85 Most Important MCQS on The Renaissance Period

September 25, 2025
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85 Most Important MCQS on the Renaissance Period

Let’s dive into the 85 most important MCQs on the Renaissance Period. But before that, here is a brief introduction to this period.

Introduction to the Renaissance Period

The Renaissance was a cultural, intellectual, and artistic movement that began in Italy in the 14th century and spread across Europe until the 17th century. The word Renaissance means “rebirth”, symbolizing the revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman learning, art, and human values after the Middle Ages.

Key Features:

  1. Humanism: A shift from purely religious thought to focus on human potential, dignity, and achievements.

  2. Art & Literature: Flourishing of great artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and writers like Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. In England, it produced literary giants such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Edmund Spenser.

  3. Science & Discovery: Great advancements in astronomy, geography, and medicine; figures like Copernicus, Galileo, and Vesalius reshaped knowledge.

  4. Printing Press (1450s): Invented by Johannes Gutenberg, it helped spread books and ideas widely.

  5. The Religious Reformation, marked by the questioning of the Catholic Church, led to the Protestant Reformation, which in turn had a profound influence on literature and society.

  6. Spirit of Exploration: Voyages by Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Magellan expanded Europe’s horizons.

In English Literature:

  • The Renaissance in England is often dated from the late 15th century to the early 17th century.

  • It produced masterpieces in poetry, drama, and prose, with writers such as Chaucer (forerunner), Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, and Francis Bacon.

  • Themes included love, beauty, power, politics, religion, and the human condition.

  • In short, the Renaissance was a rebirth of classical knowledge and human creativity that transformed Europe’s art, science, religion, and literature, leaving a lasting impact on modern culture.

I. Renaissance Period – 50 MCQs with Answers

General Background

  1. The Renaissance period in England broadly covers which years?
    a) 1200–1350
    b) 1350–1500
    c) 1500–1660
    d) 1660–1780
    Answer: c) 1500–1660

  2. The term “Renaissance” means:
    a) Decline
    b) Rebirth
    c) Darkness
    d) Revolution
    Answer: b) Rebirth

  3. The Renaissance in England was greatly influenced by:
    a) Roman Catholic Church
    b) Classical Greek and Roman learning
    c) French Revolution
    d) Industrial Revolution
    Answer: b) Classical Greek and Roman learning

  4. Which invention played a crucial role in spreading Renaissance ideas?
    a) Steam engine
    b) Printing press
    c) Compass
    d) Telescope
    Answer: b) Printing press

  5. Who is considered the “Morning Star of the Renaissance” in England?
    a) Geoffrey Chaucer
    b) John Wycliffe
    c) Sir Thomas More
    d) William Tyndale
    Answer: b) John Wycliffe

  6. Which English monarch is most closely associated with the flowering of Renaissance literature?
    a) Henry VII
    b) Henry VIII
    c) Elizabeth I
    d) James II
    Answer: c) Elizabeth I

  7. The Renaissance encouraged:
    a) Feudalism
    b) Humanism
    c) Scholasticism
    d) Mysticism
    Answer: b) Humanism

  8. Who introduced the printing press in England in 1476?
    a) William Caxton
    b) Johannes Gutenberg
    c) Thomas Malory
    d) Francis Bacon
    Answer: a) William Caxton

  9. Which movement was a significant part of the Renaissance and questioned religious authority?
    a) Romanticism
    b) Protestant Reformation
    c) Neo-classicism
    d) Realism
    Answer: b) Protestant Reformation

  10. Who is known as the “Father of English Humanism”?
    a) Roger Ascham
    b) Sir Thomas More
    c) Erasmus
    d) Francis Bacon
    Answer: b) Sir Thomas More

Poetry and Drama

  1. Who is called the “Father of English Poetry,” influencing Renaissance poets?
    a) Geoffrey Chaucer
    b) Edmund Spenser
    c) John Milton
    d) Thomas Wyatt
    Answer: a) Geoffrey Chaucer

  2. The first English tragedy Gorboduc (1561) was written by:
    a) Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville
    b) Ben Jonson and Beaumont
    c) Christopher Marlowe
    d) John Webster
    Answer: a) Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville

  3. The Elizabethan sonnet form was perfected by:
    a) Sir Thomas More
    b) Sir Philip Sidney
    c) Edmund Spenser and Shakespeare
    d) John Donne
    Answer: c) Edmund Spenser and Shakespeare

  4. The Faerie Queene is an allegorical poem by:
    a) William Shakespeare
    b) Edmund Spenser
    c) Thomas Wyatt
    d) Philip Sidney
    Answer: b) Edmund Spenser

