View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Mr. Lembke?

2. What condition does Mrs. Lembke impose on people who want to come to her party?

3. Who else arrives in Chapter 5 and takes part in Mrs. Stavrogin's conversation?

4. What is Stepan Verkhovensky agitated about at the beginning of Chapter 3?

5. What is Stepan and Peter Verkhovensky's relationship like?

Short Essay Questions

1. What leads up to Nicholas' confession that he is married to Mary?

2. What happens when Peter mentions that Stepan believes that Dasha has fallen into disrepute in Switzerland?

3. What is Mrs. Stavrogin's response to Stepan Verkhovensky's letter to Peter about Dasha?

4. How do people explain the gathering of workers from the Spigulin factory?

5. How does Shatov respond to Lisa Tushin's proposal?

6. How does Peter feel about Shigalyov's plan?

7. What plans does Peter seem to be making at the end of Part II, Chapter 4?

8. What effect do Julia Lembke's political activities have on Mr. Lembke?

9. What does Lisa find out about Captain Lebyatikin's sister?

10. What does Peter ask his father after he (Peter) has recounted the story of Stavrogin and Miss Lebyatkin?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does innocence play in The Possessed? Is it always sacrificed, as Mary Lebyatkin and Shatov are? Does it endure anywhere, in spite of Mary and Shatov's murders?

Essay Topic 2

What is the role of the crowd in The Possessed? How do the gathered factory workers or the guests at the fête behave like one character with a unified will or behavior of their own? How does Dostoevsky describe the crowds? What power do they have? What weaknesses?

Essay Topic 3

Is the duel between Gaganov and Stavrogin a metaphor for the book? Is the murder of Captain and Mary Lebyatkin a better metaphor? What event in the book is most representative of the book as a whole?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 901 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample