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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. Early in the novel, what is the general feeling among the four main occupants of the household?

2. How do Eduard and Ottilie unexpectedly prove their compatibility with one another?

3. What final decision does Eduard make at the end of Part I?

4. What language do Charlotte and Ottilie speak when they are alone?

5. What becomes the focus of Eduard's efforts regarding the landscape improvements around the estate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Eduard decide to do to further his relationship with Ottilie, and how does this attempt end up?

2. What sudden action does Eduard take after the Captain leaves the household?

3. Who is Herr Mittler, and what do Charlotte and Eduard ask for his help with?

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

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

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

7. What event leads to a sexually charged encounter between Charlotte and the Captain, and how does Charlotte react to it?

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

9. What does Mittler do regarding Charlotte and Eduard's tense situation?

10. What is the substance of Charlotte and Eduard's argument at the beginning of Part I, Chapter 16, and how is it resolved?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

Compare and contrast Eduard and the Captain (later the Major). What is the relationship between the two men and does this relationship change over the course of the novel? How are their characters similar, and how do they differ? What informs each man's thoughts, feelings, and decisions? How does each man react to his own desires, and to adversity? Does the narrator describe each man and his respective feelings, thoughts, and actions in any particular way that offers insights or critiques into his character?

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