View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Madam Yephanchin learn came to visit Aglaya while she was out?

2. What has Varya been trying to do in her visits to the Yephanchins' house?

3. How does the party react when Vera says Hippolite is going to kill himself?

4. What does Lebedev expect Myshkin to do, now that he knows Lebedev was involved with the scandalous article?

5. What entertainment do the Prince and the Yephanchins watch after they walk in the park?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Keller ask Myshkin for?

3. How does General Ivolgin act when he talks to Myshkin after his argument with Lebedev?

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

5. Why does Hippolite want to kill himself?

6. What does Myskhin's view of dueling seem to be?

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

8. How do the guests at the Yephanchins' react to Myshkin's response to Radomsky's political views?

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

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

Discuss fate in the novel.

1) What forces, both within the characters themselves and outside the characters, dictate the paths that the characters' lives take in the novel? To what extent are the characters able to make choices about their lives and control their own destinies?

2) In the novel, there are moments of prophecy, as when Myshkin predicts that Nastassya will marry Rogozhin, and then Rogozhin will murder her. What do these moments of prophecy say about fate and destiny in the novel?

3) Could the novel have ended in any other way, for these particular characters in this particular society?

Essay Topic 2

Much of the action in the novel happens at parties and social gatherings. Discuss the importance of parties and social gatherings in the novel.

1) Why does so much of the action of the novel take place at parties and social gatherings? How do the characters react differently in these social situations, than in private?

2) What role do parties and social gatherings fulfill in the culture of St. Petersburg? How do they affect the social relationships and social order of the characters?

3) How are events at parties and social gatherings reviewed and critiqued by the people attending the gatherings? How does this change the consequences of those events, which are witnessed by groups of people?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the role that money plays in the novel.

1) How does Myshkin's life and position change when he has money? How do others view him when he has money, versus when he doesn't have money?

2) Why does Rogozhin offer Nastassya increasing amounts of money to marry him? Why does Nastassya throw Rogozhin's money into the fire?

3) How do the other characters in the novel view money? Why is money important to Ganja? How does Madam Yephanchin feel about money?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 889 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample