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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 wrote the note that Varya finds on Ganja's desk?

2. What does Aglaya change when she recites from a reading?

3. How does the party react when Vera says Hippolite is going to kill himself?

4. Who does Lebedev think stole his missing money?

5. What illness does Hippolite have?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Burdovsky feel he is owed something from Myshkin?

2. Why hasn't Myshkin visited the Yephanchins?

3. What does Madam Yephanchin feel about her daughter's relationship with Myshkin?

4. What happens when Hippolite tries to kill himself?

5. What is Ganja's attitude toward his father?

6. How do Myshkin and Agalya each interpret Myshkin's earlier letter to Agalya?

7. What does Keller ask Myshkin for?

8. What does Madam Yephanchin think about, as she brings Myshkin to her house?

9. What are Agalya's plans for herself and Myshkin when she first meets him in the park?

10. How does Myshkin treat Rogozhin, after Rogozhin tried to kill him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, characters communicate private messages through letters. Discuss the role of letters in the novel.

1) Why do characters use letters to communicate? What types of messages do the characters communicate through letters?

2) How do the intentions of letter-writers and the meanings interpreted by readers differ? Why? What does this say about communication in the novel?

3) How do letters being read by unintended audiences or not delivered affect the course of the story?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss fate in the novel.

1) What forces, both within the characters themselves and outside the characters, dictate the paths that the characters' lives take in the novel? To what extent are the characters able to make choices about their lives and control their own destinies?

2) In the novel, there are moments of prophecy, as when Myshkin predicts that Nastassya will marry Rogozhin, and then Rogozhin will murder her. What do these moments of prophecy say about fate and destiny in the novel?

3) Could the novel have ended in any other way, for these particular characters in this particular society?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss death in the novel.

1) Discuss Hippolite's attempted suicide and impending death from disease. How does Hippolite perceive death? How does he deal with impending death?

2) Discuss General Ivolgin's death from stroke. What does death mean to the General and those around him? What perspective does his first stroke and eventual death put on his disagreement with Lebedev?

3) Discuss Nastassya's death. What leads up to her death? What does her death mean to Rogozhin and to Myshkin? What does death mean to Nastassya?

(see the answer keys)

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