesar
34. “Sweet are the uses of adversity”. These lines have been spoken by
(a) Duke Senior
(b) Rosalind
(c) Celia
(d) The Clown
Ans. a. – Duke Senior
35. “She is too subtle for thee, and her smoothness, her very silence and her patience speak to the people, and they pity her…” who speaks these lines and about whom?
(a) The clown about Rosalind
(b) Jaques about Celia
(c) Duke Frederick about Rosalind
(d) Duke Senior about Celia
Ans. c. – Duke Frederick about Rosalind
36. “Under the greenwood tree who loves to lie with me”. This song has been sung by
(a) Amiens
(b) Phebe
(c) Silvius
(d) Jaques
Ans. a. – Amiens
37. Where from the lines. –
Fear no more the heat of the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task has done.
Home art gone and taken thy wages :
(a) Cymbeline
(c) King Lear
(b) Midsummer Night’s Dream
(d) Hamlet
Ans. a. – Cymbeline
38. The line “This is the noblest Roman of them all’ – is said by –
(a) Cleopatra
(b) Brutus
(c) Antonio
(d) Caesar
Ans. c. – Antonio
39. “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player” occurs in Shakespeare’s
(a) Twelfth Night
(b) Hamlet
(c) Macbeth
(d) King Lear
Ans. c. – Macbeth
40. The quote “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind and therefore is wing’d cupid painted blind,” occurs in
(a) A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(b) Love’s Labour’s Lost
(c) Antony and Cleopatra.
(d) The Merry Wives of Windsor
Ans. a. – It was said in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
41. The quote, “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,” occurs in
(a) Twelfth Night
(b) Cymbeline
(c) Merchant of Venice (d) As You Like it
Ans. c. – Merchant of Venice
42. In which Shakespearean play does the following occur?
“The bright day is done,
And we are for the dark.’
(a) Antony and Cleopatra
(b) Hamlet
(c) King Lear
(d) Measure for Measure
Ans. a. – Antony and Cleopatra
43. “Come, thou mortal wretch, With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate”
In which book do the above lines occur?
(a) Antony and Cleopatra
(b) Twelfth Night
(c) Hamlet
(d) Midsummer Night’s Dream
Ans. a. – Antony and Cleopatra
44. “Take, O take those lips away” The above line occurs in…….
(a) Midsummer Night’s Dream
(b) Twelfth Night
(c) Antony and Cleopatra
(d) Measure for Measure
Ans. d. – Measure for Measure
45. “I am a man more sinned against than sinning”, is an excerpt from the play….
(a) King Lear
(b) Romeo and Juliet
(c) Othello
(d) Julius Caesar
Ans. a. – King Lear
46. Read the following lines and answer the question that follows it :
“O Julius Caesar, thou art might yet! Thy spirit walks abroad and turns, our swords in our own proper entrails.” What is the essence of this statement”
(a) Brutus was too mighty
(b) Caesar was mighty even after his death
(c) Antony was mighty
(d) Cassius was mighty
Ans. b. – Caesar was mighty even after his death
47. “Cowards die many times before their deaths.
The valiant never taste of death but once,” These lines have been taken from.
(a) Julius Caesar
(b) The Tempest
(c) The Merchant
(d) Othello
Ans. b. – The Tempest
48. Who said it?
How poor are they that have not patience,
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
(a) Othello
(b) Cassio
(c) lago
(d) Desdemona
Ans. c. – Iago
49. “The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.” This line occurs in Shakespeare’s
(a) Hamlet
(b) King Lear
(c) The Tempest
(d) The Merchant of Venice
Ans. c. – The Tempest Act V Scene I
50. In which play of Shakespeare do we find these lines. “There needs no ghost, my Lord, come from the grave, to tell in this”.
(b) Macbeth
(a) King Lear
(c) Hamlet
(d) Henry IV
Ans. c. – Hamlet
51. “The rest is silence”
words of These are the last before his death in Shakespeare’s play.
(a) Caesar
(b) Macbeth
(c) Hamlet
(d) Lear
Ans. c. – Hamlet
52. The lines, “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety,” occur in
(a) All for love
(b) Hamlet
(c) Antony and Cleopatra
(d) As you Like it.
Ans. c. – Antony and Cleopatra
53. “O God! O God!
