Shakespeare.

Overview

Shakespeare accounts for over 2,500 clues spanning four decades of the show. Those 2,500+ clues draw from only about 740 distinct answers, giving it the lowest answer ratio (0.29) of any major topic: fewer things to memorize, more clues you'll recognize.

The topic skews heavily toward Double Jeopardy, appearing there roughly twice as often as in the Jeopardy round, and ranks among the most frequently tested Final Jeopardy categories with 75 appearances. Easy identifications appear in the first round; the depth (lesser-known plays, secondary characters, specific quotes) lives in the higher-value slots.

Clue patterns by value: Low-value clues ($200–$400) typically ask you to identify a play from a famous quote or basic plot summary. Mid-value clues ($600–$1,000) test character knowledge, who said what, who killed whom, family relationships. High-value and Daily Double clues ($1,200–$2,000) go deeper: settings, opening/closing lines, play-specific trivia, and the lesser-known works. Final Jeopardy loves meta-knowledge: longest play, most speeches, plays with ghosts, the only queen title character, plays with seasons in the title.

The stumper pattern: The most-tested plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet) have correct rates above 85%. The stumper zone lives in the middle tier: Titus Andronicus (60%), As You Like It (62%), Troilus and Cressida (68%), Antony and Cleopatra (56%), Two Gentlemen of Verona (56%), and The Winter's Tale (67%). Among characters, Malcolm is a notorious stumper (100% wrong rate across 6 appearances), and Tybalt, Cassius, Caliban, and Gertrude all trip up contestants regularly.

The Tragedies

Hamlet

~116 clues · 95% correct

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is Shakespeare's most-tested work on Jeopardy! and his longest play at 4,042 lines, a fact that is itself a frequent clue. The play opens with a sentinel's challenge ("Who's there?") on a platform before the castle at Elsinore, and it ends with the Norwegian prince Fortinbras ordering soldiers to shoot in salute. Between those bookends lies the most quoted play in the English language.

The play's architecture is built on a son's obligation to avenge his murdered father. Hamlet's uncle Claudius has killed King Hamlet, married Queen Gertrude, and seized the Danish throne. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears on the battlements to demand revenge, setting in motion a plot that will claim nearly every major character by Act V. Hamlet feigns madness ("antic disposition"), stages a play-within-a-play ("The Mousetrap") to catch Claudius's conscience, accidentally kills Polonius through a curtain, and drives Ophelia to madness and drowning. In the final scene, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet all die, Gertrude from a poisoned cup intended for her son, crying "O, my dear Hamlet, the drink, the drink! I am poisoned!"

Jeopardy clues test Hamlet more broadly than any other play. The graveyard scene with Yorick's skull ("Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest") is the single most-referenced Shakespeare scene on the show. Horatio's farewell, "Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest", has appeared as a Final Jeopardy answer. The line "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" is spoken by Gertrude, not Hamlet, a distinction the show tests regularly. Other frequently tested quotes: "To thine own self be true" (Polonius), "The play's the thing" (Hamlet), "The apparel oft proclaims the man" (Polonius), "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet to Horatio), and "Frailty, thy name is woman" (Hamlet).

Hamlet's relationship to his uncle prompts one of his earliest lines: "A little more than kin, and less than kind." His observation that "the funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables" (referring to his mother's hasty remarriage) has appeared in Final Jeopardy.

• Clues: ~116 · Correct rate: 95% · FJ appearances: 3+
• Setting: Elsinore Castle, Denmark
• Opening line: "Who's there?" (Bernardo/Francisco)
• Closing line: "Go, bid the soldiers shoot" (Fortinbras)
• Key characters: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius, Laertes, Horatio, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, Yorick (skull only)
• Deaths: Polonius (stabbed through curtain), Ophelia (drowning), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern (executed in England), Gertrude (poisoned cup), Laertes (poisoned sword), Claudius (poisoned sword + cup), Hamlet (poisoned sword)
• Famous quotes: "To be or not to be" · "To thine own self be true" · "The lady doth protest too much" · "Good night, sweet prince" · "The play's the thing" · "Brevity is the soul of wit" · "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
• Key fact: Shakespeare's longest play (4,042 lines) and most-filmed play

Macbeth

~98 clues · 85% correct

Macbeth, Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, opens with three witches asking "When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain?" one of the most-tested opening lines on the show. The title character's first words echo that dark weather: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen." The play traces a Scottish general's descent from honored warrior to murderous tyrant, spurred by a prophecy from the "weird sisters" and the ruthless ambition of his wife.

Lady Macbeth is among Shakespeare's most-tested characters (33 clues). Her sleepwalking scene ("Out, damned spot!") is iconic, but Jeopardy more frequently tests her final spoken words: "What's done cannot be undone: to bed, to bed, to bed." The line "Out, out, brief candle!" is spoken by Macbeth after learning of her death, not by Lady Macbeth herself, a crucial distinction. Her earlier consolation, "What's done is done," appears in the waking scenes. The famous line about her is spoken by a doctor: "More needs she the divine than the physician."

