Murphy MCQs

Author's Photo
Have a specific topic you'd like me to cover? Feel free to contact me with your suggestions.
Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature


Updated on: November 19, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 16 min

Murphy MCQs

1. Where does Murphy sit naked?

A. Dublin flat
B. Mew in West Brompton
C. Cork County mew
D. Neary’s cottage

B. Mew in West Brompton.
The novel opens with Murphy in a medium-sized cage, or mew, located in West Brompton.

2. What is Murphy’s rocking chair made of?

A. Polished oak
B. Undressed teak
C. Hard-worn canvas
D. Guaranteed plastic

B. Undressed teak.
Murphy sits naked in his special rocking chair, which is explicitly noted as being made of undressed teak.

3. What is Murphy secured with in his chair?

A. Leather straps
B. Ropes and chains
C. Seven scarves
D. Wire and twine

C. Seven scarves.
Murphy fastens himself rigidly into the rocking chair using seven scarves tied around his body and limbs.

4. What chant bothers Murphy?

A. God bless you
B. Quid pro quo
C. Love requited
D. All is dross

B. Quid pro quo.
Murphy dislikes the sound of a street-cry entering the mew, which shouts, “Quid pro quo! Quid pro quo!”.
5. What pleasure does restraining his body give Murphy?

A. Stronger muscles
B. Mental freedom
C. Better sleep
D. Physical pain

B. Mental freedom.
Murphy enjoys restraining his body because it appeases him physically, allowing his mind to come alive.

6. Who was Murphy’s tutor in Cork?

A. Miss Dwyer
B. Mr. Kelly
C. Neary
D. Dr. Fist

C. Neary.
Murphy studied under a man named Neary in Cork, who taught him about the body and mind.

7. What physiological skill did Neary master?

A. Stopping his heart
B. Extreme fasting
C. Walking on water
D. Controlling blood

A. Stopping his heart.
Neary had acquired the rare faculty of stopping his heart more or less whenever he desired.

8. What did Neary call the blend of Murphy’s heart extremes?

A. The Ammonia
B. The Paradox
C. The Chaos
D. The Isonomy

A. The Apmonia.
Neary called the mediation between the extreme rhythms of Murphy’s irrational heart the Apmonia.

9. How did Neary summarize all life?

A. Love and loss
B. Figure and ground
C. Chaos and order
D. Flesh and spirit

B. Figure and ground.
During their memorable farewell, Neary tells Murphy that “all life is figure and ground”.
10. What did Neary call requited love?

A. Great fulfillment
B. A short circuit
C. Pure happiness
D. Ultimate desire

B. A short circuit.
Neary dismissed mutually felt love as being too easy and uninteresting, calling it a short circuit.

11. What part of Murphy did Neary suggest had shrunk?

A. His liver
B. His heart
C. His conarium
D. His scrotum

C. His conarium.
Neary concluded Murphy’s inability to love in his way was due to his conarium having shrunk to nothing.

12. Who interrupts Murphy’s rocking?

A. His landlady
B. The telephone
C. Neary ringing
D. Celia knocking

B. The telephone.
Murphy’s meditation is harshly broken when the telephone bursts into its rail next to his ear.

13. Who is the caller Murphy speaks to?

A. Miss Counihan
B. His landlady
C. Celia
D. Miss Dwyer

C. Celia.
The caller, whom the part of Murphy that he hated craved for, is revealed to be Celia.

14. What are Celia’s hips affectionately called?

A. My dear loves
B. Hips, etc.
C. The fiery darts
D. My best asset

B. Hips, etc..
Celia’s physical description is humorously broken up into parts, including the phrase “Hips, etc.”.
15. Who is Celia’s paternal grandfather?

A. Flight-Lieutenant Elliman
B. Mr. Willoughby Kelly
C. Father Fitt
D. Neary

B. Mr. Willoughby Kelly.
Celia travels to Tyburnia to visit her paternal grandfather, identified as Mr. Willoughby Kelly.

16. How did Celia meet Murphy?

A. At a dance
B. On the street
C. In a cafe
D. At the M.M.M.

B. On the street.
After her parents died, Celia went on the street and met Murphy one previous midsummer’s night.

17. What item did Murphy drop upon meeting Celia?

A. His glasses
B. A star chart
C. A piece of paper
D. His gloves

B. A star chart.
After Celia accosted Murphy, they walked off arm-in-arm, leaving the star chart for June in the gutter.

18. Where did Murphy propose marriage to Celia?

A. Dublin Zoo
B. Cork harbor
C. Battersea Park
D. West Brompton

C. Battersea Park.
Murphy proposed to Celia in the Battersea Park sub-tropical garden the Sunday following their meeting.

19. What book was Murphy resting on when he proposed?

A. City of the Sun
B. The Bible
C. Doctrine of the Limit
D. The Iliad

A. City of the Sun.
Murphy was resting on Campanella’s City of the Sun when he stated they must marry soon.
20. Where is Murphy originally from?

