Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. How does the party in general react to Rogozhin's arrival?
2. What does Ganja ask Aglaya to do?
3. Who does Myshkin think is following him?
4. What does Madam Yephanchin think her husband is doing behind her back?
5. What does Myshkin learn about Nastassya's engagement to Rogozhin?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Ganja come to blows with Myshkin, and how does Myshkin respond?
2. What does Rogozhin describe as having happened between him and Nastassya before she left him?
3. What does Nastassya say initially to Myshkin's proposal?
4. What happened to the man that Totsky wronged in his story?
5. What reason does Yephanchin say he has to be guilty over someone's death?
6. What stories does Myshkin tell Rogozhin about religion?
7. How does Nastassya react to Rogozhin's offer of a present?
8. What does Myshkin feel when he gets off the train arriving in St. Petersburg?
9. How does Myshkin describe Aglaya?
10. What does Ferdyshchenko do with his ill-gotten gains?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Discuss beauty and women in the novel.
1) How do the characters treat beautiful women differently from women who are not beautiful, or who are less beautiful? How is beauty valued in the society and by Myshkin?
2) Why is Nastassya introduced to Myshkin first by a picture? What does Myshkin know about Nastassya, based on her picture? How does Nastassya's beauty affect her life and her character?
3) How does Aglaya's beauty affect her life and her character? Does it change her personality? How would her life be different if she were not beautiful?
Essay Topic 2
Myshkin is known for his forgiveness of others throughout the novel. Discuss forgiveness in the novel.
1) Why does Myshkin continue to forgive others for wrongs, including Rogozhin's murder of Nastassya? Are there other characters in the novel that forgive each other for wrongdoings?
2) How does the knowledge of assured forgiveness affect the characters' behavior? Does it make Lebedev more likely to be complicit in the scandalous article against Myshkin? Does forgiveness have a negative affect on characters?
3) When do the characters not forgive each other? How does the lack of forgiveness affect the characters' lives?
Essay Topic 3
Throughout the novel, characters communicate private messages through letters. Discuss the role of letters in the novel.
1) Why do characters use letters to communicate? What types of messages do the characters communicate through letters?
2) How do the intentions of letter-writers and the meanings interpreted by readers differ? Why? What does this say about communication in the novel?
3) How do letters being read by unintended audiences or not delivered affect the course of the story?
|
This section contains 763 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