The witches' cauldron scene produces several tested phrases: "Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble" and "Something wicked this way comes" (said about Macbeth, not by him). The prophecy that "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth" is undone when Macduff reveals he was born by Caesarean section, a Final Jeopardy answer. At the play's end, Macbeth's severed head is the only part of him onstage, and Malcolm (Macduff's ally) speaks the closing lines, declaring his thanes will "henceforth be Earls, the first" ever in Scotland.

Watch out: Malcolm, who becomes king at the end of Macbeth, is a notorious stumper, 100% wrong rate across 6 appearances. Contestants know the play but not this character. He also ends the play by inviting everyone "to see us crowned at Scone."

• Clues: ~98 · Correct rate: 85% · FJ appearances: 3+
• Setting: Scotland (the first country mentioned in the play)
• Opening line: "When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain?" (First Witch)
• Closing line: "So thanks to all at once and to each one, whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone" (Malcolm)
• Key characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Macduff, Banquo (+ ghost), Malcolm, Duncan (murdered king), the Three Witches
• Deaths: Duncan (stabbed in sleep), Banquo (murdered, "20 trenched gashes on his head"), Lady Macbeth (suicide, offstage), Macbeth (killed by Macduff)
• Famous quotes: "Double, double, toil and trouble" · "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" · "Out, damned spot!" · "Something wicked this way comes" · "Fair is foul and foul is fair" · "The be-all and the end-all"
• Key fact: Shakespeare's shortest tragedy

Othello

~92 clues · 90% correct

Othello, the Moor of Venice, is a tragedy of jealousy engineered by one of literature's greatest villains. The play begins in Venice with Roderigo's complaint ("Tush, never tell me") addressed to Iago, who will proceed to destroy Othello through manipulation, a stolen handkerchief, and the accusation that Desdemona has been unfaithful with Cassio. Act I is set in Venice; Act II moves to the island of Cyprus, where the murders unfold.

Iago dominates the play and the Jeopardy clue pool. With 272 speeches, he has the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy, a Final Jeopardy answer. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's phrase "motiveless malignity" to describe Iago has appeared multiple times. His warning to Othello, "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster," is the play's most-tested line. After being wounded at the end, Iago says simply, "I bleed, sir, but not killed."

Desdemona is smothered in her bed (not stabbed; the method matters for clues). Before his own suicide, Othello confesses he "threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe" a Final Jeopardy clue. His last words: "I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this, killing myself, to die upon a kiss." The handkerchief (Othello's first gift to Desdemona) is the play's central prop and a frequent clue answer. Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's waiting-woman, calls Othello a "dull Moor" and is also murdered on Cyprus.

The phrase "pomp and circumstance" originates in this play; Othello speaks of the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war" to Iago.

• Clues: ~92 · Correct rate: 90% · FJ appearances: 2+
• Setting: Venice (Act I), Cyprus (Acts II–V)
• Opening line: "Tush, never tell me; I take it much unkindly that thou, Iago..." (Roderigo)
• Key characters: Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Cassio, Emilia, Brabantio, Roderigo
• Deaths: Desdemona (smothered), Emilia (stabbed by Iago), Othello (suicide by stabbing)
• Famous quotes: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster" · "I kissed thee ere I killed thee" · "Threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe" · "Put out the light, and then put out the light"
• Key fact: Iago has 272 speeches: the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy

King Lear

~81 clues · 93% correct

King Lear opens with the Earl of Kent noting, "I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall" a deceptively quiet beginning to Shakespeare's most devastating tragedy. The aging king divides his kingdom among his three daughters based on their declarations of love. Goneril and Regan flatter extravagantly; Cordelia answers simply, "Nothing, my lord," and is banished. The Fool, who represents truthfulness alongside Cordelia, famously disappears from the play when Cordelia returns, both characters have been doubled by the same actor in some productions.

Lear's anguished cry, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child", is the play's most-tested line. On the heath in the storm, the Fool observes, "This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen." As Lear descends into madness, he cradles Cordelia's body and laments, "And my poor fool is hanged!" where "fool" refers to Cordelia. After a royal passing in January 1820 (George III), the play received two new London productions in April; the king's madness resonated.

Cordelia's name likely derives from the Latin for "heart" (a Final Jeopardy answer), and the moon Cordelia orbiting Uranus shares her name (8 letters). Regan's name comes from a word meaning "little king." Goneril poisons Regan and then kills herself. The play has no comic relief after Act III.

• Clues: ~81 · Correct rate: 93% · FJ appearances: 3+
• Setting: Pre-Roman Britain
• Opening line: "I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall" (Kent)
• Key characters: Lear, Cordelia, Goneril, Regan, the Fool, Edgar, Edmund, Gloucester, Kent
• Deaths: Cordelia (hanged), Lear (grief), Goneril (suicide by poison), Regan (poisoned by Goneril), Edmund and Cornwall (killed)
• Famous quotes: "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child" · "Nothing will come of nothing" · "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!" · "And my poor fool is hanged!"
• Key fact: "King Lear" and "King John" are Shakespeare's only two plays with "King" in the title and no number following

Romeo and Juliet

~67 clues · 95% correct

Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's most universally known play and one of his most consistently tested, with a 95% correct rate. Its opening prologue, "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene", is the single most frequently tested Shakespeare quotation on Jeopardy!, appearing in at least a dozen clues across all three rounds. The prologue is itself a sonnet, with rhymes including "dignity/mutiny," "scene/unclean," and "life/strife" a Final Jeopardy clue.

