The Diary of a Madman quiz
By Guy de Maupassant
France's most honored judge dies mourned by a whole nation, and then his secret diary is found
26 questions · about 27 minutes
Questions and answers
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Question 1. Which literary categories best describe "The Diary of a Madman"?
- Correct answer: Horror, Psychological Fiction & Crime
- Comedy, Satire & Lighthearted Social Farce
- Romance, Courtship & Happy Endings
- Fantasy, Magic & Imaginary Worlds
- Adventure, Quest & Heroic Journey
Horror, Psychological Fiction & Crime is the best fit. The story is a horror tale about a secret murderer, it takes us deep inside a disturbed mind through his own diary, and it centers on crimes, a trial and a wrongful execution.
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Question 2. How is the judge regarded by the people of France when he dies?
- As a harsh judge whom most lawyers privately feared and disliked
- As a strange old man whose odd habits were whispered about in town
- Correct answer: As an upright magistrate whose irreproachable life was a proverb
- As a forgotten official whom only his servant Jean still remembered
The story opens by calling him the upright magistrate whose irreproachable life was a proverb in all the courts of France. He dies at eighty-two, honored by a whole people, escorted to the tomb by soldiers. This picture makes the diary that follows all the more shocking.
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Question 3. What does "Irreproachable" mean in this story?
- So strict that no one dares to come near it
- Correct answer: So good that no one can find any fault with it
- So private that no one knows anything about it
- So long that no one can remember how it began
Irreproachable means free of anything to blame or criticize. The whole country believed the judge's life was beyond reproach. The irony is that the reader soon learns he was secretly a murderer.
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Question 4. Who finds the judge's diary after his death, and where?
- His servant Jean, hidden under a strawberry-plant in the judge's garden
- The examining magistrate, inside a locked box in the courthouse office
- The Prefect, in a drawer of the table where the judge spent his evenings
- Correct answer: A dismayed notary, in the desk where he kept records of great criminals
The paper is found by the dismayed notary in the desk where the judge had kept the records of great criminals. It is fitting and ironic: his own confession sits among the files of the criminals he condemned.
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Question 5. What one-word title is written at the top of the judge's secret paper?
- GUILTY
- Correct answer: WHY?
- MERCY
- JUSTICE
The paper is entitled WHY? The judge begins by asking why Blondel killed his five children, and soon he is asking why killing should be a crime at all.
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Question 6. What has the judge just done when he writes the first diary entry, on 20th June, 1851?
- Correct answer: Condemned Blondel to death for killing his five children
- Visited the forest of Vernes to look for a missing child
- Bought a goldfinch in a cage for his servant, Jean
- Watched a man he sentenced being taken to the guillotine
The judge has just condemned Blondel to death and asks why the man killed his five children. Instead of being horrified, he begins to wonder whether killing might be a pleasure. The question that starts his diary is the first step toward his own crimes.
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Question 7. On 26th June the judge writes, "The mission of every being is to kill". How does he try to support this idea?
- He says the Bible commands people to punish those who have broken the law
- He says he has seen many cases in court that prove all people are born evil
- Correct answer: He says beasts kill nonstop, men hunt for pleasure, and children kill insects
- He says that doctors in France have shown killing is good for a man's health
The judge argues that killing is the law of nature: the beast kills without ceasing, man has invented hunting so he can kill for pleasure, and the child kills insects and little birds. His reasoning sounds orderly, but it is a madman's logic used to excuse what he wants to do.
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Question 8. What point does the judge make about soldiers?
- Soldiers are cowards compared with the brave judges who sentence men to death
- Soldiers should be put on trial for every single death they cause in war
- Soldiers kill only to protect the weak, just as the judge does in his court
- Correct answer: Society punishes assassins but honors soldiers whose mission is to shed blood
The judge notes that a murderer is condemned and punished, while soldiers are clad in gold, given crosses and titles, and cheered by the crowd. He uses this contrast to argue that killing is natural and honored. It is twisted reasoning, but it also raises a real question about how society views violence.
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Question 9. Why does the judge believe no one would ever suspect him of murder?
- He plans to leave town for good the very next day after each one of the crimes
- Correct answer: He is the judge himself, and he would choose a victim he had no reason to kill
- He knows the police chief will always protect him because they are good friends
- He means to confess to a priest, who would be forbidden ever to tell anyone
The judge has spent his life condemning killers. He asks who would ever suspect him, especially if he chose a being he had no interest in doing away with. With no motive to point to him and a spotless reputation, he feels safe.
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Question 10. What is the judge's first victim, and why does he choose it?