How weary, stale and unprofitable seems to me all the uses of this world.”
Which of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes utters these words?
(a) Hamlet
(b) Macbeth
(c) Othello
(d) King Lear
Ans. a. – Hamlet
54. Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners.’
The above words form the speech of –
(a) Hamlet
(b) lago
(c) Viola
(d) Brutus
Ans. b. – Iago
55. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan often loses both itself and friends” who speaks these lines?
(a) Horatio
(b) Polonius
(c) Laertes
(d) Prospero
Ans. b. – Polonius
56. In which of Shakespeare’s plays the following lines appear?
“Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude”—–?
(a) All’s Well That Ends Well
(b) As You Like It
(c) Antony and Cleopatra
(d) King Lear
Ans. b. – As You Like It
57. “Helen’s cheek, but not her heart
Cleopatra’s majesty Atlanta’s better part
Sad Lucretia’s modesty”
Who is referred here?
a. Rosalind in As You Like It
b. Viola in Twelfth Night
c. Desdemona in Othello
d. None of these
Ans. a. – Rosalind in As You Like It
58. Diana’s lip
Is not more smooth and rubious, thy small pipe Is as the maiden’s organ, shrill, and sound.
Whose personality is being referred here?
a. Viola in Twelfth Night
b. Celia in As You Like It
c. Desdemona in Othello
d. None of these
Ans. a. – Viola in Twelfth Night
59. “I will do my best To woo your lady” Who is the speaker?
a. Cleopatra in the disguise of maid
b. Viola in the disguise of Cesario
c. Rosalind in the disguise of male
d. None of these
Ans. b. – Viola in the disguise of Cesario
60. “If after every tempest came such calms
May the winds blow till they have wakened death”
Where do these lines appear?
a. Othello
b. Orlando
c. Duke Orisino
d. Sebastian
Ans. a. – Othello
61. “A little water clears us of the deed.” Who says and to whom?
a. Lady Macbeth to Macbeth
b. Macbeth to Lady Macbeth
c. Cleopatra to Antony
d. Viola to Duke Orsino
Ans. a. – Lady Macbeth to Macbeth
62. “Good wombs have born bad son.” Who says this?
a. Vila in Twelfth Night
b. Rosalind in As You Like It
c. Miranda in The Tempest
d. None of these
Ans. a. – Miranda in The Tempest
63. “Those are pearls that were his eyes.” Where does this line appear?
a. Hamlet
b. Othello
c. Cymbeline
d. The Tempest
Ans. d. – The Tempest
64. “Misery acquaints a man with strange bad fellows.” Who says?
a. Trinculo in The Tempest
b. Stepheno in The Tempest
c. Caliban in The Tempest
d. Cesario in Twelfth Night
Ans. a. – Trinculo in The Tempest
65. “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” Who says?
a. Hamlet
b. Othello
c. Claudius
d. None of these
Ans. a. – Hamlet
66. “Foul deeds will rise
Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.”
Where do these lines appear?
a. The Tempest
b. Othello
c. Hamlet
d. King Lear
Ans. c. – Hamlet
67. “Be wary then: best safety lies in fear.
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.”
Who is advising and to whom?
a. Laertes to Ophelia in Hamlet
b. Laertes to Queen Gertrude in Hamlet
c. Othello to Desdemona in Othello
d. Viola to Olivia in Twelfth Night
Ans. a. – Laertes to Ophelia in Hamlet
68. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Who says?
a. Marcellus in Hamlet
b. Hamlet in Hamlet
c. Horatio in Hamlet
d. Polonius in Hamlet
Ans. a. – Marcellus in Hamlet
67. “That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.’
Where does this line appear?
a. Hamlet
b. Othello
C. Macbeth
d. None of these
Ans. a. – Hamlet
70. “By indirections find directions out” Who says?
a. Polonius to his son
b. Polonius to Reynaldo
c. Polonius to Hamlet
d. None of these
Ans. b. – Polonius to Reynaldo
71. “Doubt thou the stars are fire
Doubt that the sun doth move
Doubt truth to be a liar
But never doubt I love”
Where do these lines appear?
a. Hamlet
b. Othello
C. Love Labour’s Lost
d. Twelfth Night
Ans. a. – Hamlet
72. “for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” Who says?
