The Conscious Lovers MCQs & Summary by Richard Steele

By: Prof. Dr. Fazal Rehman | Last updated: June 25, 2025

Q#1 Who wrote The Conscious Lovers?
(A) William Congreve
(B) Richard Steele
(C) Oliver Goldsmith
(D) Joseph Addison
Answer: (B) Richard Steele

Q#2 In which year was The Conscious Lovers first performed?
(A) 1705
(B) 1711
(C) 1722
(D) 1730
Answer: (C) 1722

Q#3 What genre does The Conscious Lovers belong to?
(A) Farce
(B) Restoration Comedy
(C) Sentimental Comedy
(D) Tragedy
Answer: (C) Sentimental Comedy

Q#4 Which character is the female lead in The Conscious Lovers?
(A) Penelope
(B) Indiana
(C) Harriet
(D) Arabella
Answer: (B) Indiana

Q#5 What is the central theme of the play?
(A) War and honor
(B) True love and virtue
(C) Political betrayal
(D) Religious conversion
Answer: (B) True love and virtue

Q#6 Who is Indiana’s love interest in the play?
(A) Bevil Jr.
(B) Cimberton
(C) Sir John Bevil
(D) Sealand
Answer: (A) Bevil Jr.

Q#7 What is Bevil Jr.’s main moral trait?
(A) Deceitfulness
(B) Passion
(C) Reason and restraint
(D) Violence
Answer: (C) Reason and restraint

Q#8 What literary device is dominant in The Conscious Lovers?
(A) Tragedy
(B) Dramatic irony
(C) Sentimentalism
(D) Mythological allusion
Answer: (C) Sentimentalism

Q#9 Who is Mr. Sealand?
(A) Bevil Jr.’s father
(B) Indiana’s biological father
(C) A lawyer
(D) A servant
Answer: (B) Indiana’s biological father

Q#10 What does the play promote as a model for behavior?
(A) Wealth
(B) Wit and sarcasm
(C) Politeness and moral virtue
(D) Rebellion
Answer: (C) Politeness and moral virtue

Q#11 How is the character Cimberton portrayed?
(A) Brave and heroic
(B) Greedy and foolish
(C) Honest and loyal
(D) Romantic and sincere
Answer: (B) Greedy and foolish

Q#12 What type of ending does the play have?
(A) Tragic
(B) Suspenseful
(C) Happy and moral
(D) Open-ended
Answer: (C) Happy and moral

Q#13 What does The Conscious Lovers criticize?
(A) Political tyranny
(B) Marriage based on wealth
(C) Religious dogma
(D) Superstition
Answer: (B) Marriage based on wealth

Q#14 Why was the play significant in English theatre history?
(A) It was the first play printed
(B) It revived Shakespearean comedy
(C) It popularized sentimental comedy
(D) It ended Restoration comedy
Answer: (C) It popularized sentimental comedy

Q#15 Who is Sir John Bevil in the play?
(A) A military officer
(B) Bevil Jr.’s father
(C) Indiana’s uncle
(D) A merchant
Answer: (B) Bevil Jr.’s father

Summary of The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele

The Conscious Lovers (1722) is Richard Steele’s most famous and successful play, marking the peak of sentimental comedy in English literature. The story follows Bevil Jr., a rational and morally upright young man, who is secretly in love with the modest and virtuous Indiana. Despite being pressured to marry the wealthy Lucinda (for status), Bevil Jr. remains emotionally committed to Indiana. Eventually, it is revealed that Indiana is the long-lost daughter of Mr. Sealand, making her a suitable match socially and financially.

The play reflects Steele’s belief in virtue, modesty, and emotional restraint over wit and libertinism. It was written as a moral alternative to the bawdy comedies of the Restoration era. Steele’s aim was to teach that true love, decency, and honesty are superior to passion and deceit.

List of some great work by Richard Steele

  1. The Funeral: or, Grief à-la-Mode MCQs & Summary by Richard Steele
  2. The Lying Lover MCQs & Summary by Richard Steele
  3. The Tender Husband MCQs & Summary by Richard Steele
  4. The Conscious Lovers MCQs & Summary by Richard Steele

Famous English Authors MCQs

  1. William Wordsworth MCQs
  2. William Shakespeare MCQs
  3. Robert Browning MCQs
  4. W B Yeats MCQs
  5. Edmund Spenser MCQs
  6. Chaucer MCQs
  7. John Milton MCQs
  8. S T Coleridge MCQs
  9. Lord Byron MCQs
  10. PB Shelley MCQs
  11. John Dryden MCQs
  12. John Keats MCQs
  13. Charles Dicken MCQs
  14. Alfred Lord Tennyson MCQs
  15. Charles Lamb MCQs
  16. D.H Lawrence MCQs
  17. Thomas Hardy MCQs
  18. Matthew Arnold MCQs
  19. John Galsworthy MCQs
  20. George Bernard Shaw MCQs
  21. T.S Eliot MCQs
  22. Ben Jonson MCQs
  23. Francis Bacon MCQs
  24. Alexander Pope MCQs
  25. Oliver Goldsmith MCQs
  26. Joseph Addison MCQs
  27. Dr Samuel Johnson MCQs
  28. Henry Fielding MCQs
  29. Sir Walter Scott MCQs
  30. Jane Austen MCQs
  31. Dr. Samuel Johnson MCQs
  32. English Comedy MCQs (Oliver Goldsmith)
  33. Alexander Pope MCQs (Neo-Classical Age of English Poetry)
  34. Daniel Defoe MCQs
  35. Dr. Jonathan Swift MCQs
  36. Richard Steele MCQs
  37. English Drama MCQs
  38. Elizabethan Drama MCQs [14th to 17th century]
  39. Elizabethan Prose MCQs

More English Literature MCQs

  1. English Poetry MCQs
  2. History of English Literature MCQs
  3. Sentimental Novels MCQs
  4. Sentimental Poetry MCQs
  5. Legends Of English Literature MCQs
  6. English Literature Quiz
  7. English Literature Important Multiple Choice Questions Answers
  8. Sons And Lovers by D H Lawrence MCQs 
  9. The Waste Land, A Poem by T. S. Eliot MCQs
  10. Drama Origin MCQs
  11. History of the Renaissance Period MCQs 
  12. English Pros MCQs
  13. Non-Dramtic Poets Of The Elizabethan Age MCQs
  14. The Cavalier Poets of 17th-century MCQs
  15. Metaphysical Poets of 17th century MCQs
  16. Renaissance Period of 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries MCQs
  17. Puritan Poet MCQs
  18. Restoration Comedy by William Congreve & Wycherley MCQs
  19. Satire MCQs – Renaissance Period by John Dryden
  20. English Essayists MCQs
  21. Romantic Period of Romantic Poets MCQs
  22. English language MCQs
  23. English Humour MCQs [American Literature]
  24. Early Writers of American Literature MCQs
  25. History of American Literature MCQs
  26. American Prose MCQs [English Realism ]
  27. American English Critics
  28. New Englanders Authors MCQs
  29. MCQs on American Literature After Independence
  30. American Playwrights MCQs
  31. New American Poetry MCQs
  32. British English Critics MCQs
  33. Ancient English literature MCQs
  34. Important English Literature MCQs for Public Service Commission
  35. English Literature Repeated Important MCQs
  36. CSS English Literature MCQs
  37. History of Early Period MCQs 
  38. The Anglo-Saxon period MCQs
  39. The Age of Chaucer in the Early Period MCQs
  40. The Anglo-Norman Period of French Writers MCQs 
  41. Metrical Romances MCQ (Anglo-Saxon Period)
  42. Revival of Learning MCQs (1400-1550)
  43. Applied Linguistics MCQs
  44. Language Change MCQs

10,000+ English MCQs Homepage

1000+ English Comprehension & Composition MCQs

All Copyrights Reserved 2025 Reserved by T4Tutorials