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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 phrase did Koyla overhear Aglaya say while she was reading Don Quixote?

2. Why does Hippolite realize, after seeing Rogozhin in his room at night, that Rogozhin couldn't have been there?

3. Where does Hippolite plan to kill himself?

4. What does Nastassya ask Myshkin?

5. When Myshkin asks about Lebedev's missing money, where does Lebedev tell Myshkin he found the money?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Myshkin and Agalya each interpret Myshkin's earlier letter to Agalya?

2. What does Madam Yephanchin feel about her daughter's relationship with Myshkin?

3. What does Aglaya say to Myshkin, after her proposal to him?

4. How does Myshkin learn that Nastassya is in town?

5. How does Myshkin treat Rogozhin, after Rogozhin tried to kill him?

6. What leads up to the violence in the park?

7. What are Agalya's plans for herself and Myshkin when she first meets him in the park?

8. How does Madam Yephanchin react, after Burdovsky and his companions object to the information Ganja reveals about Burdovsky?

9. How does Myshkin contradict what Aglaya has told him about Ganja?

10. How does Myshkin answer Nastassya's question to him, and what is Rogozhin's response?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The characters' reactions and actions in the novel are often emotional ones. Discuss emotionalism in the novel.

1) How do Aglaya and Nastassya both react emotionally? How do their emotional reactions influence events and others' perceptions of them? What decisions do they make based on emotions?

2) How are Myshkin and Rogozhin's reactions different? What role does emotion play in each man's life?

3) How are Lebedev, General Ivolgin, Ganja, and other characters emotional? What consequences do their emotional responses contribute to?

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

Discuss the role that society's criticism and approval plays in the characters' lives in the novel.

1) What types of actions are criticized and approved of by society in the novel? How does the society as a whole make its criticism or approval felt to the characters?

2) How do characters respond to societal pressure or societal disapproval? How does it influence characters' actions? How do the characters respond to society's expectations and approval? Do characters actively try to gain societal approval?

3) How is Myshkin perceived by society? When and how is he criticized or approved? How does societal criticism or approval affect Myshkin?

(see the answer keys)

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