a. Hamlet to Rosencrantz
b. Rosencrantz to Hamlet
c. Othello to Desdemona
d. Player King to Queen
Ans. b. – Rosencrantz to Hamlet
73. “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” Who Says?
a. Othello
b. Desdemona
c. Horatio
d. Hamlet
Ans. d. – Hamlet
74. “Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own” Who speaks this?
a. Player King in Hamlet
b. Player Queen in Hamlet
c. Grave Digger in Hamlet
d. Horatio in Hamlet
Ans. b. – Player King in Hamlet
75. “O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.” Who speaks it?
a. Queen Gertrude
b. Player Queen
c. Ophelia
d. None of these
Ans. a. – Queen Gertrude
76. “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” Who speaks?
a. Ophelia
b. Queen Gertrude
c. Viola
d. Rosalind
Ans. a. – Ophelia
77. “When sorrows come, they come not single spies But in a battalion.” Who is the speaker?
a. Hamlet
b. Horatio
c. King Claudius
d. None of these
Ans. c. – King Claudius
78. “For goodness, growing to a pleurisy,
Dies in his own too much.”
Who utters these lines?
a. Hamlet
b. Malvolio
c. Viola
d. King Claudius
Ans. d. – King Claudius
79. “There is divinity that shapes our ends.” Who says?
a. Hamlet
b. Horatio
c. Antony
d. Brutus
Ans. a. – Hamlet
80. “Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage!” This is uttered by Feste. Name the play.
a. Twelfth Night
b. The Tempest
c. Hamlet
d. Pericles
Ans. a. – Twelfth Night
81. “Infirmity that decays the wise, doth ever make the better fool.” Who utters?
a. Malvolio
b. Feste
c. Fabian
d. Sir Toby
Ans. a. – Malvolio
82. “Present mirth hath present laughter
What’s to come is still unsure.”
Who utters these lines?
a. Feste
b. Fabian
c. Viola
d. Jaques
Ans. a. – Feste
83. “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.” Who speaks?
a. Feste
b. Malvolio
c. Jaques
d. Touchstone
Ans. a. – Feste
84. “It is not night when I do see your face
Therefore I think I am not in the night”
Who is the speaker?
a. Olivia
b. Portia
c. Cleopatra
d. Helena
Ans. d. – Helena
85. “He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.”
Who is speaking and to whom?
a. Caesar to Antony
b. Antony to Caesar
c. Cleopatra to Caesar
d. Cassius to Caesar
Ans. a. – Caesar to Antony
86. “Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.”
Who is the speaker?
a. Cassius
b. Brutus
c. Antony
d. Lepidus
Ans. b. – Brutus
87. “Here is the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” Who said?
a. Macbeth
b. Lady Macduff
c. Lady Macbeth
d. None of these
Ans. c. – Lady Macbeth
88. “All that glitters is not gold.” Where does this line appear?
a. The Tempest
b. Hamlet
c. Taming of Shrew
d. The Merchant of Venice
Ans. d. – The Merchant of Venice
89. “Beauty povoketh thieves sooner than gold.” This line appear in:
a. As You Like It
b. Antony and Cleopatra
c. The Tempest
d. None of these
Ans. a. – As You Like It
90. “The art of our necessities is strange
That can make vile things precious”
These lines are from King Lear. The speaker is:
a. Edgar
b. Edmund
c. King Lear
d. None of these
Ans. c. – King Lear
91. “The younger rises when the old doth fall.” This line is from King Lear. Who is the speaker?
a. Edgar
b. Edmund
c. King Lear
d. None of these
Ans. b. – Edmund
92. “The better part of valour is discretion.” This line is from:
a. Antony and Cleopatra
b. The Tempest
c. Henry IV Part I
d. None of these
Ans. b. – Henry IV Part I
93. “All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth.” This line is from:
a. The Rape of Lucrece
b. Antony and Cleopatra bat
c. The Tempest
d. None of these
Ans. a. – The Rape of Lucrece
94. “Celerity is never more admired Than by the negligent.” Who utters?
a. Octavia
b. Brutus
c. Portia
d. Cleopatra
Ans. d. – Cleopatra
95. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” Where does it appear?
a. Macbeth
b. Midsummer’s Nights Dream
c. Hamlet
d. None of these
Ans. a. – Macbeth
These question are for practice that will help you in improving your preparation. If the answer of any question seems wrong, write us in comment box.
