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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. Who does Lebedev think stole his missing money?

2. Who wrote the note that Varya finds on Ganja's desk?

3. Who is the first visitor who arrives, while Myshkin is recuperating?

4. Who tells Myshkin that an officer wants to duel him?

5. Where does Aglaya say she comes some mornings at 7 o'clock?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hippolite want to kill himself?

2. Why does Burdovsky feel he is owed something from Myshkin?

3. What does Ganja report about Burdovsky's relationship with Pavlishtchev?

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

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

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

7. What does Madam Yephanchin think about, as she brings Myshkin to her house?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the nature of goodness in the novel.

1) In what ways does Myshkin embody goodness? Is Myshkin's goodness always truly good?

2) Why can't Myshkin's goodness survive in St. Petersburg society? Is goodness doomed to tragedy and failure?

3) Does Rogozhin have any goodness in him? In what ways are the other characters good?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the values of St. Petersburg society that are revealed in the novel.

1) What are the professed values of the characters in the novel? How do they express their professed values?

2) What values are revealed by the characters' actions? How are the values the characters live by different from the values they profess?

3) How are Myshkin's value and style of living different from the values of St. Petersburg society? How does Myshkin reveal the values of St. Petersburg society, by comparison?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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