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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. Where is Werther walking in the letter of November 30?

2. In the letter of December 24. Werther mentions a woman who brags about her social station. What is her social status?

3. Where was the person Werther meets in the letter of November 30 before they met Werther?

4. What relationship did the person Werther met in the letter of November 30 have to Werther's other friends?

5. What is the name of the person Werther meets in the letter of November 30?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Prince and why Werther is involved with him.

2. What news does Werther receive from Albert and Lotte in the letter dated February 20, and how does Werther respond to the news?

3. How does Miss von B. respond to Werther's humiliation, as related in the letter of March 16?

4. Describe the nature and circumstances of Werther's death and of his burial.

5. Summarize Werther's thoughts on the relationship between contentment and reason, as expressed in the letter of November 30.

6. What bothers Werther about many of the people he meets?

7. What reaction does Werther have to the news about the walnut trees in the courtyard of the vicarage?

8. Who does Werther meet while walking along the water's edge in Wahlheim, what is the person doing, and what does this person look like, as related in the letter of November 30?

9. What disturbing news regarding the farmer-boy shocks Werther, and how does he react?

10. How do Werther's personality and his thoughts change upon returning to Wahlheim?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the representations of lower-class and upper-class people and society that occur throughout the novel. How does Werther describe upper-class and lower-class people? Could there be any political meaning to Goethe's representations of them, and of Werther's interactions with them, in the text? How does Werther see himself in relation to each portion of society? Offer at least two each of Werther's interactions with upper- and lower-class individuals or groups to explain your arguments.

Essay Topic 2

Examine Goethe's own biography and its influence on his composition of the novel and the formulation of characters and events. What events are similar between Goethe's experience and Werther's experience? What characters are similar? Which ones are notably different? Can you think of any particular expressions of sensibility, emotion, attraction, etc. that Goethe may have taken right out of his own life? What are the considerations a reader must have when reading a novel (ostensibly a work of fiction) that appears to be so closely related to its author's life? How closely can we truly tie the autobiography and novel genres without overstepping the bounds of either one?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Lotte's character. Include not only her vitals (approximately how old is she, where she lives, what is her family situation, etc.), but also describe her personality, the way she interacts with others, and her relationships with Werther and Albert. Why does she seem to act the way she does? What is the central problem of the text with regards to our being able to formulate her character? How is her character mediated by both Werther and by the Editor, and are there any problems with this mediation that relate to the reliability of our formulation of her character?

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