Most Important Brief Questions of Introduction to Drama
1. What is the function of the poet according to Aristotle?
Ans. According to the laws of probability or necessity, the function of poets means to represent what may happen.
2. What is Hymn?
Ans. A song in praise of gods or heroes, expressing religious emotion.
3. What is Margites?
Ans. Margites is a comic epic by Homer.
4. Who was the founder of Thebes?
Ans. Cadmus was the founder of Thebes.
5. Who was Jocasta?
Ans. The biological mother and then-wife of Oedipus.
6. What punishment did Oedipus declare on the killer of Laius?
Ans. Oedipus banished the killer of Laius from his country.
7. How many children did Oedipus have?
Ans. Two sons and two daughters.
8. Who is Diana?
Ans. Roman goddess of chastity.
9. Who was Don Quixote?
Ans. Romantic hero of the Spanish novel.
10. How old are Raina and Bluntschli?
Ans. Raina is 23 years old and Bluntschli is 34 years old.
11. How does Raina define ‘higher love’?
Ans. Raina defines ‘higher love’ as spiritual love.
12. What is the Galway Fair?
Ans. Galway fair is the mainland of western Ireland just opposite the Aran Islands. It is the only place for the Aran Islanders to sell and buy products.
13. Name the sons of Maurya who died in the sea?
Ans. The six dead sons of Maurya are Stephen, Shawn, Sheamus, Patch, Michael, and Bartley.
14. What is the message of Riders to the sea?
Ans. The mortality of human beings is the message of the play “Riders to the Sea”.
15. Whom did Oedipus call ‘shameless, brainless and senseless sot”?
Ans. Teiresias.
16. Why did Oedipus flee from Corinth?
Ans. To flee from the Oracle of Delphi.
17. What is the riddle of Sphinx?
Ans. “What is it that walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening?”
18. How old was Cathleen?
Ans. 20 years old.
19. Where was Michael drowned?
Ans. Michael was drowned in the sea.
20. Why are the Serbians defeated in the battle?
Ans. Because Serbian machine guns suddenly stop functioning when Sergius attacks the Serbs with his cavalry soldiers.
21. Why did Sergius resign from the service?
Ans. Because of not getting a promotion.
22. Who are Oedipus’ foster parents?
Ans. Polybus and Merope.
23. What is ‘Drama of Ideas’?
Ans. A drama that deals with social problems and the ways of solution.
24. What, according to Nicola, is the secret of success in service?
Ans. To have the soul of a servant is the secret of success in service.
25. What was the tragic flaw of Oedipus?
Ans. Pride and anger.
26. How does Maurya console herself at the end of the play?
Ans. Maurya consoles herself with the thought that Michael has had a decent Christian burial and Bartley will have a fine coffin.
27. Why did Oedipus blind himself?
Ans. Oedipus blind himself because he had seen that it was forbidden.
28. Where was the child Oedipus left?
Ans. He was left on Mount Cithaeron.
29. How long did Nicola serve in the family of Petkoff?
Ans. For ten years.
30. What are the names of Oedipus’s daughters?
Ans. Antigone and Ismene.
31. Who became the king to Thebes after Oedipus?
Ans. Creon.
32. What is the cavalry charge?
Ans. An attack by horse-soldiers.
33. Why did Bluntschli enter Raina’s bedroom?
Ans. To save himself.
34. What is the meaning of Oedipus?
Ans. Swollen foot.
35. Who is the chocolate cream soldier?
Ans. Captain Bluntschli.
36. Who are riders to the sea?
Ans. The Aran Islanders.
37. What does ‘grey pony’ signify?
Ans. The grey pony symbolizes death.
38. Who is the antagonist in “Riders to the Sea”?
Ans. The sea is the antagonist.
39. What did the priest inform Cathleen and Nora?
Ans. The priest informed Cathleen and Nora about drowning Michael.
40. What were Maurya’s last words?
Ans. No man at all can be living forever, and we must be satisfied.
41. How did Oedipus blind himself?
Ans. With the golden brooches pinned with Jocasta’s dress.
42. What was written at the back of the photograph of Raina?
Ans. “Raina, to her Chocolate Cream Soldier: a Souvenir.”
43. How is the sea treated in “Riders to the Sea”?
Ans. The sea is treated as fate.