The play is set in Verona (one of Shakespeare's most-tested settings at 17+ clues) and ends in the Capulet tomb. Juliet's first line is deceptively simple: "How now, who calls?" spoken to her Nurse. She turns fourteen during the play. Friar Lawrence's cell is where a fateful vial changes hands. The three characters who die in the final scene are Romeo, Juliet, and Paris, Paris being a frequent stumper as the "third death."

Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, kills Mercutio (who cries "A plague on both your houses!" several times before dying) and is then killed by Romeo. Romeo's last words involve an apothecary: "O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." Juliet's exit is simpler: "O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die." The shared initials of Juliet Capulet and Julius Caesar, J.C. have been tested, as has the fact that both die by stabbing.

The phrase "Parting is such sweet sorrow" comes from the balcony scene. "The course of true love never did run smooth" is often attributed to this play but actually comes from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

• Clues: ~67 · Correct rate: 95% · FJ appearances: 2+
• Setting: Verona, Italy
• Opening line: "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene" (Chorus)
• Key characters: Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt, Friar Lawrence, the Nurse, Paris, Benvolio, Capulet, Montague
• Deaths (final scene): Romeo (poison), Juliet (dagger), Paris (killed by Romeo)
• Famous quotes: "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" · "Parting is such sweet sorrow" · "A plague on both your houses!" · "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
• Key fact: The prologue is a 14-line sonnet; "Verona" is one of Shakespeare's most frequently tested settings

Julius Caesar

~61 clues · 90% correct

Julius Caesar opens with Flavius berating the common people: "Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home." Caesar's own first line consists of just one word ("Calphurnia!") calling to his wife. The play proceeds to the most famous assassination in literary history, with the conspirators washing their hands in Caesar's blood (Brutus's idea, per the show) on the Ides of March.

The phrase "Et tu, Brute?" is itself a Final Jeopardy answer; it is the only Latin phrase spoken in the play. After Caesar's murder, Brutus addresses the crowd first: "As Caesar loved me, I weep for him... but, as he was ambitious, I slew him." Marc Antony follows with "The evil that men do lives after them" also a Final Jeopardy answer. Cassius tells Brutus that "the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." Casca reports that Cicero's speech "was Greek to me" the origin of that common English phrase.

Brutus is the last character to die in the play (a Final Jeopardy answer), with the words "Caesar, now be still. I killed not thee with half so good a will." There are two characters named Cinna, Cinna the conspirator and Cinna the poet, who is killed by the mob in a case of mistaken identity.

The play's setting, "A plain near a port in Denmark" does NOT apply here; instead, settings include the Senate house, Brutus's orchard, and the battlefield at Philippi. Both Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra end with Octavius discussing funerals.

• Clues: ~61 · Correct rate: 90% · FJ appearances: 2+
• Setting: Rome (44 B.C.) and Philippi
• Opening line: "Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home" (Flavius)
• Key characters: Julius Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Marc Antony, Calphurnia, Octavius, Casca, two Cinnas
• Deaths: Caesar (stabbed in Senate), Cassius (suicide), Brutus (suicide, last to die)
• Famous quotes: "Et tu, Brute?" · "The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves" · "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" · "Beware the Ides of March" · "Cowards die many times before their deaths" · "It was Greek to me"
• Key fact: "Et tu, Brute?" is the only Latin spoken in the entire play

Richard III

~74 clues · 79% correct

Richard III's opening soliloquy, "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York", is one of Shakespeare's most famous lines and has appeared in at least ten Jeopardy clues. The "winter of our discontent" phrase was borrowed for the name given to U.K. labor strife in December 1978 and January 1979 (a Final Jeopardy answer). Richard speaks 1,164 lines, the second-longest role in a single Shakespeare play (after Hamlet), despite reigning for only two years.

The play features the young princes (Edward, Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York) who are imprisoned in the Tower of London and presumably murdered. Prince Edward's line "I do not like the Tower, of any place" has appeared in Final Jeopardy. Richard III is one of Shakespeare's few plays with children on stage. His dying cry ("A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!") is perhaps the most parodied line in Shakespeare.

Richard also muses, "Conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the strong in awe." Ghosts appear in this play (one of only four Shakespeare plays with onstage ghosts, alongside Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth). Laurence Olivier's 1955 film is the most-referenced Shakespeare film adaptation on the show.

• Clues: ~74 · Correct rate: 79% · FJ appearances: 5 (most of any Shakespeare answer)
• Setting: England (Wars of the Roses)
• Opening line: "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York" (Richard)
• Key characters: Richard III, the two princes, Buckingham, Richmond (future Henry VII)
• Famous quotes: "Now is the winter of our discontent" · "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" · "Conscience is but a word that cowards use"
• Key fact: Richard III has appeared as a Final Jeopardy answer 5 times, more than any other Shakespeare play

Antony and Cleopatra

~17 clues · 56% correct

Antony and Cleopatra opens in Alexandria with Philo describing Marc Antony as "the triple pillar of the world transformed into a strumpet's fool" a Final Jeopardy answer. Cleopatra, though Shakespeare wrote many plays about kings, is the only title character who is a queen, another FJ answer. Her description, "The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, burned on the water", is among Shakespeare's most beautiful passages.

