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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 Abelard say in Letter 5 that he hopes to avoid?

2. In Letter 4, what does Heloise beg Abelard to do?

3. What is the relationship between the first letter and the others?

4. What does Heloise doubt about Abelard?

5. What does Heloise remind Abelard of?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what Fulbert's family did to Abelard.

2. What does Heloise say about virtue?

3. Why does the author of Letter 9 say Abelard retreated to Cluny?

4. What does Heloise say about the men who call her chaste?

5. What does Peter the Venerable send to Heloise in the final letter?

6. Describe Abelard's arguments in favor of an abbess in charge of the convent.

7. What is the real purpose of Peter the Venerable's letter in Letter 10?

8. What does Abelard say about the Cumean Sibyl?

9. What are the three parts of Abelard's rule?

10. What stance does Abelard take in Letter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Prepare an argument for or against the proposition that the best way for wealthy people to gain virtue is to give up their possessions and practice poverty.

Essay Topic 2

Make an annotated map of the places where Abelard and Heloise's story unfolded, including Abelard's late travels. What does the map show us about the story? How did the landscape and geography affect the story?

Essay Topic 3

What does 'love' mean to Abelard and Heloise? How do their letters--and their actions--define it?

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