- Correct answer: His servant's goldfinch, killed as an experiment before he kills a person
- A stray mad dog, killed because it had been frightening people in the town
- A fish from the river, killed because he wanted to eat it for his dinner
- One of the Prefect's horses, killed to see whether anyone would notice
The judge kills Jean's goldfinch as an experiment, for a beginning. He squeezes it in his hand, then cuts its throat with nail scissors because he could not see the blood. Starting with a small creature shows his violence building step by step.
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Question 11. What does the judge do right after killing the goldfinch?
- He leaves the bird's body in its cage so that Jean will think it died of old age
- He throws the bird into the river and tells Jean a cat must have broken in
- He confesses to Jean and gives him money to buy a new bird in the market
- Correct answer: He washes the scissors and his hands and buries the bird under a strawberry-plant
He washes the scissors and his hands, sprinkles water, and buries the body under a strawberry-plant, saying he did as assassins do. He even plans to eat a strawberry from that plant every day. Jean cries, thinking his bird has flown away.
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Question 12. What does "Redoubtable" mean in this story?
- Gentle and forgiving toward wrongdoers
- Correct answer: Strong and greatly feared as an opponent
- Easily fooled and quick to trust anyone
- Doubtful and unsure about his decisions
Redoubtable means formidable, worth fearing as an opponent. Criminals had no more redoubtable enemy than the judge, who seemed to read their most secret thoughts. Perhaps he understood their minds because his own was the same.
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Question 13. The little boy in the forest greets the judge with "Good-day, Mr. President." What does this greeting show?
- Correct answer: The boy knows the judge and greets him with respect
- The boy has mistaken the judge for someone else entirely
- The boy is mocking the judge for his strange walk
- The boy has been sent by his parents to find him
The boy knows who the judge is and greets him by his title, as head of the tribunal. He trusts the man and does not run away. The polite greeting makes the murder that follows even more horrifying.
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Question 14. How does the judge spend the evening after he kills the boy?
- He stays alone in his room, shaking and unable to eat any dinner
- Correct answer: He is gay and light at the Prefect's, where they find him witty
- He goes to the church and prays for the soul of the little child
- He walks back to the forest to make sure the body is still hidden
The judge returns home, dines well, and spends the evening at the Prefect's, feeling very gay, light, rejuvenated. They find him witty. His calm, cheerful evening shows he feels no guilt at all, and that no one around him suspects a thing.
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Question 15. Why does the judge keep writing about not having seen blood?
- He worries that blood stains on his clothes would make people suspect him
- He is afraid of blood and wants to be sure he never has to look at it
- He thinks a doctor could prove he is innocent if no blood was ever spilled
- Correct answer: He believes only seeing blood flow will make him feel calm and satisfied
After strangling the boy he writes, "But I have not seen blood!" Later he says that if he had seen the blood flow, he should be tranquil now. Blood is the story's central motif: to him it stands for life itself, and seeing it flow is part of the pleasure he craves. When he finally kills the fisherman he exults that this one bled.
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Question 16. What does "Tranquil" mean in this story?
- Excited and eager for something new
- Tired and weak after hard work
- Correct answer: Calm and at peace, free of worry
- Sorry and ashamed of a wrong done
Tranquil means calm and peaceful. The judge says he would be tranquil if only he had seen blood. It is chilling that the thing that would give him peace is another person's death.
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Question 17. Who is charged with the murder of the fisherman, and why do people believe he did it?
- Correct answer: His nephew, who fished with him and was his heir
- A tramp who had been seen walking along the riverbank
- The farmer who owned the spade and the field
- Jean, the judge's servant, who was out that day
The fisherman's nephew, who fished with him, is charged. Later the diary notes there are overwhelming proofs against the nephew, who was his uncle's heir, so he seems to have a motive. He says he had gone to the village to buy bread and cheese, but no one believes him.
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Question 18. Where does the nephew say he was when his uncle was killed?
- Asleep under a willow by the river
- Correct answer: Buying bread and cheese in the village
- Digging potatoes in the nearby potato-field
- Walking in the forest of Vernes
The nephew declares he had gone to the village to buy bread and cheese. He swears his uncle was killed while he was gone. The reader knows he is telling the truth, which makes his conviction tragic.
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Question 19. When the nephew has been badgered into all but confessing, the judge writes, "Ah! ah! justice!" What kind of irony is this?
- Verbal irony: the nephew says one thing at the trial but means the opposite
- Cosmic irony: fate punishes the judge for his crimes at the end of his life
- Correct answer: Dramatic irony: the reader knows that the real killer is the judge himself
- No irony at all: the court finds the true murderer, just as it should do
This is dramatic irony. The court, the town and the advocate-general believe the nephew is guilty, but the reader knows the real murderer is the very judge who will preside over the trial. The judge's mocking laugh shows how he has turned the system of justice into his weapon.
