The Sorrows of Young Werther Study Guide

1. Before writing The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe:

• Traveled to Italy and wrote a memoir of the experience
• Was a poor laborer
• Wrote a tragedy based on the life of Götz von Berlichingen
• Unsuccussfully attempted suicide

2. The Sorrows of Young Werther is:

• An autobiography
• A burlesque
• An epistolatory novel
• A narrative poem

3. Werther was first published in:

• 1750
• 1774
• 1781
• 1800

4. When was Goethe's revision of Werther published?

• Posthumously
• 1810
• 1781
• 1777

5. Which of the following ISN'T true of Goethe's revision of Werther?

• It emphasizes the editor's role in the narrative, compared to the original
• It is considerably more sympathetic to Werther's point of view than the original
• It is the version widely read today
• It is the only version widely available in an English translation

6. Werther is set in:

• The 1680s
• 1771-1772
• The South of France
• 1774

7. Almost all of Werther's letters are addressed to:

• His friend, Albert
• His mother
• His beloved, Lotte
• His friend, Wilhelm

8. Who is Leonora?

• Wilhelm's wife, about whom Werther inquires
• Werther's beloved
• A woman who was in love with Werther before the novel begins
• A statue that Werther considers the ideal feminine form

9. Werther's family is:

• Proud of him
• Happy but stifling
• Almost all deceased
• Largely divided by misunderstanding and neglect

10. Werther compares the peasant women he sees at the well to:

• Women in biblical times
• A ballad
• Children
• Women depicted in Homer