This melancholy madman is the ultimate Renaissance man, writing a speech for a play within a play, killing his uncle (and half the Danish court with him), escaping pirates, and answering the ultimate question "To be or not to be?"
Who is Hamlet?
100
Oh no! This hobbit makes a habit out of falling into the clutches of the forces of darkness, all because of a powerful ring that he must bear to Mount Doom. Good thing Samwise is there to help him!
Who is Frodo Baggins?
100
This king of England made himself a legend by pulling the sword from the stone--though the sword named Excalibur actually came from a lake, not the stone.
Who is King Arthur?
100
He's been played by George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, Scrooge McDuck, and this Christmas Jim Carrey will take a stab at the most miserably miserly of masters--as Tiny Tim observed: "God bless them, every one...except Jim Carrey."
Who is Ebenezer Scrooge?
100
Possibly Jane Austen's most famous character, she spurned the prideful Mr. Darcy because of an initial prejudice against him.
Who is Lizzie Bennett?
200
This traveling man found himself larger than life in the land of the Lilliputians, but experienced life on the small end of the scale in a country called Brobdingnab.
Who is Lemuel Gulliver?
200
John Milton's epic poem may be about Man's fall from Paradise, but many have speculated that this slippery snake of a bad guy might actually be the hero of the poem--hell of an idea, if you ask me.
Who is Satan (or Lucifer)?
200
Here's a legendary archer from Loxley--you'll remember he outfoxed the wicked Prince John and his Sheriff of Nottingham, keeping unfair taxes from destroying the people of England until King Richard returned from the crusades.
Who is Robin Hood?
200
This poor orphan boy can't seem to do anything right: his mother dies giving birth to him, then he gets sent away from the workhouse for asking "Please sir, I want some more," and he winds up falling in with a pickpocket crew in London--quite a few plot curves...or rotations...
Who is Oliver Twist?
200
Often called "The Virgin Queen," this monarch reigned during the time of Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Edmund Spenser, and was a patron to all three. She later became a boat.
Who is Queen Elizabeth I?
300
He's obscure in Thomas Hardy's novel even though he takes abuse from every other character in the book, but don't worry! The Beatles made this name famous by advising him to "take a sad song and make it better."
Who is Jude?
300
Hwaet! Though he's actually from Sweden, this great Geat may be Britain's first hero. Stand back as he slays his way through a monster named Grendel, then Grendel's mother, and then a dragon--all in a Dane's work.
Who is Beowulf?
300
This legendary prime minister broadcast radio transmissions to the people of Britain during World War II, giving such rousing speeches that his people held on and endured the worst bombings in history (at least, they were the worst at that point).
Who is Winston Churchill?
300
The next time someone tells you comic books are for kids, ask if he's read Alan Moore's violent political diatribe about a Britain that has lost all its freedoms and depends on this ever-masked Guy Fawkes impersonator to save it. Or if he's seen the movie.
Who is V?
300
Alohamora! The actress who plays this witch finally turned 18 a year ago. Wizards and warlocks alike now drool--and Ron is getting jealous!
Who is Hermione Granger?
400
Which one's which? That's one of the unanswered questions in Tom Stoppard's play about the bumbling clowns from Shakespeare's "Hamlet," who never quite find out the prince's game and receive the final, climactic pronouncement that "____ and ____ are dead."
Who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?
400
The lion's share of criticism on C.S. Lewis's Narnia series holds that this benevolent creature is an allegory for Jesus. I guess I wouldn't stick my head in Jesus's mouth, either.
Who is Aslan?
400
At the Battle of Agincourt, this English king's exhortations on St. Crispin's Day helped his men defeat a French army 5 to 10 times their size--as Shakespeare has him say it, "gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accursed and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon St. Crispin's Day!"
Who is King Henry V?
400
Rudyard Kipling chronicled this boy's journey into manhood in the jungles of India, where he learned the law of the jungle from companions such as Bagheera and Baloo.
Who is Mowgli?
400
This heroine of Charlotte Bronte's novel found out that her love interest has a skeleton in the closet--or rather, in the attic. It's alive, it's his former wife, and it's putting their relationship up in the "Eyre."
Who is Jane Eyre?
500
You might remember that Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote of this man's statue, which lay in ruins before a barren desert with the inscription "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!" Or I might just ask which of you watched the Watchmen.
Who is Ozymandias?
500
In Greek, his name is Odysseus, but both Tennyson and Joyce use this Latin version of the hero's name when they write about a man traveling through countless dangers in search of home.
Who is Ulysses?
500
It's not often you meet a Catholic saint in British hero worship, but this advisor to King Henry VIII stood up against the king's habit of divorcing and beheading wives--his head quickly joined the pile.
Who is St. Thomas More?
500
Though the subject is children, don't read this author's "A Modest Proposal" as a bedtime story to the little ones--they may find out swiftly that it's not to their tastes.
Who is Jonathan Swift?
500
Unsex me! This vicious vixen violates nature and vindicates a prophecy that her husband will become king--only after a string of violent vivisections does she repent the blood that will not wash out of her hands. What a vitch!