Cleopatra's dying words involve the asp: "Poor venomous fool, be angry, and dispatch." The play's closing speech declares, "No grave upon the earth shall clip in it a pair so famous." Both this play and Julius Caesar end with Octavius discussing funerals.

Watch out: "Antony and Cleopatra" has a 56% correct rate; one of the highest stumper rates among Shakespeare plays. Contestants often confuse it with Julius Caesar (which also features Antony) or simply can't recall the exact title. The variant "Antony & Cleopatra" appears as a separate answer in the database.

• Clues: ~17 · Correct rate: 56%
• Setting: Alexandria, Egypt and Rome
• Opening line: "Nay, but this dotage of our general's o'erflows the measure" (Philo)
• Key characters: Marc Antony, Cleopatra, Octavius (later Augustus), Enobarbus
• Famous quotes: "The triple pillar of the world transformed into a strumpet's fool" · "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety" · "The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, burned on the water"
• Key fact: Cleopatra is the only queen who is a title character in Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus

~31 clues · 60% correct

Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's first tragedy and his most violent, a 16th-century precursor to modern horror. The play opens with Saturninus declaring, "Noble patricians, patrons of my right." The plot involves dismemberment, rape, murder, and a climactic banquet where Titus serves Tamora a pie made from her own sons, declaring: "Why, there they are, both baked in this pie; whereof their mother daintily hath fed." In the final bloodbath, Titus kills Lavinia, stabs Tamora, is killed by Saturninus, who is in turn killed by Lucius (Titus's son). Marcus Andronicus is the title character's brother.

Much of the play is set in Rome, which Titus describes as "a wilderness of tigers." The play's last scene takes place in a pavilion in Titus's garden.

Watch out: Titus Andronicus has a 40% stumper rate. It's Shakespeare's least-known frequently tested play. If a clue mentions extreme violence, cannibalism, or "Shakespeare's first tragedy," this is the answer.

• Clues: ~31 · Correct rate: 60%
• Setting: Rome
• Key characters: Titus, Tamora, Lavinia, Saturninus, Lucius, Aaron, Marcus Andronicus
• Key fact: Shakespeare's first tragedy and most violent play

The Comedies

The Tempest

~70 clues · 91% correct

The Tempest opens with a single shouted word ("Bos'n!") making it the shortest opening line in Shakespeare and one of the most-tested. The play's first line spoken as a complete sentence is "Let's all sink with the king." An account of a deposed Duke of Genoa in a 1549 "History of Italy" is a presumed source for the plot, a Final Jeopardy clue.

Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan and the play's central figure, is often said to represent Shakespeare himself; his name means "fortunate" in Latin (a Final Jeopardy answer). He commands the spirit Ariel (who can make himself invisible) and the "savage and deformed" Caliban, whom Prospero calls "Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself." Caliban is described variously as "a howling monster," "a most scurvy monster," and "some monster of the isle" (a Final Jeopardy clue). Caliban observes that "the isle is full of noises" and makes "strange bedfellows" with Trinculo.

Prospero's most famous speech ("We are such stuff as dreams are made on") is frequently tested. His daughter Miranda's name means "wonderful" or "to be admired." The phrase "into thin air" comes from this play (the dancing nymphs vanish "into thin air"). The Tempest is one of two Shakespeare plays whose plots are set in motion by shipwrecks (the other being Twelfth Night), a Final Jeopardy answer.

• Clues: ~70 · Correct rate: 91% · FJ appearances: 3+
• Setting: An unnamed island
• Opening line: "Bos'n!" (the Ship-Master)
• Key characters: Prospero, Miranda, Ariel, Caliban, Ferdinand, Trinculo, Stephano
• Famous quotes: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" · "O brave new world, that has such people in't" · "Full fathom five thy father lies"
• Key fact: One of two plays set in motion by a shipwreck (with Twelfth Night); opening line is one word

A Midsummer Night's Dream

~66 clues · 84% correct

A Midsummer Night's Dream opens with Theseus, Duke of Athens, declaring "Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace" an opening line tested frequently. Samuel Johnson noted that Shakespeare "so carefully informs us" the play takes place on the eve of May Day, yet titled it A Midsummer Night's Dream (a Final Jeopardy answer). Shakespeare used the words "moon" and "moonlight" more times in this play than in any other (also FJ).

The fairy realm provides the play's most-tested characters. Oberon, king of the fairies, greets his queen with "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania." Puck (also called Robin Goodfellow) delivers the famous line "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" and closes the play: "If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended." Bottom the weaver, transformed into a donkey by Puck, declares "I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me" and later reports he "had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was." Titania, under a spell, falls in love with the ass-headed Bottom: "My Oberon! What visions have I seen! Methought I was enamoured of an ass." Mustardseed is one of the attendant fairies.

The play-within-a-play of Pyramus and Thisbe, performed by Bottom and his fellow "mechanicals," parodies Romeo and Juliet. Mickey Rooney played Puck in the 1935 film.

