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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. In the letter of December 1, who relates to Werther the story of the person Werther met in the letter of November 30?
2. What is the name of the person Werther meets in the letter of November 30?
3. According to Werther in the letter of October 19, what will fill the void in his heart?
4. What social faux pas does Werther commit in the letter of March 15?
5. Where does the event of March 15 occur?
Short Essay Questions
1. What correspondence does Werther receive from a government minister, as related in the letter of February 17, and how does Werther react to the correspondence?
2. What bothers Werther about many of the people he meets?
3. What does Werther do during the flood of the river near Wahlheim, and why is this episode significant?
4. How do Werther's personality and his thoughts change upon returning to Wahlheim?
5. Summarize the final interaction between Werther and Lotte.
6. What disturbing news regarding the farmer-boy shocks Werther, and how does he react?
7. How does Werther describe the Ambassador?
8. How does Werther react to reading Ossian, as related in the letter of October 12?
9. How does Werther perceive Count C.?
10. What are Werther's general views on religion, as expressed in several letters?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Examine the theme of nature and its progression throughout the text. How does Goethe use nature to express Werther's character, and/or to express the themes of sensibility or the sublime? What about nature attracts Werther to wander so much in it? How does Werther respond emotionally, intellectually, and physically to nature? How does he connect nature to poetry as well as to personal relationships? How do Goethe's depictions of nature, and of Werther's responses to nature, change over the course of the novel?
Essay Topic 2
Examine how Lotte's character and her actual "voice" are mediated both by Werther and by the Editor. Consider the question of Lotte's agency: how responsible is she, if she is at all responsible, for Werther's love and his fate? What ambiguities are present in Werther's views or descriptions of her? When does she actually seem to act of her own accord, and when does she appear to be acted upon? How can we assess the accuracy of Werther or the Editor's views of her? Use examples from letters in which Werther relates her direct interactions with him or in which he interprets her moods and motivations.
Essay Topic 3
Compare and contrast the two lovelorn young men Werther meets: the farmer-boy who fell in love with his mistress and murdered his other servant, and the madman named Heinrich roaming around the water's edge looking for flowers. What has caused the situations the two men find themselves in? What are their reasons, excuses, interpretations and plans? How do their situations and Goethe's characterization of them relate to Werther--that is, in which ways are they notably similar and different? How does Werther interpret his encounters with the two men? Is there any form of irony present in their characterizations, their narratives, or their fates?
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This section contains 1,071 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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