Five rounds: Shakespeare's life and playhouses, then four rounds on five tragedies. Each answer shows its reason and the article it was read in.
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Romeo and Juliet trivia questions and answers
The Romeo and Juliet round asks who stops the street brawl, who gives the Queen Mab speech, whose poem of 1562 supplied the plot and what form the prologue takes.
Hamlet trivia questions and answers
The Hamlet round runs from the uncle on the throne to the play staged before the king. Macbeth trivia questions and answers fill the next round: the title the king grants, the wood that must move and what actors call the play.
Tips
Start a mixed table on The man and his playhouses: it needs no reading of the plays.
Questions and answers
Are there Othello trivia questions and King Lear trivia questions?
Yes, in one round. Othello has the ensign, the island, the lieutenant and the handkerchief; King Lear has the three daughters, the earl with two sons and the legendary king behind the story.
What are some easy Shakespeare trivia questions?
Whom did Shakespeare marry at 18? Which of his plays is the longest? Which king does Macbeth kill for the throne? The answers are Anne Hathaway, Hamlet and Duncan.
Does the quiz name films of the plays?
No. Every question is about Shakespeare's life, his playhouses or the plays as he wrote them. No film, show, opera or later stage version is a question or a choice.
How were the answers checked?
Each was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article linked under it: William Shakespeare or the article on the play. Sales records and the authorship debate are left out.
According to a tradition passed down in 1709, which part did Shakespeare act himself?Answer: The ghost of Hamlet's father. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
After James I gave Shakespeare's company a royal patent in 1603, what was the company called?Answer: The King's Men. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
The Globe burned down on June 29, 1613, during a performance of which play?Answer: Henry VIII. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
The Globe was built in 1599 with timbers from which older playhouse, pulled down after a quarrel with the landlord?Answer: The Theatre. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
How many plays does the First Folio of 1623 contain?Answer: 36. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
Samuel Johnson quoted Shakespeare more often than any other author in which kind of book?Answer: A dictionary. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's birthday is traditionally observed on April 23. Which saint's day is that?Answer: Saint George's Day. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
What was the name of Shakespeare's elder daughter, to whom he left most of his estate?Answer: Susanna. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
What was the name of the large house Shakespeare bought in Stratford in 1597?Answer: New Place. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
Which actor played the lead in the first performances of Richard III, Hamlet, Othello and King Lear?Answer: Richard Burbage. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
Which indoor theater did Shakespeare's company take over in 1608?Answer: Blackfriars. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
Which two plays, left out of the First Folio, are now accepted as partly Shakespeare's?Answer: The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
Whom did Shakespeare marry when he was 18?Answer: Anne Hathaway. Source: Wikipedia: William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet 10
In which year was Romeo and Juliet first published, in a quarto of poor quality?Answer: 1597. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet opens with a prologue of 14 lines spoken by a Chorus. What form does it take?Answer: A sonnet. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
What is the name of Juliet's cousin, who is furious to find Romeo at the Capulet ball?Answer: Tybalt. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Which character in Romeo and Juliet has the speech about Queen Mab?Answer: Mercutio. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Which count asks Juliet's father for her hand in marriage?Answer: Paris. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Which cousin of Romeo asks him what is wrong at the start of the play?Answer: Benvolio. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Who helps Romeo and Juliet to marry in secret?Answer: Friar Laurence. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Who is the Prince of Verona who steps in to stop the street brawl at the start of Romeo and Juliet?Answer: Escalus. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Whom does Romeo hope to meet when he goes to the Capulet ball?Answer: Rosaline. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Whose narrative poem of 1562 gave Shakespeare much of the plot of Romeo and Juliet?Answer: Arthur Brooke. Source: Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet 10
A 13th-century "Life of Amleth" lies behind the story of Hamlet. Who wrote it?Answer: Saxo Grammaticus. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
In which German city do Hamlet and Horatio attend university?Answer: Wittenberg. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
What is the name of Hamlet's mother?Answer: Gertrude. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
What is the name of Hamlet's uncle, who has taken the throne?Answer: Claudius. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
What is the name of the Norwegian prince whose invasion Denmark fears?Answer: Fortinbras. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
Which friend of Hamlet sees the ghost with two sentries and decides to tell the prince?Answer: Horatio. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
Which of Shakespeare's plays is the longest?Answer: Hamlet. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
Which play does Hamlet ask the visiting actors to stage in front of the king?Answer: The Murder of Gonzago. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
Who is Ophelia's brother, who leaves for France early in the play?Answer: Laertes. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
Who is the father of Ophelia, and orders her to reject Hamlet?Answer: Polonius. Source: Wikipedia: Hamlet
Macbeth 10
Among Shakespeare's tragedies, what record does Macbeth hold?Answer: It is the shortest. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Macbeth is Thane of Glamis. Which second title does the king give him early in the play?Answer: Thane of Cawdor. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Many actors will not say the name Macbeth inside a theater. What do they call the play?Answer: The Scottish Play. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
What is the name of Banquo's son, who gets away?Answer: Fleance. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Which chronicle of 1587 was Shakespeare's main source for the story of Macbeth?Answer: Holinshed's Chronicles. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Which general is with Macbeth when the prophecy is first spoken?Answer: Banquo. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Which king of Scotland does Macbeth kill to take the throne?Answer: Duncan. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Which son of King Duncan becomes king when Macbeth falls?Answer: Malcolm. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Which wood has to come to Dunsinane Hill before Macbeth can be beaten?Answer: Birnam Wood. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Who defeats Macbeth at the end of the play?Answer: Macduff. Source: Wikipedia: Macbeth
Othello and King Lear 10
An Italian tale of 1565 is the source of Othello. Who wrote it?Answer: Cinthio. Source: Wikipedia: Othello
In King Lear, which earl is the father of Edgar and Edmund?Answer: Gloucester. Source: Wikipedia: King Lear
In whose service is Othello a general?Answer: The Republic of Venice. Source: Wikipedia: Othello
King Lear is drawn from the legend of a king of the ancient Britons. What is he called?Answer: Leir of Britain. Source: Wikipedia: King Lear
Othello opens in Venice. On which island is the rest of the play set?Answer: Cyprus. Source: Wikipedia: Othello
What are the names of Cordelia's two elder sisters?Answer: Goneril and Regan. Source: Wikipedia: King Lear
Which gift from Othello does Desdemona drop, for Emilia to find and hand to Iago?Answer: A handkerchief. Source: Wikipedia: Othello
Which of King Lear's daughters makes no flattering speech and is disowned?Answer: Cordelia. Source: Wikipedia: King Lear
Which officer does Othello promote to lieutenant, to the anger of Iago?Answer: Cassio. Source: Wikipedia: Othello
Who is Othello's ensign, who plots against him?Answer: Iago. Source: Wikipedia: Othello
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Questions and wrong choices are our own. Each explanation restates, in our own sentences, a fact from the English Wikipedia article named and linked beside the question (https://en.wikipedia.org, text under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license): William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. The text of each article was fetched on October 2 or 3, 2026, and on October 3, 2026 the passage that states each fact was read in it before the question was kept. Left out on purpose: every film, show, opera and later stage version of the plays, sales figures and other records, the authorship and private-life debates, and what other trivia sets on this site already ask (the Bard of Avon, the twins Hamnet and Judith, Verona, the two feuding families, the Three Witches, the rebuilt Globe, the line about the buds of May). Levels are our estimate: easy is fair for any table, medium suits people who know the subject, hard will stump most tables. Each question also carries the date its article was read (checkedOn). Licence: own work