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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 gift do Charlotte and Ottilie give the architect?

2. On which procession of people does the new house guest, who arrived during Ottilie's artistic activity, exercise his craft and calling?

3. Which vocation does Ottilie decide she wishes to pursue?

4. What are Eduard's plans for Charlotte's future?

5. What event endangers the protagonists of the story?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which of Luciane's experiments in "moral regeneration" goes wrong, which Charlotte hears about after Luciane leaves the estate?

2. What are Charlotte's views of memorials?

3. What is the general substance of Ottilie's first journal entry, at the end of Part II, Chapter 2?

4. What amusement does the Count suggest should occupy Luciane's energies?

5. Briefly describe Luciane, Charlotte's daughter from her first marriage.

6. How does Ottilie respond to the tragedy involving herself and Otto?

7. What plans does the architect have for the church?

8. What foreign visitor comes to the estate, and how do his views impact Charlotte and Ottilie?

9. In Part II, Chapter 9, where does Charlotte decide to live for a short time, and why?

10. Summarize the reason for the solicitor's visit to Charlotte, which is related at the beginning of Part II.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine Ottilie's journal entries, which appear in Part II, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9. How do they offer insight into Ottilie's character? What is the significance of the style she writes in? What type of language does she use? What subject matter does she consider? Why might the narrator decide to place them where he does (at the ends of several chapters in Part II)? What is the significance of the context of each letter? Do these letters function to give Ottilie a new role in the novel? Discuss these letters' significance to the themes of fate and of personal agency in the novel, as these themes relate to Ottilie herself. Concentrate on Ottilie's specific word choice, subject matter, context, metaphorical or figurative language, and tone.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the themes of sin and repentance in the novel. What kinds of "sins" are displayed throughout the novel, and what acts (if any) of "repentance" are connected to those sins? In which ways do the various characters attempt to repent, and what are they repenting for? Do any characters exemplify the theme of repentance more or less than others? If so, what is the significance of this difference in the various characters' perspectives of repentance? What are the religious and/or moral significance or connotations of repentance?

Essay Topic 3

Examine Luciane's character. What is her relation to Charlotte and Ottilie? How does Luciane's character compare specifically to Ottilie's character? What words or phrases best describe Luciane? What is notable about her interactions with others, and how do other characters feel about her and her presence at the estate? Does the narrator, through his use of tone or word choice, present Luciane in any particular manner? How does her characterization address the theme of self-contradiction in the novel? How does her character address the theme of public life versus private life in the novel?

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