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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What provokes Eduard to cry out that Ottilie loves him?

2. How did the master of the estate grow up?

3. What is notable about the letters Eduard writes to Ottilie?

4. How does Charlotte respond to Eduard's passion for Ottilie?

5. How does Eduard plan to celebrate the finishing of the landscape improvements, as well as to show his affection for Ottilie?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the four protagonists' relationships change after Eduard evinces a passion for Ottilie?

2. How does Ottilie act around the others when she arrives at the estate?

3. What confusion does Eduard experience, after conducting the Count to a midnight visit with the Baroness?

4. Summarize the events which occur on Ottilie's birthday.

5. In Part I, Chapter 6, what activity becomes the clear marker of the shifting compatibilities of the four protagonists?

6. For what reason does the foursome decide to build a pavilion?

7. What is the general substance of the mason's address during the ceremony of the foundation stone of the pavilion?

8. Summarize the event which results in Eduard finding himself attracted to Ottilie.

9. Why does Charlotte object to Eduard's proposal of bringing the Captain to live at their estate?

10. Describe Eduard's estate and his, the Captain's, and Charlotte's general plans for it.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose two minor characters and discuss their significance to the main plot elements in which they appear, and how their presence, actions, or influence contribute to the thematic development of the novel as a whole. What are these minor characters' relationships with the four main characters, what social class do they occupy, and what of their personality traits seem important to you in describing their influence? How do the minor characters interact with and affect the main characters of the novel? What specific role do they have in the plot episode in which they appear? Do you think these characters or their presence in the novel symbolize anything? Suggestions for minor characters include: Herr Mittler, the architect, Luciane, Nanni, the Count, the Baroness, the schoolmaster, and the Englishman.

Essay Topic 2

Examine the role of human beings in shaping the natural landscape. What do the four protagonists use the land for? How do they view their use of it, and the general purpose the landscape has? Describe their relationship to the land in terms of the utilitarian, the picturesque, the beautiful, and/or the sublime? What does nature seem to symbolize for each character, and what is the significance of this symbolism? How might a reader interpret the protagonists' use of and relation to the land as a statement by Goethe about human interactions with nature in his own time and place?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the themes of embodiment, physicality, sexuality, and sensuality that are present in the novel. How do the characters' physical presence sometimes influence the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other characters? What is the significance of inanimate objects such as letters, contracts, and trinkets embodying certain characters? Why might the narrator find it important to note, in Part II, Chapter 13, that just before Otto dies Ottilie experiences two distinct moments of true sensuality? How do Eduard and Charlotte interact each other in Part I, Chapter 11 by imagining their lovers embodied in each other? What episodes of, or references to, frank sexuality and sensuality do you think are important to an understanding of the novel?

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