A. Cork
B. Ringsakiddy
C. Dublin
D. London

C. Dublin.
Celia informs Mr. Kelly that Murphy came from Dublin, eliciting a dismayed “My God!” from her grandfather.

21. What did Murphy claim he had already invested in working?

A. A small fortune
B. His entire savings
C. Neary’s money
D. Celia’s earnings

A. A small fortune.
Murphy tried to convince Celia that he could not earn, stating he had already sunk a small fortune attempting to do so.

22. What phrase did Murphy use to describe work?

A. End of them both
B. Necessary evil
C. Figure and ground
D. Apmonia achieved

A. End of them both.
When Celia insisted Murphy find employment, he passionately claimed that “work would be the end of them both”.

23. What does Celia tell Murphy she has procured?

A. A better flat
B. A job offer
C. A corpus of incentives
D. New teak chair

C. A corpus of incentives.
Murphy requested that Celia procure a “corpus of incentives” based on astrology (the nativity chart).

24. What comparison comforts Celia before seeing Murphy?

A. Love is a bailiff
B. Murphy is free
C. Her heart is whole
D. Neary will help

A. Love is a bailiff.
Celia took comfort in thinking of herself as the ‘bumbailiff’ while Love was the ‘bailiff’ forcing Murphy to work.
25. What did Murphy say about Celia’s efforts to change him?

A. Avoid exhaustion
B. She cannot love
C. It is equitable
D. That is Greek

B. She cannot love.
Murphy argues that Celia wants to change him so she won’t be condemned to love him as he truly is.

26. What does Murphy say Celia does?

A. A fraction of what she is
B. More than she knows
C. A total fabrication
D. Everything for him

A. A fraction of what she is.
Murphy tells Celia that she does a fraction of what she is, suffering an “ooze of your being into doing”.

27. Who is the author of the nativity chart?

A. Mr. Kelly
B. Neary
C. Ramaswami Krishnaswami Suk
D. Flight-Lieutenant Elliman

C. Ramaswami Krishnaswami Suk.
The chart, titled Thema Coeli, was compiled by the famous Genethliac Suk.

28. What does Suk’s reading call Murphy’s heart chart?

A. My life-warrant
B. Corpus of deterrents
C. Separation order
D. My little bull

A. My life-warrant.
Murphy calls the black envelope containing the celestial prognostication his “life-warrant”.

29. What is Murphy’s motto in business, according to Suk?

A. Work or starve
B. Keep trying hard
C. Large profits, quick turnover
D. Avoid publishers

C. Large profits, quick turnover.
Suk advised that Murphy’s business motto should be “large profits and a quick turnover”.
30. Where did Neary try to break Wylie’s arm?

A. In the saloon
B. In the G.P.O.
C. At the statue
D. On the tram

C. At the statue.
Neary seized Wylie’s arm to give it a jerk while recovering from his outburst behind the statue.

31. What animal ratio was Mr. Kelly’s brain sinking toward?

A. A small bird
B. A badger
C. A Dachshund
D. A sheep

A. A small bird.
Celia notes that Mr. Kelly’s brain-body ratio would soon sink to that of a small bird.

32. What reason did Neary give for shaving his beard?

A. Discharge of a vow
B. Miss Counihan asked
C. To look younger
D. For a disguise

A. Discharge of a vow.
Neary suppressed his whiskers “in discharge of a vow” related to his unfulfilled virility concerning Miss Dwyer.

33. What kind of hospital did Ticklepenny work at?

A. Magdalen Mental Mercyseat
B. Cork County Asylum
C. Royal Free Hospital
D. Chelsea Infirmary

A. Magdalen Mental Mercyseat.
Ticklepenny works as a male nurse at the M.M.M., a hospital for the “better-class mentally deranged”.

34. What two concepts did Murphy relate to Ticklepenny’s job?

A. Poet and nurse
B. Lùnatic and custodian
C. Scholar and drunk
D. Apnoea and fits

B. Lùnatic and custodian.
Murphy was stunned by the syzygy (union) of “lùnatic” and “custodian” in Suk’s astrological delineations.
35. What name did Murphy affectionately give to the hospital?

A. Zion’s antipodes
B. The great wen
C. A glorious grave
D. The little world

A. Zion’s antipodes.
Murphy contrasted the M.M.M. with Zion, calling the thought of the job the “first landscape of freedom”.

36. What biscuits were part of Murphy’s lunch ritual?

A. Ginger, Osborne, Digestive
B. Shortbread, Wafers, Ginger
C. Marie, Digestive, Wafers
D. Petit Beurre, Chocolate, Ginger

A. Ginger, Osborne, Digestive.
The assortment included Ginger, Osborne, Digestive, Petit Beurre, and one anonymous biscuit.

37. What type of dog was Nelly, Miss Dew’s pet?

A. Terrier
B. Poodle
C. Dachshund
D. Spaniel

C. Dachshund.
Miss Dew’s pet, Nelly, which ate Murphy’s biscuits, is described as a Dachshund.

38. What physical condition afflicted Miss Dew?

A. Duck’s disease
B. Paralysis
C. Bright’s disease
D. Fits

A. Duck’s disease.
Miss Dew suffered from “Duck’s disease,” a painful condition where her hips sprang directly from behind her knees.

