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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 is Rogozhin's explanation for why Nastassya left him?

2. Where does Myshkin plan to live?

3. Where does Ganja live?

4. Who does the visitor mistake Myshkin for?

5. What does Rogozhin give to Nastassya?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Myshkin predict about Rogozhin and Nastassya Filippovna?

2. What stories does Myshkin tell Rogozhin about religion?

3. How does Myshkin describe Aglaya?

4. What happens to Myshkin when Rogozhin tries to kill him?

5. What is Myshkin and Rogozhin's initial meeting like, when Myshkin visits Rogozhin's house upon returning to St. Petersburg?

6. How does Ganja's father embarrass him?

7. What does Nastassya ask Myshkin, after hearing the stories of the men at the party?

8. How does Madam Yephanchin react to Myshkin going off to collect his inheritance?

9. What does Rogozhin and Lebedev's relationship seem to be like during their conversation on the train?

10. How did Rogozhin become estranged from his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss religion in the novel.

1) What stories do the characters tell about religion and about God? What do these stories mean? Why does the author include them in the novel?

2) What do Myshkin and Rogozhin say about the religious painting in Rogozhin's house? What is the significance of the painting? Does it reveal anything about Rogozhin's relationship to religion? What about the crosses that the two men exchange? What is the religious significance of the crosses?

3) How does Myshkin react when he learns his benefactor turned to Catholicism before his death? What does this say about Myshkin's attitude toward religion? How is Myshkin's attitude toward religion different than the other characters' attitudes?

Essay Topic 2

In the society depicted in the novel, marriage is an important institution. The characters try to arrange marriages for themselves and for others. Discuss marriage in the novel.

1) How do the characters choose who they want to marry? How does Myshkin decide first to marry Aglaya and then Nastassya? How does Nastassya determine to marry Myshkin, and then run off with Rogozhin?

2) How do family members influence marriage? How do Aglaya's parents think of their daughter's marriage? What influence do they have on her marriage?

3) How does society view marriage? What relation does money and social position have to marriage? Does society influence the marriage choices that the characters make?

Essay Topic 3

The novel centers around the characters' love relationships. Discuss love in the novel.

1) What causes characters to fall in love with each other in the novel? How can the characters, and the reader, distinguish between true love and different kinds of attraction in the novel?

2) What role does jealousy play in the characters' love relationships? What role does the characters' ideas of their self-worth play in their attraction to others?

3) What role does social position and money play in the characters' love relationships?

(see the answer keys)

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