• Clues: ~66 · Correct rate: 84% · FJ appearances: 2+
• Setting: Athens and a nearby forest
• Opening line: "Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace" (Theseus)
• Closing line: "If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended" (Puck)
• Key characters: Oberon, Titania, Puck/Robin Goodfellow, Bottom, Theseus, Hippolyta, Lysander, Hermia, Helena, Demetrius, Mustardseed
• Famous quotes: "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" · "The course of true love never did run smooth" · "I am that merry wanderer of the night"
• Key fact: Shakespeare used "moon"/"moonlight" more in this play than any other

The Taming of the Shrew

~47 clues · 95% correct

The Taming of the Shrew features Petruchio's mission to marry and "tame" the sharp-tongued Katharina (Katherina), one of the Minola sisters of Padua. The play's first line is technically spoken by Christopher Sly, a drunk in the Induction; and the famous line "I'll not budge an inch" belongs to Sly, not Kate, a distinction the show loves to test. The play ends in Lucentio's house (not Petruchio's), where Petruchio wins a bet that he has the most obedient wife.

Petruchio declares "Kiss me, Kate" the line that inspired Cole Porter's musical. His sparring with Kate produces the exchange: "If I be waspish, best beware my sting" / "My remedy is then to pluck it out." While there is a Katharine in three Shakespeare plays, this is the only play with a "Katharina." Bianca is Kate's younger, seemingly sweeter sister, and the suitors competing for Bianca drive the subplot.

• Clues: ~47 · Correct rate: 95% · FJ appearances: 2
• Setting: Padua, Italy
• Opening line: "Yes" (Christopher Sly, in the Induction)
• Key characters: Petruchio, Katharina (Kate), Bianca, Lucentio, Baptista Minola, Christopher Sly
• Famous quotes: "Kiss me, Kate" · "I'll not budge an inch" (Sly, not Kate) · "Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail"
• Key fact: "I'll not budge an inch" is spoken by Christopher Sly, not Kate, a favorite Jeopardy trick

The Merchant of Venice

~47 clues · 85% correct

The Merchant of Venice opens with Antonio's melancholy: "In sooth I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me; you say it wearies you." The play's central conflict involves Shylock's loan of 3,000 ducats to Antonio, with a pound of flesh as the penalty; the "heated discussion about 3,000 ducats" in Act I, Scene III is a Final Jeopardy clue.

Portia's courtroom speech, "The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven" is the play's most famous passage. Shylock's defense of his humanity, "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?" is equally iconic. Jessica, Shylock's daughter, states that "love is blind" as she elopes (with Shylock's ducats). Shylock himself speaks of approaching Bassanio "with bated breath." Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright co-starred as Shylock and Portia in 1970.

Portia is one of Shakespeare's great cross-dressing heroines; she disguises herself as a male lawyer (Balthazar) to argue in court. Her name is shared with Brutus's wife in Julius Caesar.

• Clues: ~47 · Correct rate: 85% · FJ appearances: 2
• Setting: Venice and Belmont, Italy
• Opening line: "In sooth I know not why I am so sad" (Antonio)
• Key characters: Shylock, Portia, Bassanio, Antonio, Jessica
• Famous quotes: "The quality of mercy is not strained" · "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" · "All that glitters is not gold" · "With bated breath"
• Key fact: Portia cross-dresses as a lawyer; her name also belongs to Brutus's wife in Julius Caesar

Twelfth Night

~40 clues · 84% correct

Twelfth Night opens with Duke Orsino's "If music be the food of love, play on" one of Shakespeare's most-tested opening lines. Its subtitle ("or What You Will") occasionally appears in clues. Samuel Pepys described the play as silly "and not related at all to the name or day" (a Final Jeopardy answer). The plot is set in motion by a shipwreck off the coast of Illyria, separating twin siblings Viola and Sebastian.

Olivia falls in love with Cesario, who is really Viola in disguise; the standard Shakespearean cross-dressing confusion. Malvolio, Olivia's steward, is tricked into wearing yellow cross-gartered stockings. The play gives us the maxim "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Antonio claims he saved Sebastian from "the jaws of death."

Twelfth Night and The Tempest are Shakespeare's only two plays whose plots are set in motion by shipwrecks, a Final Jeopardy pairing.

• Clues: ~40 · Correct rate: 84%
• Setting: Illyria
• Opening line: "If music be the food of love, play on" (Duke Orsino)
• Key characters: Viola/Cesario, Olivia, Orsino, Sebastian, Malvolio, Sir Toby Belch, Feste
• Famous quotes: "If music be the food of love, play on" · "Some are born great, some achieve greatness" · "Be not afraid of greatness"
• Key fact: One of two plays set in motion by a shipwreck (with The Tempest)

Much Ado About Nothing

~31 clues · 74% correct

Much Ado About Nothing features the sparring lovers Beatrice and Benedick, whose names both derive from Latin words for "blessed" (a Final Jeopardy answer). Berlioz based his last opera, Beatrice et Benedict, on this play (also FJ). The play opens with Leonato announcing "I learn in this letter that Don Pedro of Arragon comes this night to Messina." Dogberry and Verges are two comically inept officers whose bumbling actually uncovers the villain's plot.