  5. Who wrote Astrophel and Stella, the first English sonnet sequence?
    a) Philip Sidney
    b) Thomas Wyatt
    c) Henry Howard
    d) John Milton
    Answer: a) Philip Sidney

  6. Which playwright is known as the “University Wits” leader?
    a) William Shakespeare
    b) Christopher Marlowe
    c) Thomas Kyd
    d) John Lyly
    Answer: b) Christopher Marlowe

  7. Who introduced blank verse in English drama?
    a) Thomas Kyd
    b) Christopher Marlowe
    c) Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey)
    d) William Shakespeare
    Answer: c) Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey)

  8. The “tragic flaw” or hamartia in Renaissance tragedies was emphasized by:
    a) Aristotle’s influence
    b) Chaucer’s realism
    c) Dante’s poetry
    d) Homer’s epics
    Answer: a) Aristotle’s influence

  9. Tamburlaine the Great was written by:
    a) Ben Jonson
    b) Christopher Marlowe
    c) Thomas Kyd
    d) William Shakespeare
    Answer: b) Christopher Marlowe

  10. Doctor Faustus reflects the Renaissance:
    a) Mysticism
    b) Humanism and thirst for knowledge
    c) Gothic traditions
    d) Romanticism
    Answer: b) Humanism and thirst for knowledge

Shakespeare and Contemporaries

  1. How many plays did Shakespeare write?
    a) 27
    b) 37
    c) 45
    d) 55
    Answer: b) 37

  2. Shakespeare’s plays are classified into:
    a) Comedies and tragedies only
    b) Comedies, tragedies, and histories
    c) Tragedies and romances only
    d) Romances and epics
    Answer: b) Comedies, tragedies, and histories

  3. Which is Shakespeare’s longest play?
    a) Othello
    b) Hamlet
    c) King Lear
    d) Macbeth
    Answer: b) Hamlet

  4. Ben Jonson is best known for his:
    a) Sonnets
    b) Comedies of Humours
    c) Epic poetry
    d) Historical romances
    Answer: b) Comedies of Humours

  5. Which of the following is a Shakespearean comedy?
    a) Macbeth
    b) Othello
    c) The Tempest
    d) King Lear
    Answer: c) The Tempest

  6. The phrase “Renaissance man” is often applied to:
    a) Marlowe
    b) Shakespeare
    c) Leonardo da Vinci
    d) Edmund Spenser
    Answer: c) Leonardo da Vinci

  7. Which of the following is NOT a Shakespearean history play?
    a) Henry IV
    b) Richard III
    c) Julius Caesar
    d) Henry V
    Answer: c) Julius Caesar

  8. Which Renaissance writer was killed in a tavern brawl?
    a) Ben Jonson
    b) Christopher Marlowe
    c) Thomas Kyd
    d) John Webster
    Answer: b) Christopher Marlowe

  9. “Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships” is from:
    a) Hamlet
    b) Doctor Faustus
    c) Macbeth
    d) The Duchess of Malfi
    Answer: b) Doctor Faustus

  10. The Globe Theatre was built in:
    a) 1558
    b) 1599
    c) 1623
    d) 1660
    Answer: b) 1599

Prose and Philosophy

  1. Who wrote Utopia?
    a) Thomas More
    b) Francis Bacon
    c) Erasmus
    d) Roger Ascham
    Answer: a) Thomas More

  2. Francis Bacon is famous for his:
    a) Tragedies
    b) Essays
    c) Epics
    d) Comedies
    Answer: b) Essays

  3. Bacon’s essays are characterized by:
    a) Wit and brevity
    b) Satire and comedy
    c) Allegory
    d) Blank verse
    Answer: a) Wit and brevity

  4. The Schoolmaster was written by:
    a) Roger Ascham
    b) Thomas More
    c) John Lyly
    d) Ben Jonson
    Answer: a) Roger Ascham

  5. The Renaissance emphasis on “Man is the measure of all things” is linked to:
    a) Platonism
    b) Humanism
    c) Scholasticism
    d) Calvinism
    Answer: b) Humanism

    Later Renaissance & Decline

    1. The first folio of Shakespeare’s plays was published in:
      a) 1600
      b) 1616
      c) 1623
      d) 1640
      Answer: c) 1623

    2. Who among these was NOT an Elizabethan dramatist?
      a) John Dryden
      b) Thomas Kyd
      c) Ben Jonson
      d) John Lyly
      Answer: a) John Dryden

    3. The Alchemist was written by:
      a) Christopher Marlowe
      b) William Shakespeare
      c) Ben Jonson
      d) John Webster
      Answer: c) Ben Jonson

