5 memorable pranks from literature

Pranks and tricks have always been a part of classic literature. A lot of books have featured pranksters who have wired the story around their humour and tricks.

‘Twelfth Night’ by William Shakespeare is full of tricks and pranks. But the trick played by Tony Belch on Malvolio where he is deceived to wear funny clothes is an all-time classic. A false letter is sent to Malvolio from his lover Olivia. The letter reads that Olivia will only love him if he wears cross-gartered yellow stockings. Belch and his friends convince him to wear these strange yellow clothes and go around smiling everywhere and humiliate him. Malvio falls for the prank and ends up in an embarrassing situation.

Few other pranks that ‘Twelfth Night’ features are the farcical mix-ups of identical twins Viola and Sebastian, a girl pretending to be a boy and acting, etc.
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Photo: Arden Shakespeare

'The Twits' by Roald Dahl features two characters called Mr and Mrs Twit. Both characters keep on playing pranks on each other throughout the story. For instance: Mrs. Twit started a prank war by putting her glass eye in Mr. Twit's beer mug then she also feeds Mr Twit Worm Spaghetti. But the classic and the most humorous prank remains the one when Mr Twit convinces Mrs Twit that she is shrinking and needs to be stretched by balloons and he pretends to cure her by stretching her out. He ties her to the ground with a handkerchief and ties balloons to her hair to make her stretch up. He cuts the handkerchief and she floats away. But she comes back every Tuesday to make bird pie. In the end, Roly Poly Bird and the captive family of Mumble-Wump monkeys trick them into gluing their heads to the floor until they catch the Shrinks.

​Photo: Puffin

Roald Dahl's 'Matilda' follows the story of a five-year-old genius girl named Matilda. The girl plays a series of household pranks on her parents as a way of getting back at them. Although most of her pranks are harmless, they are well-planned from a five-year-old’s point of view.

Matilda's most famous prank is when she puts superglue in her evil father’s hat and as a result, the hat sticks to her father’s hair all day. Her other tricks and pranks include: hiding a parrot in the chimney, secretly bleaching her father's hair, convincing her family there’s a ghost in the house, etc.
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Photo: Penguin UK

Bilbo Baggins meets Gollum in a deep tunnel and down in the darkness, they have a witty riddle-off to decide whether Bilbo will be eaten or taken to the surface to be set free. Baggins cleverly engages in a game of riddles with Gollum and tricks him into leading the way back to the surface so that his life could be saved. The riddle-off is humorous and witty. Bilbo also has the ring, which is his escape, when Gollum won’t stick to the bargain.

The riddle-off is one of the most engaging and humorous parts of the story.

Photo: HarperCollins

In 'Jane Eyre', Charlotte Brontë wrote a prank that is still remembered as one of the wittiest pranks in classic literature. Mr. Rochester dresses up as an old gypsy woman to tell the fortunes of his houseguests, especially Jane. and gauge their reactions to his predictions. Later Mr Rochester transforms back into his real self.

As the woman reads Jane's fortune, her voice slowly deepens, and Jane realizes that the gypsy is Rochester in disguise. Jane reproaches Mr Rochester for tricking him into confrontation.

Photo: Rupa Publications India