39. How did Murphy picture his mind internally?

A. A buzzing confusion
B. A large hollow sphere
C. A complex machine
D. A wide open world

B. A large hollow sphere.
Murphy’s mind pictured itself as a “large hollow sphere, hermetically closed to the universe without”.
40. Which zone of Murphy’s mind held “Belacqua bliss”?

A. The light
B. The dark
C. The half light
D. The hidden core

C. The half light.
The second zone, the half light, held forms without physical parallel, providing the pleasure of contemplation and “Belacqua bliss”.

41. What happened to the “old boy” upstairs from Celia?

A. He moved out
B. He cut his throat
C. He went to hospital
D. He returned to Cork

B. He cut his throat.
Celia was profoundly upset when the lodger upstairs, the “old boy,” còmmitted suicide with a razor.

42. What name did the mental nurse Bom share with his twin?

A. Clinch
B. Ticklepenny
C. Cooper
D. Neary

A. Clinch.
The head male nurse, Bim Clinch, had a younger twin brother and male sister named Mr. Timothy (‘Bom’) Clinch.

43. What patient was Murphy assigned to watch (his “tab”)?

A. Mr. Higgins
B. Mr. O’Connor
C. Mr. Endon
D. Dr. Killiecrankie

C. Mr. Endon.
Murphy was responsible for Mr. Endon, a schìzophrenic patient “on parchment” (or “on caution”) with suicidal leanings.

44. What was Mr. Endon’s one known “frivolity”?

A. Playing the piano
B. Chess
C. Darts
D. Reading novels

B. Chess.
Mr. Endon, dressed impeccably in scarlet and purple, would occasionally play chess with Murphy.
45. What kind of round was finished on time in M.M.M.?

A. A fast one
B. A virgin
C. An Irish virgin
D. A standard

B. A virgin.
A round that was finished on schedule (on time) was facetiously referred to as a “virgin”.

46. What did Murphy see in Mr. Endon’s eye?

A. The universe
B. His own image
C. Total bliss
D. Nothing at all

B. His own image.
Kneeling beside the patient, Murphy saw “in the cornea, horribly reduced, obscured and distorted, his own image”.

47. What did Murphy throw away after his night shift?

A. His key
B. His clothes
C. His chair
D. His star chart

B. His clothes.
Murphy stripped off his clothing, forgetting they were borrowed or regulation, and threw them away as he walked.

48. What caused Murphy’s death?

A. Heart attack
B. Suicide
C. Gas explosion
D. Gunshot wound

C. Gas explosion.
Murphy died in the garret, tied in his chair, when gas (chaos) went on in the w.c. and ignited.

49. What was Murphy’s final instruction for disposing of his remains?

A. Burial in Cork
B. Cremation and scattering
C. Abbey Theatre toilet
D. Given to Celia

C. Abbey Theatre toilet.
Murphy desired his burnt body, mind, and soul placed in a paper bag and flushed down the Abbey Theatre toilet.
50. What happened to Murphy’s ashes?

A. Given to Celia
B. Sent to his uncle
C. Swept from the pub floor
D. Flushed at the Abbey

C. Swept from the pub floor.
Cooper threw the packet of ashes at a man in a pub; they burst open and were swept up with the refuse.

Brief Overview

Murphy is a novel by Samuel Beckett, first published in 1938. It is a comic masterpiece, considered one of Beckett’s most enjoyable works. The novel satirizes philosophical dilemmas, primarily exploring the mind-body split, isolation, and existential paralysis.

The novel begins with the character Murphy living in London. He seeks inner peace by sitting naked and tied to his rocking chair, a practice that frees his mind from the external world. He lives with Celia, a próstitute who loves him deeply.

Celia forces Murphy to look for a job because they have no money. Murphy uses a humorous horoscope, the Thema Coeli, to guide his job search. He finds work as a male nurse at the Magdalen Mental Mercyseat (M.M.M.), a mental hospital. He leaves Celia to start the job, knowing this action will destroy their life together.

Murphy feels happier at the asylum because he feels a strong connection to the patients. He feels a pure love for a schizophrénic patient named Mr. Endon. Murphy believes Mr. Endon lives ideally within his own mind, a state Murphy desires.

One night, Murphy returns to his garret room and ties himself to the rocking chair. He is tragically killed by fire when the gas radiator ignites. Celia and his searching friends, Neary and Wylie, come to identify his burned remains.

Murphy’s last, absurd request is to have his ashes burned and flushed down a toilet in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Cooper, Neary’s servant, carries the ashes to a pub. He throws the ashes at a man during a pub brawl, and they are scattered on the floor to be swept up later with the trash.

Related Posts

Leave a comment

SpunkNotes

Typically replies within few hours

Hello, Welcome to the site. If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact.