Quiz Ariadne Jennifer Saint

Ariadne Quiz – 20 Questions About the Retelling

Welcome to the Ariadne quiz! These 20 questions span the entire novel—from the epigraph to the epilogue—and test your recall of plot, character motivations, themes, and the story’s deeper meanings. Perfect for book clubs or solo readers who want to see how well they remember this feminist retelling of the Minotaur myth.

Want to refresh your memory? Check our main book page, browse the questions and answers, or read the ending explained.

Plot and Sequence Questions

Eight questions about the order of major events.

  1. What annual tribute does King Minos demand from Athens?
    A) Seven youths and seven maidens for the Minotaur
    B) A hundred oxen and a golden fleece
    C) The sword of King Aegeus
    D) Fourteen barrels of wine

  2. How does Ariadne initially help Theseus navigate the Labyrinth?
    A) She draws a map on a stone tablet.
    B) She gives him a ball of red twine and a key.
    C) She prays to Athena to light the way.
    D) She sends a dove to mark the path.

  3. What happens to the Minotaur during Theseus’s fight?
    A) Theseus strangles it with the twine.
    B) Theseus clubs it to death and cuts off its head.
    C) The Minotaur escapes into the sea.
    D) Ariadne poisons it before Theseus enters.

  4. Where does Theseus abandon Ariadne?
    A) On the island of Crete
    B) On the island of Naxos
    C) On the shores of Athens
    D) On the island of Delos

  5. What does Daedalus build for himself and Icarus to escape Crete?
    A) A wooden ship with iron sails
    B) Wings of feathers and wax
    C) A tunnel under the sea
    D) A chariot drawn by eagles

  6. What is the immediate cause of Icarus’s death?
    A) He flies too low and drowns.
    B) He flies too close to the sun, which melts the wax on his wings.
    C) Minos shoots him with an arrow.
    D) A storm blows him off course.

  7. After abandoning Ariadne, whom does Theseus marry?
    A) Medea
    B) Phaedra
    C) Hippolyta
    D) Helen of Troy

  8. What becomes of Ariadne in the epilogue?
    A) She returns to Crete and becomes queen.
    B) She is turned to stone by Medusa’s head.
    C) She becomes the central star of the Corona Borealis constellation.
    D) She sails to Athens and reconciles with Theseus.

Character Motivation Questions

Five questions about why characters act as they do.

  1. Why does Ariadne decide to help Theseus kill the Minotaur? (short answer)

  2. Why does Phaedra follow Ariadne and Theseus to the cove on Crete?
    A) She wants to steal Theseus’s club.
    B) She is afraid Minos will punish her for knowing the plan.
    C) She wants to escape Crete and join the Athenians.
    D) She hopes to win Theseus’s love for herself.

  3. Why does Minos drown Scylla even after she helps him conquer Megara?
    A) She demands half the kingdom.
    B) He is disgusted by her betrayal of her father.
    C) She tries to poison him.
    D) The gods order him to do it.

  4. Why does Phaedra commit suicide at the end of the novel? (short answer)

  5. Why does Pasiphae retreat into dark magic and witchcraft after Asterion’s birth?
    A) She hopes to reverse the curse.
    B) She wants to punish Minos for his arrogance.
    C) She is overwhelmed by shame and grief.
    D) She plans to destroy the Labyrinth.

Theme and Symbol Questions

Four questions about the novel’s ideas and recurring symbols.

  1. What does the Labyrinth primarily symbolize in the novel?
    A) The power of the gods
    B) The hidden truth of a family’s shame and the entrapment of women
    C) The passage from childhood to adulthood
    D) The glory of King Minos’s reign

  2. Ariadne deliberately weaves a tapestry of “wronged women” (Leto, Io, Semele) instead of scenes of heroic men. What does this act represent? (short answer)

  3. The epigraph from Ovid’s Heroides ends with Ariadne saying Theseus escaped “taught by me.” How does this set the tone for the story?
    A) It establishes the theme of female storytelling and reclaiming their own narratives.
    B) It suggests Theseus was always a helpless figure.
    C) It foreshadows that Theseus will teach Ariadne in return.
    D) It signals that the gods are the true narrators.

  4. What does the Corona Borealis constellation (Ariadne’s crown) come to symbolize for women in the epilogue?
    A) Royalty and divine favor
    B) The cyclical nature of revenge
    C) A sign of Theseus’s betrayal
    D) Compassion and strength during childbirth

Synthesis Questions

Three questions that connect different parts of the story.

  1. Compare Ariadne’s and Phaedra’s experiences of motherhood. What does this contrast reveal about the novel’s view of maternal love? (short answer)

  2. How does Dionysus’s treatment of the Argive women (driving them to infanticide) change Ariadne’s understanding of him and of the gods in general? (short answer)

  3. The novel uses the stories of Medusa, Scylla, and Pasiphae as parallels to Ariadne’s own journey. What common thread do these women share with Ariadne?
    A) They all become goddesses.
    B) They are all punished for acts of betrayal or desire that men provoked.
    C) They all kill their children.
    D) They all escape their fate through transformation.

Answer Key

Brief explanations for every question, cross‑referenced with the chapter outline.

1. A – In Chapter One, Minos demands “seven Athenian youths and seven Athenian maidens” as tribute for the Minotaur each year.

2. B – In Chapter Seven, Daedalus gives Ariadne a ball of red twine and a key; she later passes the twine to Theseus so he can retrace his steps (Chapter Eight).

3. B – Theseus emerges from the Labyrinth with the Minotaur’s remains in a sack and later crushes the body with his club on the beach (Chapter Ten).

4. B – Ariadne awakens alone on Naxos and sees Theseus’s ship sailing away (Chapter Eleven).

5. B – In Chapter Thirteen, Phaedra witnesses Daedalus and Icarus escape on “wings” made of feathers and wax.

6. B – Icarus falls when “the sun melts the wax” on his wings (Chapter Thirteen).

7. B – Theseus marries Phaedra; Deucalion arranges it as a political alliance after Minos’s disappearance (Chapter Fifteen).

8. C – The Epilogue describes Ariadne as “the central star of the Corona Borealis constellation,” shining to help women in childbirth.

9. Short‑answer: She falls in love with him and wants to escape her political marriage to Cinyras.
(Chapters Three–Eight show her disgust with the arranged marriage and her infatuation with Theseus.)

10. C – Phaedra follows them to the cove and demands to escape; she retrieves Theseus’s club and insists she cannot stay behind (Chapter Eight).

11. B – The Prologue states that Minos was “disgusted by Scylla’s betrayal” and drowns her.

12. Short‑answer: She is humiliated after Hippolytus rejects her and fears Theseus will learn the truth.
(Chapter Thirty‑Five: Hippolytus recoils in disgust; Phaedra sees no way out and writes a suicide note implicating him.)

13. C – After Asterion’s birth, Pasiphae’s spirit is shattered; the outline notes she “retreats into dark magic” (Chapter Two).

14. B – The Labyrinth hides the shame of Pasiphae’s curse and the Minotaur, and it becomes a prison for the tributes, symbolizing the entrapment of women in patriarchal secrets.

15. Short‑answer: It represents Ariadne reclaiming the power of storytelling to center female suffering instead of male heroism.
(Chapter Nineteen: she weaves wronged women “instead of traditional praise scenes.”)

16. A – The epigraph foregrounds Ariadne’s voice and her role as the teacher; it establishes her “voice, agency, and disillusionment” (Epigraph digest).

17. D – In the Epilogue, Ariadne hears prayers of women during childbirth and shines her light “to guide them through their struggle.”

18. Short‑answer: Ariadne embraces motherhood and finds fulfilment, while Phaedra suffers postpartum depression and feels no bond with her children. This contrast shows that maternal love is not automatic; the novel honours both experiences while critiquing the societal pressures on women.
(Chapters Twenty‑Two and Twenty‑Four: Ariadne thrives with her sons; Phaedra describes her “total absence of maternal love.”)

19. Short‑answer: Ariadne realizes that Dionysus is no different from the other capricious gods; his divinity includes cruelty, and she can no longer see him as gentle. This shatters her trust and aligns him with the “basest of men.”
(Chapter Forty and Discussion Questions: Ariadne reflects that Dionysus is “no different from the mightiest of the gods. Or the basest of men.”)

20. B – Medusa was raped by Poseidon and punished by Athena; Scylla betrayed Nisus for love and was drowned; Pasiphae was cursed by Poseidon for Minos’s sin. All are victims of male‑driven actions who bear disproportionate punishment—a pattern that mirrors Ariadne’s betrayal and exile.