44. Where did Oedipus meet his father first?
Ans. At a place where three roads met.
45. Where was Oedipus brought up?
Ans. Oedipus was brought up in Corinth.
46. Who is Louka?
Ans. The maidservant of the Petkoff family.
47. What is Donegal?
Ans. A country of North Ireland where the body of Michael is recovered.
48. Who was Teiresias?
Ans. The blind prophet in Greek Mythology.
49. Who is the man in the title of the play “Arms and the Man”?
Ans. Bluntschli.
50. What does Oedipus take pride in?
Ans. Oedipus takes pride in his gift of solving riddles.
51. How did Jocasta die?
Ans. Jocasta committed suicide by hanging.
52. What was Sphinx?
Ans. Sphinx was the mythical monster whose head and breast was like a woman but the body was of a winged lion.
53. When did the Serbo-Bulgaria war take place?
Ans. November 14, 1885
54. Who does the Man or Bluntschli Don Quixote?
Ans. The Man calls Major Sergius Don Quixote.
55. What does Cathleen hide?
Ans. The bundle of shirts and plain stockings.
56. What gift was Oedipus’ greatness?
Ans. The gift of solving riddles.
57. What is a hooker?
Ans. A kind of small Irish sailing boat.
58. Who is the chorus in Oedipus Rex?
Ans. The chorus is 12 to 15 elder persons of Thebes.
59. What kind of play is “Riders to the Sea”?
Ans. A one-act modern tragedy.
60. Who is an illiterate goat in “The Lion and the Jewel”?
Ans. Lakunle calls Sidi an illiterate goat.
61. Why did Oliver strike Orlando?
Ans. When Orlando accuses Oliver for his misbehavior, Oliver strikes Orlando.
62. What does the forest of Arden signify?
Ans. The forest of Arden signifies heaven or Eden.
63. Who did Oedipus send to the Oracle of Apollo?
Ans. Creon.
64. What is the background of the play “Arms and the Man”?
Ans. The historical war between Serbia and Bulgaria was fought in 1885.
65. Who considers himself to be a Christ figure?
Ans. Lakunle.
66. Who is Sidi?
Ans. Egoistic beautiful village girl of Ilujinle.
67. Who were the three tragedians of ancient Greece?
Ans. Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides.
68. What is the Latin title for the play “Oedipus the King”?
Ans. Oedipus Rex.
69. Who was the “Dog-faced witch”?
Ans. The sphinx.
70. Why is Duke Senior in the Forest of Arden?
Ans. Duke Senior is in the Forest of Arden because his brother has usurped him.
71. What is a prologue?
Ans. The initial section of a play.
72. What is an exode?
Ans. The final section of a play.
73. “Sweet are the uses of adversity” who says this?
Ans. Duke Senior.
74. Who is described as a Byronic hero in “Arms and the Man”?
Ans. Major Sergius.
75. How does Frederick become the Duke?
Ans. By banishing his elder brother.
76. Where was the Infant Oedipus left?
Ans. Infant Oedipus was left on Mount Cithaeron.
77. What kind of writing is “As You Like It”?
Ans. A Romantic Comedy.
78. Why did G. B. Shaw write “Arms and the Man”?
Ans. To condemn war and its glorification and to prove that marriage is a biological necessity, not the matter of romance.
79. When was Wole Soyinka awarded the Nobel Prize in literature?
Ans. Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1986.
80. Who wins the wrestling match in “The Lion and the Jewel”?
Ans. Baroka.
81. Where is the title of “Arms and the Man” taken from?
Ans. From the beginning line of Italian epic poet Virgil’s great epic “The Aeneid”. The opening of “The Aeneid” is “Arms and the man I sing”.
82. What is Audrey?
Ans. A shepherdess.
83. Who is a professional fool?
Ans. Touchstone.
84. Who is Baroka?
Ans. The chief of the village Ilujinle.
85. Who’s daughter is Celia?
Ans. Duke Frederick’s daughter.
86. What is the disguise name of Rosalind?
Ans. Ganymede.
87. What is the disguised name of Celia?
Ans. Aliena.
88. Why does Raina tell lies on two occasions?
Ans. To save Bluntschli.
89. What are the seven stages of life?
Ans. The seven stages of life are Infancy, Childhood, The lover, The soldier, justice, Old age, and Mental dementia and death.