Don John is the play's antagonist, and Don Pedro is the benevolent prince. The title may be a pun on "nothing" and "noting" (eavesdropping), which drives much of the plot.

• Clues: ~31 · Correct rate: 74%
• Setting: Messina, Sicily
• Key characters: Beatrice, Benedick, Don Pedro, Don John, Dogberry, Verges, Hero, Claudio, Leonato
• Key fact: Berlioz's last opera, Beatrice et Benedict, is based on this play

As You Like It

~28 clues · 62% correct

As You Like It contains Shakespeare's most famous philosophical speech: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," spoken by the melancholy Jaques. The play is set mostly in the Forest of Arden, where Rosalind (Shakespeare's longest female role) has fled from Duke Frederick's court. "And thereby hangs a tale" also originates in this play. The title is a direct address to the audience: "I charge you, O men... that between you and the women the play may please."

Christopher Marlowe's death is alluded to in the line "a great reckoning in a little room" (a Final Jeopardy answer).

Watch out: As You Like It has a 62% correct rate: lower than you'd expect for a well-known comedy. Contestants confuse it with other "forest comedies" or can't recall the title from quotes.

• Clues: ~28 · Correct rate: 62%
• Setting: The Forest of Arden (and Duke Frederick's court)
• Key characters: Rosalind, Orlando, Jaques, Touchstone, Celia, Duke Senior, Duke Frederick
• Famous quotes: "All the world's a stage" · "And thereby hangs a tale" · "Too much of a good thing"

The Merry Wives of Windsor

~26 clues · 91% correct

The Merry Wives of Windsor is Shakespeare's only play with an English locale in its title (a Final Jeopardy answer). Falstaff attempts to seduce two married women (Mistress Ford and Mistress Page) and is humiliated three times for his trouble. Characters include Shallow, Simple, Slender, and Falstaff's page Robin. Anne Page and some boys dress up as fairies to pinch Falstaff and burn him with tapers in the play's climax.

Henry Porter's "Two Angry Women of Abingdon" may have influenced this play. Tradition holds that Queen Elizabeth I requested a play showing Falstaff in love, inspiring Shakespeare to write it.

• Clues: ~26 · Correct rate: 91% · FJ appearances: 1
• Setting: Windsor, England
• Key characters: Falstaff, Mistress Ford, Mistress Page, Anne Page
• Key fact: Shakespeare's only play with an English locale in the title

The Lesser-Tested Comedies

The Comedy of Errors (~12 clues, 89% correct) involves two sets of twin brothers and rampant mistaken identity. Egeon, a merchant from Syracuse, speaks the first line. The play's final line: "We came into the world like brother and brother, and now let's go hand-in-hand, not one before another."

Love's Labour's Lost (~12 clues, 100% correct) is set in a park in Navarre and has the most apostrophes in its title of any Shakespeare play (a Final Jeopardy answer). The title is alliterative.

Two Gentlemen of Verona (~12 clues, 56% correct) features Valentine and Proteus. Its opening line: "Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus; home-keeping youth have ever homely wits." The play requires a dog to play the role of Crab. Despite having Verona in its title, it ends in a forest on the frontiers of Mantua. High stumper rate, 56% correct.

All's Well That Ends Well (~9 clues, 100% correct) and Measure for Measure are the only two Shakespeare plays whose titles repeat a word (excluding articles and prepositions), a Final Jeopardy answer. Helena pursues the reluctant Bertram.

Measure for Measure (~7 clues, 75% correct) begins and ends with the same 7-letter word in its title (a Final Jeopardy answer). Its title comes from the Sermon on the Mount, the verse following "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Froth is a foolish gentleman in this play.

The Winter's Tale (~14 clues, 67% correct) is the other Shakespearean play with a season in the title (besides A Midsummer Night's Dream, a Final Jeopardy answer). It takes place in Sicilia and Bohemia. Moderate stumper rate.

The Histories

Henry V

~20 clues · 78% correct

Henry V contains Shakespeare's most rousing battle speech ("Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!") before the Battle of Agincourt. The play opens with the Chorus's "O for a muse of fire," one of Shakespeare's greatest prologues. Kenneth Branagh's 1989 film adaptation is the most frequently referenced version on the show. In the third play in which he appears (after both parts of Henry IV), Hal becomes king and marries a French princess who "can't speak English."

The name "Henry" appears seven times in Shakespeare titles, more than any other name (a Final Jeopardy answer). Falstaff's death is reported in Henry V (he does not appear onstage); he appears in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and The Merry Wives of Windsor, giving him 471 speeches across three plays, the most of any Shakespeare character (a Final Jeopardy answer).

• Clues: ~20 · Correct rate: 78%
• Opening line: "O for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention" (Chorus)
• Key fact: "Henry" appears 7 times in Shakespeare titles; the most of any name

Henry VIII

~10 clues · 100% correct

Henry VIII is Shakespeare's only play named for a Tudor monarch (a Final Jeopardy answer) and features the most recent British monarch to serve as a Shakespeare title character (also FJ). Near the end, the future Elizabeth I is described as "a most unspotted lily" who "shall die a virgin." The play was being performed at the Globe Theatre when a cannon discharged during the performance and set the theater on fire in 1613.