    4. The decline of the Renaissance began during the reign of:
      a) Henry VIII
      b) Elizabeth I
      c) James I and Charles I
      d) Henry VII
      Answer: c) James I and Charles I

    5. Who wrote The Duchess of Malfi?
      a) Ben Jonson
      b) Thomas Kyd
      c) John Webster
      d) Francis Bacon
      Answer: c) John Webster

    6. Miscellaneous

      1. Renaissance literature was primarily written in:
        a) Latin
        b) Greek
        c) English
        d) French
        Answer: c) English

      2. Which famous phrase belongs to Shakespeare?
        a) “Knowledge is power”
        b) “The pen is mightier than the sword”
        c) “All the world’s a stage”
        d) “To err is human”
        Answer: c) “All the world’s a stage”

      3. Who is called the “Poet’s Poet”?
        a) Philip Sidney
        b) Edmund Spenser
        c) John Milton
        d) William Shakespeare
        Answer: b) Edmund Spenser

      4. The Renaissance emphasis on worldly pleasures and achievements is called:
        a) Asceticism
        b) Secularism
        c) Mysticism
        d) Idealism
        Answer: b) Secularism

      5. Which play by Marlowe deals with the theme of limitless ambition?
        a) Edward II
        b) Doctor Faustus
        c) Tamburlaine
        d) The Jew of Malta
        Answer: b) Doctor Faustus

      6. The Authorized Version of the Bible (King James Bible) was published in:
        a) 1600
        b) 1604
        c) 1611
        d) 1625
        Answer: c) 1611

      7. Which of the following is a Renaissance epic romance?
        a) The Tempest
        b) Paradise Lost
        c) The Faerie Queene
        d) Beowulf
        Answer: c) The Faerie Queene

      8. Which form of poetry became popular during the Renaissance?
        a) Limerick
        b) Sonnet
        c) Ballad
        d) Ode
        Answer: b) Sonnet

      9. Which Renaissance writer is associated with the phrase “A man for all seasons”?
        a) Thomas More
        b) Francis Bacon
        c) Philip Sidney
        d) Ben Jonson
        Answer: a) Thomas More

      10. The Renaissance ended with the:
        a) Fall of Constantinople
        b) English Civil War
        c) Restoration of Charles II
        d) French Revolution
        Answer: b) English Civil War

II. Concept-Based MCQs on Renaissance (for Competitive Exams)

Renaissance Background & Culture

The Renaissance
               The Renaissance

  1. The Renaissance is often described as a transition from:
    a) Feudalism to Industrialism
    b) Medieval to Modern age
    c) Enlightenment to Romanticism
    d) Ancient to Medieval age
    Answer: b) Medieval to Modern age

  2. The invention that most accelerated the spread of Renaissance ideas was:
    a) Microscope
    b) Printing Press
    c) Telescope
    d) Compass
    Answer: b) Printing Press

  3. Humanism during the Renaissance emphasized:
    a) Religious orthodoxy
    b) Human dignity and classical learning
    c) Industrial progress
    d) Scientific revolutions only
    Answer: b) Human dignity and classical learning

  4. Which country is considered the cradle of the Renaissance?

    The Italian Renaissance
    The Italian Renaissance


    a) England
    b) France
    c) Italy
    d) Germany
    Answer: c) Italy

 

5. In England, the Renaissance coincided with the reign of:
          a) King Henry VII and Elizabeth I
          b) King Charles I
          c) Oliver Cromwell
          d) George III
Answer: a) King Henry VII and Elizabeth I

Renaissance Literature & Writers

  1. Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene is an allegory that celebrates:
    a) Chivalric romance only
    b) Elizabeth I and Protestant virtues
    c) Scientific invention
    d) Feudal tradition
    Answer: b) Elizabeth I and Protestant virtues

  2. Which of the following was the first great tragedy in English literature?
    a) Hamlet
    b) The Spanish Tragedy
    c) Gorboduc
    d) Doctor Faustus
    Answer: c) Gorboduc

  3. The “mighty line” of Christopher Marlowe refers to his:
    a) Narrative poetry
    b) Use of rhymed couplets
    c) Powerful blank verse
    d) Religious sermons
    Answer: c) Powerful blank verse

  4. “University Wits” were important because they:
    a) Established the novel form
    b) Pioneered blank verse drama
    c) Rejected all classical models
    d) Focused only on satire
    Answer: b) Pioneered blank verse drama

