Top 100 MCQ on William Shakespeare- If you are preparing for UGC NET or TGT English or PGT English then you should read this blog. William Shakespeare has been one of the leading and famous writers of English literature. You can not deny the popularity of William Shakespeare so, most of the competitive examination has a separate portion of Shakespeare.

Here you will get an important MCQ on William Shakespeare. It is also suitable for those students who are preparing for UPSC or other civil services examination.

I have collected the most important MCQ on Shakespeare which are based on previous year’s questions from various competitive examinations like GCSE, IELTS, and many more.

Top 100 MCQ on William Shakespeare

1-Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon, Stratford was the name of the town where he was born, What as Avon?

A- A river on the bank of which Stratford is situated

B- A hillock on which Stratford was situated

C- Both

D-None

2-How many plays did Shakespeare write in all?

A-37

B-38

C-39

D-36

3-How many sonnets did Shakespeare write in all?

A-154

B-15

C-156

D-14

4-What is Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonais?

A-A Narrative Poem

B- A Tragedy

C- A Romance

D- A Comedy

5-To whom did Shakespeare dedicate his first Narrative poem Venus and Adonais?

A-Earl of Southampton

B-Queen Elizabeth

C- James I

D-Ben Jonson

6-Who called Shakespeare ”an upstart crow beautified with our feathers”

A-Robert Greene

B-Thomas Kyd

C-George Peele

D-John Lyly

7-Who wrote the malicious pamphlet entitled ”A Groat’s worth of wit bought with a Million of Repentance” against Shakespeare?

A- Robert Greene

B- Thomas Kyd

C- George Peele

D-John Lyly

8-Who ridiculed Shakespeare by saying that he knew ”small Latine and less Greek”

A-Ben Jonson

B- Spenser

C-Marlowe

D-Sidney

9-Who said, ”Shakespeare has only heroines and no heroes”

A-Ruskin

B-Matthew Arnold

C- Dr.Jonson

D-Sidney

10-Dryden’s play All For Love is based on one of Shakespeare’s plays. On which of the following plays?

A- Antony and Cleopatra

B-The Marchant of Venice

C-Romeo and Juliet

D-Tempest

11-The phrase ”What in a name” occurs in

A-Romeo and Juliet

B-Othello

C- Hamlet

D-Julius Caesar

12-The title of the novel The Sound and Fury reminds us of Shakespear’s

A- Macbeth

B-King Lear

C-Hamlet

D-Othello

13-Aldous Huxley took the hint for the title of his novel Brave New World from Shakespeare’s

A- Tempest

B-A Midsummer Night’s Dream

C- Winter’s Tale

D-Antony and Cleopatra

14-Shakespeare’s King Lear was given a happy ending by one of the following playwrights identify the playwright

A-Nahun Tate

B- George Farquhar

C-Nathaniel Lee

D- Thomas Otway

15-Who has written Tales from Shakespeare?

A-Charles Lamb

B-Samuel Rogers

C- Thomas Love Peacock

D-John Clare

16-In which play does Shakespeare attack the Puritans?

A-Twelfth Night

B-Much Ado About Nothing

C-The Merchant of Venice

D- As You Like It

17-”Age cannot wither her, nor customer stale” About home are these lines spoken

A-Cleopatra

B-Miranda

C-Desdemona

D-Cordelia

18-Imogen is the heroine of

A-Cymbeline

B-Pericles

C- Winter’s Tale

D-Miranda

19-Who is the author of the Critical work Shakespeare’s Sonnets Reconsidered?

A- Samuel Butler

B- W.H Auden

C-Charles Lamb

D-E.M Forster

20-Who is the author of Preface to Shakespeare?

A- Dr. Johnson

B-Hazlitt

C-Coleridge

D-Matthew Arnold

21-Who has written the critical book Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays?

A-Hazlitt

B-Arnold

C-Coleridge

D-Addison

22-Name the play in which the hero dies at the end of the Fourth Act but the play continues to the Fifth act

A-Antony and Cleopatra

B- Othello

C-Macbeth

D-None

23-Name the play in which the hero and the heroine die together

A- Romeo and Juliet

B-Titus Andronicus

C- Coriolanus

D- Macbeth

24-Which of the following is not a Roman play?

A- Timon of Athens

B- Coriolanus

C-Titus Andronicus

D-None

25-”Sweet are the uses of Adversity” in Which play does this line appear?

A-As You Like it

B-Romeo and Juliet

C-Twelfth Night

D-Hamlet

26-Frailty thy name is a woman! in which play does this line occur?

A-Hamlet

B-Othello

C-King Lear

D-Macbeth

27-Neither a bow borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend”

A- Polonius

B-Othello

C-King Lear

D- Macbeth

28-There’s a divinity that shapes our ends this line comes from

A-Hamlet

B- Macbeth

C- King Lear

D-None

29-Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once

A- Julius Caesar

B- Macbeth

C- Othello

D- None

30- —–life’s a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

A- Macbeth

B- Hamlet

C-Othello

D- King Lear

31-The quality of mercy is not strained, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, upon the place beneath

A- Portia’s

B-Cordelia

C-Miranda’s

D-Desdemona

32- ”The lunatic, the lover and the poet, Are of imagination all compact”

A- Theseus

B-Bottom

C-Hippolyta

D-None

33-This royal throne of Kings this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty this seat of MARS

A-John of Gaunt

B-Bolingbroke

C-Queen of Richard II

D-Richard II

34-Who is the messenger of the Fairies in The Tempest?

