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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 does Werther give the people he meets in the town square?

2. In the letter of July 26, what does Werther often determine to do, but fails?

3. Whom does Werther find in the square of the town Werther has come to love?

4. Whom does Werther assist in his or her daily chore?

5. To what does Werther compare himself in regards to the young woman with whom he has fallen in love?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Werther's opinion of his aunt?

2. What does Werther observe the local girls doing?

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

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 "worthy man" has Werther gotten to know, and where does he live?

6. What example does Werther give Albert regarding the justifiability of suicide, and why does Werther take the standpoint he does?

7. How is Werther first received by the commoners of the village, and how does Werther view their reaction to him?

8. How does Werther initially feel about Albert?

9. Who is Albert, and what is Werther's reaction to learning about him?

10. What are Lotte's views on books and reading?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Assess Werther's relationship with Wilhelm, the addressee of the letters. How does Werther "speak" to Wilhelm in his letters? What type of relationship might they have, considering their communications to one another? How can we judge Wilhelm's letters based on Werther's responses? Give at least one example of a response of Werther's which indicates the subject of their correspondence. How might the identity of Wilhelm also be entwined with the identity of the reading audience or the reading individual? What is the effect of this connection? Is the audience primed to be automatically sympathetic to Werther? Why would this consideration be significant in your assessment of character development and the development of the overall themes of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Albert and Werther. Consider their personalities, the tone in which they speak, and general character development. Although they appear to be polar opposites, are there any ways in which they are similar? Closely analyze the letter of August 12, 1771, in which the two men speak on the subject of suicide and other crimes. What does this letter reveal about their characters, personalities, values and views? What about each man attracts Lotte to him?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the symbolism and importance of clothing in the novel. Focus on the letters of July 8, 1771; August 28, 1771; and September 6, 1772. What articles of clothing does Werther have a disproportionate focus on? What might these articles of clothing symbolize, for Werther as well as for the reader? How does Goethe use them as talismans in the novel--what power do they have? Additionally, what do these articles of clothing conceal, or what might they stand in for?

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