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. Of what feeling does Werther complain in the letter of August 22?

2. What do Werther and his new female friend discuss in the carriage?

3. How does Werther perceive his relationship to other people?

4. What is the name of the man Werther meets at the vicar's home?

5. What does Werther consider to be the closest thing to his own heart?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Werther meet Lotte?

2. How does Werther initially feel about Albert?

3. To what type of people does Werther compare those who he thinks are happiest in life, and what is his reasoning for this comparison?

4. What natural feature of the environment of his town does Werther feel particularly drawn to, and to what does he compare the feeling?

5. What does Werther find appealing about being away from his friends and in a new town?

6. What does Werther promise the person to whom he writes this letter?

7. What does Werther ask his friend Wilhelm not to do, and why?

8. What does Werther mourn in the letter of May 17, 1771?

9. How does Werther describe his delight in the countryside surrounding Wahlheim?

10. What specific space, which Werther found in his explorations of the town, does he find pleasurable?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the role of Ossian in the novel. Who is Ossian (both ostensibly and actually), and why does Werther place him in such high regard? What effect does reading Ossian have on Werther? How does he relate to the work and its contents? Offer a close-reading of the fragment of Ossian the Editor quotes. Carefully analyze this portion of the text. Pay close attention to word choice, setting, imagery, figurative or metaphorical language, references, and the tone of the passages. How do you interpret this passage based on a close study of the connotations of all of these aspects of the text? What is its overall effect upon the reader? How do you feel this passage relates to Werther's own story, feelings and thoughts? Why might this passage and the subsequent ones which reflect on Colma's situation affect Werther and Lotte so profoundly? How might the voices of Ryno, Alpin, and the narrator of the fragment be interpreted by Werther and Lotte to be the voices of Werther's nearest and dearest friends and acquaintances?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the form of the novel: a confessional, epistolary novel. Describe the genres of the epistolary novel and the confessional novel. How do these forms work together in this particular novel? Describe the structure of the novel: how many narrative voices are there? What is the chronological structure of the novel? Are there any aspects of the novel's form or structure that seem out of place or that fit differently into the entire structure than the rest of the book? How does the texture, tone, and focus of the novel change as Werther's mental and emotional state becomes more agitated?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the theme of suicide and the way Goethe addresses the morality and justifiability of it throughout the novel. Does Werther's pitiable state of mind, his decimated feelings, and his unrequited love excuse, or explain, his choice? How does Werther convince himself that suicide is the right and only path for him? What events, people, or feelings influence his decision? What is each main character's position on the morality or justifiability of suicide? What was the effect of Werther's suicide on Goethe's readers and critics: how did they interpret this act? How does the Editor influence what you perceive as the novel's overall message regarding suicide?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 974 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample