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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 keeps Melchior from committing suicide?

2. What errand has Wendla been sent on in Act 1, Scene 5?

3. Why is Moritz concerned about another boy's standing in his class?

4. What theatrical genre is combined with tragedy as part of this play's complexity?

5. Why does Moritz commit suicide?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Bentley describe Moritz and Melchior in relation to each other in his introduction?

2. What appears to be a key difference between Melchior and Moritz in their first scene together?

3. How do Mrs. Bergmann and Wendla deal with the girl's maturation in Act I, Scene 1?

4. What are Melchior's beliefs about good deeds, as related to Wendla?

5. What does Moritz reveal himself completely ignorant about in Act I, Scene 2?

6. In the introduction, why is this play deemed as widely disliked by feminists?

7. According to the summary in the introduction, what will happen to Melchior?

8. What does Moritz believe is the purpose of his school's exams?

9. How does the introduction of this play describe Eros and Thanatos?

10. What thought does Wendla have that offends her mother? Where does it come from?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the following topics to write about:

- Mrs. Bergmann's explanation on pregnancy.

- The contrast of the pastor's sermon at Moritz's funeral and the girls bringing his grave flowers.

- "Copulation."

Essay Topic 2

How does Wedekind intertwine sex and violence? How is this a theme of the play? What characters appear to embody this idea? How does Goethe's "Faust" relate to this? How is this enacted on stage? Cite specific examples from the text to support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Pick one of the following topics to write about:

- The father-son dynamic of both the playwright and the play.

- Eros and Thanatos.

- Expressionism and Realism in Spring Awakening: A Children's Tragedy.

(see the answer keys)

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