  5. Thomas More’s Utopia reflects Renaissance interest in:
    a) Religious reforms
    b) Political idealism and humanist values
    c) Romantic imagination
    d) Epic heroism
    Answer: b) Political idealism and humanist values

Philosophy & Science

  1. Renaissance thinkers emphasized:
    a) Scholasticism
    b) Secular humanism and curiosity
    c) Superstitions
    d) Divine right of kings only
    Answer: b) Secular humanism and curiosity

  2. Copernicus’s heliocentric theory challenged:
    a) Medieval feudalism
    b) The geocentric worldview of the Church
    c) Renaissance humanism
    d) Romantic imagination
    Answer: b) The geocentric worldview of the Church

  3. Francis Bacon is called the father of:
    a) Romanticism
    b) Scientific method and empiricism
    c) Political science
    d) Economic theory
    Answer: b) Scientific method and empiricism

  4. Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513) advocated:
    a) Christian morality in politics
    b) Pragmatism and political realism
    c) Utopian socialism
    d) Feudal loyalty
    Answer: b) Pragmatism and political realism

  5. Which Renaissance idea most influenced the Reformation?
    a) Humanism and individual conscience
    b) Industrial revolution
    c) Romantic nationalism
    d) Gothic revival
    Answer: a) Humanism and individual conscience

Drama & Poetry

  1. Blank verse was first introduced into English drama by:
    a) Shakespeare
    b) Thomas Kyd
    c) Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville (Gorboduc)
    d) John Lyly
    Answer: c) Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville (Gorboduc)

  2. Elizabethan drama differs from classical drama because it:
    a) Observes the unities strictly
    b) Mixes tragedy and comedy freely
    c) Avoids blank verse
    d) Focuses on religion alone
    Answer: b) Mixes tragedy and comedy freely

  3. The pastoral poetry of the Renaissance idealized:
    a) Court life
    b) Simple rural and shepherd life
    c) Industrial towns
    d) Warfare
    Answer: b) Simple rural and shepherd life

  4. Which poet is known as the “Poet’s Poet”?
    a) Philip Sidney
    b) Edmund Spenser
    c) Ben Jonson
    d) John Donne
    Answer: b) Edmund Spenser

  5. Philip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella is famous as:
    a) A sonnet sequence
    b) An epic romance
    c) A morality play
    d) A political tract
    Answer: a) A sonnet sequence

Influence & Legacy

  1. The Renaissance spirit is best captured in the phrase:
    a) “Memento mori”
    b) “Carpe diem”
    c) “Deus vult”
    d) “Veni vidi vici”
    Answer: b) “Carpe diem” (Seize the day)

  2. The Elizabethan age is sometimes called:
    a) The Golden Age of English Drama
    b) The Age of Prose
    c) The Age of Milton
    d) The Industrial Age
    Answer: a) The Golden Age of English Drama

  3. The Renaissance emphasis on individualism paved the way for:
    a) Autobiography and personal lyric poetry
    b) Epic cycles only
    c) Gothic romances
    d) Religious sermons
    Answer: a) Autobiography and personal lyric poetry

  4. Who among these was a Renaissance courtier, soldier, poet, and critic?
    a) Ben Jonson
    b) Philip Sidney
    c) John Lyly
    d) Thomas More
    Answer: b) Philip Sidney

  5. The “Globe Theatre” is associated with:
    a) Christopher Marlowe
    b) William Shakespeare
    c) Thomas Kyd
    d) Edmund Spenser
    Answer: b) William Shakespeare

  6. Renaissance drama often drew upon:
    a) Classical models from Plautus and Seneca
    b) Only Biblical allegories
    c) Only medieval romances
    d) Arabic folklore
    Answer: a) Classical models from Plautus and Seneca

  7. The phrase “Renaissance Man” describes someone who:
    a) Is devoted only to religion
    b) Excels in many fields of knowledge and art
    c) Is a political leader only
    d) Works in trade
    Answer: b) Excels in many fields of knowledge and art

  8. The “Elizabethan World Picture” emphasized:
    a) Divine order and hierarchy in the universe
    b) Equality in society
    c) Industrial progress
    d) Revolutionary politics
    Answer: a) Divine order and hierarchy in the universe

  9. The King James Bible (1611) reflects Renaissance prose style by its:
    a) Plain, rhythmic, and dignified English
    b) Heavy Latin borrowings
    c) Poetic obscurity
    d) Dialect usage
    Answer: a) Plain, rhythmic, and dignified English

  10. The Renaissance ended in England largely with:
    a) The Restoration in 1660
    b) The defeat of the Armada
    c) The Industrial Revolution
    d) The American Revolution
    Answer: a) The Restoration in 1660

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