A-Ariel

B-Iris

C-Juno

D-Caliban

35-We are such stuff, as dreams are made of and our little life, is rounded with asleep

A-Prospero

B-Hamlet

C-Polonius

D-Brutus

36-What is the Rape of Lucrece?

A-A Narrative Poem

B-A scene in Coriolanus

C- An early comedy

D-None

37-In which play does Hermione appear as the heroine?

A-The Winter’s Tale

B- Pericles

C-Timon of Athens

D-Cymbeline

38-”He was not of an age, but for all times, Nature herself was round of his designs!

A-Ben Jonson

B-Dryden’s

C-Coleridge’s

D- Robert Browning

39-He as the man, who of all modern and perhaps ancient poets had the largest and the most comprehensive soul

A- Dryden’s

B- Coleridge

C- Shakespeare

D-None

40-Shakespeare is the grandest thing we have yet done—– Indiana empire will go at any rate from

A- Carlyle

B-Dryden

C-Ben Jonson

D-Ruskin

41-In which year were Shakespeare’s sonnet published?

A-1609

B-1598

C-1616

D-1600

42- For what is the phase, The Mousetrap used by Shakespeare in Hamlet?

A- The play within the play in Hamlet

B- Hamlet’s tragic flaw

C- Both

D-None

43-Life’ but a walking shadow a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage

A-Macbeth

B-Hamlet

C-Tempest

D-None

44-Others abide our questions, Thou art free, out topping knowledge”

A-Matthew Arnold

B-Coleridge

C-Tennyson

D-None

45-Soul of the age, The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage my Shakespeare in these words

A-Ben Jonson

B-Spenser

C-Dryden

D-None

46-Thou in our wonder and astonishment, Hast built thyself a live-long monument

A-Milton

B-Dryden

C-Ben Jonson

D-None

47- ”The greatest genius that perhaps human nature has yet produced our myriad minded Shakespeare

A- Coleridge

B- Hazlitt

C-Southey

D-Byron

48-Which of the following was the last play written by Shakespeare

A- The Tempest

B- Pericles

C- Cymbeline

D-None

49-”—— the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance”

A- Tempest

B-Twelfth Night

C-Hamlet

D-None

50-”—–I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth and deeper than did ever plummet sound,

A-The Tempest

B- The Winter’s Tale

C- Coriolanus

D-None

51-In what year Shakespeare was born?

A-1564

B-1558

C-1616

D-1592

52-Shakespeare was born in which town or city?

A-Strafford-upon-Avon

B-England

C-America

D-None

53-The names of Shakespeare’s parents

A-John and Mary

B-John

C-Maria

D-None

54-How many children did Shakespeare have?

A-3

B-4

C-9

D-10

55- Who called Shakespeare an ”Upstar crow”?

A-Robert Greene

B-Ben Johnson

C-Marlowe

D-None

56-In What year was the Globe Theatre built?

A-1599

B-1594

C-1608

D-1613

58-Shakespeare collaborated ith which author on the play The Two Noble Kinsmen?

A-John Iletcha

B-Marlowe

C-Francis Beaumont

D-None

59-In Which year Shakespeare’s first collected edition of plays called the first folio published?

A-1623

B-1599

C-1616

D-1685

60-How many plays did Shakespeare write

A-37

B-38

C-39

D-45

61-What happened to the globe theatre in 1613?

A-It burnt down

B-It fell down

C- It breaks down

D-None

62-How is Sam Wanamaker connected with Shakespeare

A- It was his vision to rebuild the Globe

B- In no way whatsoever

C-Both

D-None

63-How many words did Shakespeare actually invent?

A-About 3000

B-About 4000

C-About 5000

D- About 7555

64-Venus and Adonais was written in a stanza of

A-Six lines

B-Nine Lines

C-Four Lines

D-Seven Lines

65-Which of the following Shakespeare play was written in collaboration with another playwright

A-The two Noble Kinsmen

B-The Comedy of Errors

C-Troilus and Cressida

D-Two Gentlemen of Verona

66-In Julius Caesar, which character says, ”The evil that men do lives after them, the Good is oft interested ith their bones

A-Mark Antony

B-Brutus

C-Julius Caesar

D-Cassius

67-In a Mid-SummerNight’s Dream, which character’s head is transformed into that of an ass?

A-Nick Bottan, the weaver

B-Francis Flute, the bellows mender

C- Peta Quince, the carpenter

D-Tom Sonout, the tinker

68-”My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, Words without thoughts never to heaven go”

A- Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle

B-Gertrude

C-Horatio

D-Ophelia

69-”The Moor of Venice’ is the subtitle of which one of Shakespeare’s tragedies?

A-Othello

B-Hamlet

C-Cymbeline

D-Coriolanus

70-Which eponymous characters from a Shakespeare play have the surnames Montague and Capulet?

A- Romeo and Juliet

B-Antony and Cleopatra

C-Venus and Adonis

D-None

71-Which one of Shakespeare’s plays is referred to by actors as the Scottish play?

A-Macbeth

B-The Winter’s Tale

C- Carilonus

D-As You Like It

72-Shakespeare wrote a play about two gentlemen from which Italian city

A- Verona

B-Naples

C-Rome

D-Venice

73-The character of Hernia appears in

A- A Midsummer Night’s Dream

B- King Lear

C-Hamlet

D-Cymbeline

74-Macbeth sees the ghost of

A-Banquo

B-Iago

C-Duncan

D-Hamlet

75-Antony and Cleopatra might be regarded as a sequel to hat other Shakespeare play

A-Julius Caesar

B-Othello

C-Macbeth

D-Titus Andronicus

76-Who is Sycorax in the play Tempest

A-Mother of Caliban

B-Sister of Caliban

C-Father of Caliban

D-Goddess of Caliban

77-Who says ”Frailty thy name is a woman?

A-Hamlet to himself

B- Hamlet to Gertrude

C-Viola to Olivia

D-None

78-”When sorrows come, they came not single spies but in battalion”

A-King Claudius

B-Hamlet

C-Gertrude

D-Horatio

79-who adopted the character of Cesario?

A-Viola

B-Cleopatra

C-Gertrude

D-Horatio

80-Who says, ”As flies to wanton boys, are we to the Gods, They kill us for their sport?

A- Gloucester

B-Cordelia

C-Olivia

D-King Lear

81-In which play this line appears ”All that glitters is not gold”

A-The Merchant of Venice

B-Romeo and Juliet

C-The Tempest

D-None

82-Which of the following words were invented by Shakespeare?

A-Assassination

B-Bump

C-Puke

D-All

83-”A horse! A horse! My Kingdom for a horse! is a quote form

A-King Richard III

B-The Marchant of Venice

C-The Merry Wives of Windsor

D-As You Like It

84- ”Men of few words are the best” is a quote from

A- The Merry Wives of Windsor

B- King Richard III

C- Measure for Measure

D-None

85-Who was the ghost in Hamlet?

A- King of Denmark

B-Queen of Denmark

C-King Lear

D-None

86-”Brevity is the soul of win’ in which play this line appears?

A- Hamlet

B-King Lear

C-Othello

D-Romeo and Juliet

87- ——is Shakespeare’s shortest play

A-The Comedy of Errors

B-Julius Caesar

C-Hamlet

D-None

88-”Every mother breeds not son alike’ This is a line from

A- Titus Andronicus

B- As You Like It

C- Hamlet

D-Caribbeans

89-”Present fears are less than horrible imagining, this line occurs in

A-Macbeth

B-Much Ado About Nothing

C-Othello

D- None

90-In which play Iago’s Character apears

A- Othello

B- King Lear

C- As You Like It

D-Macbeth

91-Who wrote Shakespearean comedy tragedy

A-HB Charlton

B- Verity

C-Dowden

D-None

92-Who is Toby Belch in Twelfth Night?

A- Uncle of Olivia

B-Lover of Olivia

C-Brother of Olivia

D-Father of Olivia

93-What is the name of Caesar’s wife?

A-Calpurnia

B-Maria

C-Olivia

D-Portia

94-Duncan was the king of

A-Scotland

B-Maria

C-Denmark

D-Holland

95-What is the name of King Lear’s youngest daughter?

A- Cordelia

B- Goneril

C- Kedah

D-Gertrude

96-What is the name of Othello’s Wife?

A- Desdemona

B- Emilia

C- Bianca

D-Cordelia

97- —– is the swan song of Shakespeare.

A- The Tempest

B- Much Ado About Nothing

C- The Merchant of Venice

D- Merry Wives of Windsor

98-”Age cannot wither her, nor custom state, Her infinite variety” This line is about

A- Lady Macbeth

B-Gertrude

C-Desdemona

D-None

99-What is the name of Antony’s Sword?

A- Philippe

B- Actiuman

C- Romulus

D-None

100- What Character beside Cleopatra dies by the bite of Caranda?

A-Champagne

B- Dolabella

C-Iran

D-Diomedes

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Objective Type Questions on Shakespeare

Here you will get the top 100 objective types questions on Shakespeare for free. William Shakespeare is one of the leading writers of English literature. Not much is known of Shakespeare’s education, it is generally assumed that he attended the local grammar school, the King’s New School.

Shakespeare’s literary career started around 1592. By this time, he started earning a living as an actor and a playwright in London.

Shakespeare produced most of his knowns works between 1589 to 1613. Most of his plays were written as ‘quarto texts’ on a sheet of paper folded four ways.

Here are some of the important multiple choice questions on Shakespeare for you.

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