All Free English Literature MCQs with Answers

• A. 18, 1582
• B. 17, 1581
• C. 16, 1580
• D. 15, 1579

Explanation: Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582 when he was eighteen. The marriage licence was issued in November of that year, when Anne was…

• A. Shakespeare
• B. Christopher Marlowe
• C. Edmund Spenser
• D. john Milton

Explanation: The Massacre at Paris is Christopher Marlowe’s historical tragedy about the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre and the Duke of Guise.

• A. 1562
• B. 1563
• C. 1564
• D. 1565

Explanation: Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564, the same year as Shakespeare.

• A. Henry five
• B. Elizabeth one
• C. Henry six
• D. Henry eight

Explanation: Morality plays developed in England during the reign of Henry VI, building on earlier religious drama while presenting abstract qualities…

• A. The Pope
• B. The Holy Roman Emperor
• C. The King of England
• D. The King of France

Explanation: Faustus uses his magical powers to ridicule the Pope, notably by making himself invisible and disrupting the Pope’s banquet.

• A. his body
• B. his house
• C. his soul
• D. his horse

Explanation: Faustus promises his soul to Lucifer in exchange for twenty-four years of supernatural knowledge, wealth and power.

• A. Bach
• B. Schumann
• C. Beethoven
• D. Wagner

Explanation: Faustus’s servant is named Wagner, the same surname as the celebrated German composer Richard Wagner.

• A. 1594
• B. 1604
• C. 1590
• D. 1593

Explanation: Doctor Faustus is generally estimated to have been first performed in 1594, although the exact date is uncertain.

• A. Nicholas Udall
• B. Thomas Colwell
• C. Lord Burghley
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Nicholas Udall is credited with Ralph Roister Doister, usually regarded as the first regular English comedy.

• A. About 1611
• B. About 1610
• C. About 1609
• D. About 1608

Explanation: Shakespeare bought New Place in Stratford earlier, but around 1610 he made Stratford his regular home after reducing his London theatrical…

• A. Queen Elizabeth
• B. Francis Meres, a lawyer
• C. Burbage, an actor
• D. King James

Explanation: Francis Meres praised Shakespeare in Palladis Tamia (1598), placing him among England’s leading writers of comedy and tragedy.

• A. 1595
• B. 1596
• C. 1597
• D. 1598

Explanation: Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in 1596 at the age of eleven. His death occurred during Shakespeare’s highly productive London period.

• A. 7
• B. 8
• C. 9
• D. 10

Explanation: Anne Hathaway was born in 1556, while Shakespeare was born in 1564, making her about eight years older.

• A. German scholar
• B. French scholar
• C. Spanish scholar
• D. Greek scholar

Explanation: Faustus is presented as a German scholar who sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for supernatural knowledge and worldly power.

• A. The Rare Triumphs of love and fortune
• B. The Spanish Tragedy
• C. Jeronimo
• D. Cornelia

Explanation: The Spanish Tragedy brought Thomas Kyd his greatest early popularity and became a model of the Elizabethan revenge tragedy.

• A. kind
• B. stupid
• C. sensitive
• D. arrogant

Explanation: Faustus begins as an arrogant and dissatisfied scholar who believes ordinary branches of knowledge are beneath him and turns to forbidden…

• A. Valdes and Cornelius
• B. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
• C. Troilus and Cressida
• D. Pyramus and Thisbe

Explanation: Valdes and Cornelius are the two magicians who introduce Faustus to occult learning and help him summon Mephistophilis.

• A. Wittenburg
• B. Sorbonne
• C. Heidelberg
• D. Cambridge

Explanation: Faustus is presented as a scholar of Wittenberg, the German university also associated with Martin Luther and Shakespeare's Hamlet.

• A. England
• B. Italy
• C. France
• D. Germany

Explanation: Marlowe's Dr Faustus is set primarily in Germany and follows the German scholar Johann Faust.

• A. Mephastophilis
• B. beelzebub
• C. Aamon
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Mephistophilis is the devil's agent who first appears when Faustus uses magic to summon infernal powers.