Richard III

See The Tragedies section, Richard III appears there due to its tragic structure and testing patterns, though it is technically classified as a history play.

The Other Histories

Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 are dominated by Falstaff and Prince Hal. In Part 2, a hostess complains that Falstaff has "eaten me out of house and home" the origin of that common phrase. Hotspur (Harry Percy) is Prince Hal's rival; "in real life he was older than Hal's father" (a Final Jeopardy answer).

Henry VI, Part 1 opens in Westminster Abbey. Dick the Butcher's suggestion "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" comes from Part 2. A knight who flees battle in Part 1 is an early version of Falstaff (a Final Jeopardy answer).

Characters

Shakespeare's characters form the backbone of the Jeopardy clue pool, knowing who belongs to which play, who said what, and who killed whom will answer the majority of Shakespeare clues. The characters below are organized by their home plays.

Hamlet Characters

Ophelia (25 clues, 96% correct), Daughter of Polonius, driven to madness and drowning. Laertes says of her: "From her fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring!" Sir John Everett Millais's famous painting depicts her floating in water. "Get thee to a nunnery" is directed at her.

Polonius (9 clues, 100% correct), Father of Ophelia and Laertes. Hamlet stabs him through a curtain (arras). His advice includes "To thine own self be true" and "The apparel oft proclaims the man" and "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." Final Jeopardy answer.

Horatio (6 clues, 100% correct), Hamlet's faithful friend. Hamlet tells Yorick's skull, "I knew him, Horatio." Also told "There are more things in heaven and earth..." Delivers "Good night, sweet prince."

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern (8 clues, 88% correct), Hamlet's schoolmates, summoned by Claudius to spy. Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead reimagines the story from their perspective.

Gertrude (10 clues, 70% correct), Hamlet's mother, the queen. Speaks "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Dies from a poisoned cup. Moderate stumper, 30% wrong.

Claudius (6 clues, 80% correct) Hamlet's uncle, the usurper king. His first speech begins: "Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death the memory be green..."

Macbeth Characters

Lady Macbeth (33 clues, 93% correct), "Out, damned spot!" and "What's done cannot be undone." The line "Out, out, brief candle!" is Macbeth's, not hers. A doctor says she needs "the divine" more than "the physician." Final Jeopardy answer (3 times).

Macduff (10 clues, 78% correct), Born by Caesarean section, fulfilling the prophecy. Macbeth tells him "Lay on, Macduff." Final Jeopardy answer.

Banquo (7 clues, 86% correct), Macbeth's friend, murdered with "20 trenched gashes on his head." His ghost appears at the banquet. His son Fleance escapes.

Duncan (8 clues, 100% correct), The murdered king. Macbeth kills him in his sleep.

Othello Characters

Iago (48 clues, 88% correct), Shakespeare's greatest villain. Has 272 speeches; the most of any non-title character in a tragedy. Coleridge's "motiveless malignity." Warns of "the green-eyed monster." Final Jeopardy answer (2 times).

Desdemona (21 clues, 95% correct), Othello's wife. Her first line: "My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty." Smothered (not stabbed). Her waiting-woman Emilia is also killed on Cyprus.

Romeo and Juliet Characters

Juliet (43 clues, 93% correct), Turns 14 during the play. First line: "How now, who calls?" Final words: "O happy dagger!" Juliet Capulet shares initials (J.C.) with Julius Caesar.

Romeo (37 clues, 86% correct), "O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." Dies by poison, not dagger.

Mercutio (9 clues, 89% correct), Romeo's friend. "A plague on both your houses!" repeated several times before dying. Killed by Tybalt.

Tybalt (9 clues, 56% correct), Juliet's cousin ("Nephew to the Lady Capulet"). Kills Mercutio, then killed by Romeo. High stumper rate.

King Lear Characters

Cordelia (14 clues, 75% correct), Name from Latin for "heart." Shares name with a moon of Uranus (8 letters). Answers "Nothing, my lord" to Lear's love test. Hanged in prison. Final Jeopardy answer (2 times).

Goneril (10 clues, 78% correct), Lear's eldest daughter. Poisons Regan, then kills herself.

The Tempest Characters

Prospero (24 clues, 95% correct), Exiled Duke of Milan. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on." Name means "fortunate" in Latin. Often seen as Shakespeare's self-portrait. Final Jeopardy answer.

Caliban (11 clues, 63% correct), "Savage and deformed." Described as "a howling monster," "a most scurvy monster." Final Jeopardy answer. Moderate stumper.

Ariel (5 clues, 40% correct) Prospero's sprite. Can make himself invisible. "Come unto these yellow sands, and then take hands." High stumper.

Other Notable Characters

Falstaff (27 clues, 92% correct), Appears in Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 and Merry Wives of Windsor. 471 speeches across 3 plays; the most of any Shakespeare character. "Eaten me out of house and home." Final Jeopardy answer (2 times).

Portia (24 clues, 95% correct), "The quality of mercy is not strained." Cross-dresses as lawyer Balthazar in Merchant of Venice. Name shared with Brutus's wife in Julius Caesar.