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Question 20. The judge writes "Ah! ah!" again and again in his diary. What does this repeated phrase reveal?
- Correct answer: His cruel glee at fooling everyone and getting away with murder
- His growing fear that the police are getting close to finding him out
- His sorrow and regret each time he remembers what he has done
- His surprise at how quickly the town forgets about each crime
The judge writes it after the body is discovered, after the weeping parents visit him, and as the nephew is badgered toward confession. The repeated laugh shows his delight in deceiving others and his complete lack of pity.
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Question 21. After the nephew's execution the judge writes, "Now, I shall wait, I can wait." What does the story tell us about what happened next?
- The judge is caught the next year and is tried in his own court for the murders
- Correct answer: The other pages of the manuscript tell of no new crime, so we never know for sure
- The judge confesses everything to the Prefect and is quietly sent away from town
- The diary ends because Jean finds it and gives it to the examining magistrate
The narrator says the manuscript contained other pages, but without relating any new crime. The judge was never caught and died honored. The reader is left uneasy, not knowing whether he stopped or simply stopped writing about it.
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Question 22. What does "Adroit" mean in this story?
- Correct answer: Clever and skillful in what they do
- Clumsy and careless in what they do
- Loud and boastful about their actions
- Honest and open about their thoughts
Adroit means skillful and clever. The judge was adroit enough to kill three times, see an innocent man executed, and still be honored at his death. The doctors warn that other madmen may be just as skillful at hiding.
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Question 23. What do the alienist physicians, doctors who study madness, conclude after reading the diary?
- The judge must have been under a curse, since no sane man could do this
- The diary is a hoax written by someone who wanted to ruin the judge's name
- The judge would have been cured if anyone had noticed his madness sooner
- Correct answer: There are many undiscovered madmen in the world as dangerous as this one
The doctors declare that there are in the world many undiscovered madmen as adroit and as much to be feared as this monstrous lunatic. The final line turns the story outward: the danger is not just one judge, but anyone who hides madness behind a respectable face.
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Question 24. What is a central theme of "The Diary of a Madman"?
- Correct answer: Evil can hide behind a respected public face, and justice can be fooled
- Hard work and honest service are always rewarded at the end of a long life
- Children should never walk alone in the forest without their parents
- Wars are the only acceptable way for a nation to settle its quarrels
The most respected judge in France is secretly a murderer, and no one suspects him. The court executes an innocent man while the real killer presides. The story warns that respectability is not proof of goodness, and that a justice system can be turned against the innocent.
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Question 25. Why is telling the story through the judge's own dated diary entries effective?
- It lets other characters correct the judge whenever he gets facts wrong
- It hides the identity of the killer until the very last diary entry
- Correct answer: It lets us see his mind turn from questions to murder in his own words
- It shows the events through the eyes of the boy's grieving parents
The diary puts us inside the judge's head. We watch his thoughts move, date by date, from a question about Blondel, to arguments about nature, to temptation, to the goldfinch, to murder. Because we hear only his voice, his calm, logical tone makes his madness more frightening.
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Question 26. Which of these events actually happened in the story?
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The judge's diary begins on the day he condemns Blondel to death.
Happened
The first entry, 20th June, 1851, says he has just left court after condemning Blondel to death.
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Jean finds the goldfinch's body and accuses the judge.
Didn't happen
Jean never suspects him. The judge writes that his servant cried, thinking his bird had flown.
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The little boy runs away as the judge comes closer.
Didn't happen
The judge expected the boy to run away, but the boy stayed. The judge seized him by the throat.
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Two tramps are arrested after the boy's body is found.
Happened
On 1st September the diary notes that two tramps have been arrested, but proofs are lacking.
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The boy's parents come to see the judge and weep.
Happened
On 2nd September the judge writes that the parents have been to see him and wept. He responds with his mocking laugh.
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The judge kills the fisherman with a knife he carried from home.
Didn't happen
He uses a spade he finds standing in a potato-field nearby, and strikes with the edge of it.
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The nephew says he had gone to the village to buy bread and cheese.
Happened
The nephew declares he had gone to the village to buy bread and cheese, and swears his uncle was killed in his absence.
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The judge refuses to take part in the nephew's trial.
Didn't happen
The judge writes that he shall preside at the sessions, and later that he has had the nephew condemned to death.
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The manuscript has more pages, but they describe no new crime.
Happened
The narrator says the manuscript contained yet other pages, but without relating any new crime.
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The judge is caught and condemned before he dies.
Didn't happen
He is never caught. He dies at eighty-two, honored by a whole people, and his crimes are discovered only when his diary is found.
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