Petruchio (24 clues, 95% correct), The "tamer" in Taming of the Shrew. "Kiss me, Kate." Enters saying "Verona, for a while I take my leave."

Shylock (23 clues, 86% correct), "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" The Venetian moneylender who speaks "with bated breath."

Puck (14 clues, 83% correct), Also Robin Goodfellow. "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Mickey Rooney played him in 1935.

Brutus (20 clues, 74% correct), Last character to die in Julius Caesar. "The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves." Washes his hands in Caesar's blood.

Bottom (6 clues, 83% correct), The weaver in Midsummer. Gets a donkey head: "Enter Puck, and Bottom with an ass's head."

Cassius (9 clues, 67% correct), "The lean and hungry look." Tells Brutus about the fault in their stars. Servant Pindarus. Moderate stumper.

Quotes, Opening Lines & Famous Phrases

Shakespeare quotes are the single most productive area to study for Jeopardy. The show tests them in three main ways: (1) identify the play from a quote, (2) identify the character who speaks a line, and (3) complete a famous phrase.

Opening Lines

Opening lines are tested so heavily that memorizing the first line of each major play is one of the highest-value study strategies. The show has dedicated entire categories to them ("Shakespearean 1st Lines," "Shakespeare's Opening Lines").

Phrases Shakespeare Gave Us

Many common English phrases originate in Shakespeare. The show tests the play of origin:

• "Eaten me out of house and home": Henry IV, Part 2
• "The green-eyed monster" (jealousy) Othello
• "It was Greek to me": Julius Caesar
• "With bated breath": The Merchant of Venice
• "All that glitters is not gold": The Merchant of Venice
• "Pomp and circumstance": Othello
• "Strange bedfellows": The Tempest
• "Into thin air": The Tempest
• "The be-all and the end-all": Macbeth
• "Wild goose chase": Romeo and Juliet
• "Something wicked this way comes": Macbeth (said about Macbeth by a witch)
• "Parting is such sweet sorrow": Romeo and Juliet
• "The course of true love never did run smooth": A Midsummer Night's Dream (not Romeo and Juliet!)
• "Brevity is the soul of wit": Hamlet
• "Fair is foul and foul is fair": Macbeth (the witches)

Death Speeches & Final Lines

The show frequently tests how characters die and their last words:

• Romeo: "O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die."
• Juliet: "O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die."
• Othello: "I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this, killing myself, to die upon a kiss."
• Lady Macbeth: "What's done cannot be undone: to bed, to bed, to bed." (last spoken words)
• Cleopatra: "Poor venomous fool, be angry, and dispatch."
• Brutus: "Caesar, now be still. I killed not thee with half so good a will."
• Richard III: "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"
• Hamlet: (Horatio's farewell) "Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
• Macbeth: (Ending) "So thanks to all at once and to each one, whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone." (Malcolm)

Settings, Meta-Knowledge & Final Jeopardy Patterns

Settings

After England, more Shakespeare plays are set in Italy than in any other present-day country (a Final Jeopardy answer). Knowing the setting of each play is a high-value skill, dedicated categories like "Shakespearean Settings" appear regularly.

Meta-Knowledge for Final Jeopardy

Final Jeopardy Shakespeare clues frequently test structural and statistical facts rather than plot knowledge. These "meta" facts appear repeatedly:

• Longest play: Hamlet (4,042 lines)
• Shortest tragedy: Macbeth
• Most speeches (any character): Falstaff: 471 across 3 plays
• Most speeches (non-title character in tragedy): Iago: 272 in Othello
• Second-longest role (single play): Richard III: 1,164 lines
• Only queen title character: Cleopatra
• Only Tudor monarch in a title: Henry VIII (also most recent British monarch as title character)
• Name most often in titles: Henry: 7 times
• Plays with ghosts on stage: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Richard III
• Plays set in motion by shipwrecks: The Tempest, Twelfth Night
• Plays with a season in the title: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale
• Title with most apostrophes: Love's Labour's Lost
• Title that repeats a word: All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure
• "King" in title with no number: King Lear, King John
• Only English locale in a title: Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
• Plays where both Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra end with: Octavius discussing funerals
• Plays with children on stage: Richard III (the two princes)
• Title that begins and ends with same 7-letter word: Measure for Measure

The Globe Theatre and Shakespeare's Company

Shakespeare's acting company was called the King's Men, named for King James I (a Final Jeopardy answer; previously the Lord Chamberlain's Men under Elizabeth I). The Globe Theatre burned down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII when a cannon discharge ignited the thatched roof.

Shakespeare's Contemporaries

Christopher Marlowe is the contemporary most tested alongside Shakespeare. The line "a great reckoning in a little room" in As You Like It is generally taken as an allusion to Marlowe's mysterious death in a tavern brawl in 1593 (a Final Jeopardy answer).

Operas Based on Shakespeare

Shakespeare's plays have inspired numerous operas, and the category "Shakespearean Operas" appears regularly:

• Verdi's Otello and Falstaff (his last opera)
• Verdi's Macbeth
• Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict (from Much Ado About Nothing; his last opera)
• Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
• Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Purcell's The Fairy-Queen (based on A Midsummer Night's Dream)