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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Valmont trick Madame de Volanges into receiving his second letter?
(a) He glues it inside her favorite book.
(b) He throws it on her lap while company visits, forcing her to grab it and hide it.
(c) He slips it under her door at night.
(d) He hides it in one of her letters, which she has asked him to return.

2. In letter 15, what does Valmont call Merteuil about her attentions to her current lover?
(a) He calls her an attention seeker.
(b) He calls her a slave to another's pleasure.
(c) He calls her gentle and caring.
(d) He calls her selfish and callous.

3. Who or what does Coward see as at fault for the events of the novel?
(a) The pressures of the social caste system.
(b) The fate handed down by God.
(c) The natural, undeniable human sexual curiosity.
(d) The actions of individuals.

4. What does the author of the Editor's Preface claim he has done?
(a) Collected and organized real letters, and provided occasional notes.
(b) Translated these letters from another language into French.
(c) Written the story of his own group of friends into the form of letters.
(d) Written all the letters himself, from the perspective of fictional characters.

5. What does "libertine" generally refer to in 18th-century France?
(a) Conventional wisdom.
(b) Conservative political ideals.
(c) Pious worship of God.
(d) Sexual depravity.

6. How does Valmont's tale of seduction end?
(a) With a kidnapping.
(b) With an orgy.
(c) With a pregnancy.
(d) With a duel.

7. Who does Valmont trick to spend time with the Vicomtesse de M?
(a) Merteuil.
(b) Philippe.
(c) Vressac.
(d) Armand.

8. What literary tradition does Coward see as applicable?
(a) Elegiac poetry.
(b) Sentimentality.
(c) Don Juanism.
(d) Romanticism.

9. How does Coward recommend the novel should be criticized?
(a) By placing the novel only in the context of 18th-century France.
(b) By referencing only the text itself, and no outside information.
(c) By using a variety of critical theories and methodologies.
(d) By employing only what the reader knows about Laclos' life.

10. What does Cécile tell Danceny in letter 49?
(a) That she will meet him at a secret location to consummate their love.
(b) That she wants to continue their relationship.
(c) That her duty to God and her future husband prevent her from being with him.
(d) That Merteuil convinced her to continue writing to him.

11. What does Cécile think are pretty much the same thing?
(a) Innocence and ignorance.
(b) Friendship and love.
(c) Friendship and marriage.
(d) Sex and love.

12. What does Madame de Tourvel allow Valmont to do?
(a) Have sex with her.
(b) Tell Madame de Rosemonde about his feelings for her.
(c) Stay at Madame de Rosemonde's estate.
(d) Write to her while they are apart.

13. What does Madame de Volanges discover about her daughter?
(a) She has been disrespectful to God.
(b) She has been spending her inheritance foolishly.
(c) She has been corresponding with Danceny.
(d) She has been having sex with Valmont.

14. How did Laclos' contemporary critics feel his novel would impact society?
(a) The novel would offer scrupulous moral lessons.
(b) The novel would challenge the political regime.
(c) The novel would corrupt more people than it saved.
(d) The novel would showcase French literary talent.

15. What is the first action Valmont takes to make Madame de Tourvel look favorably upon him?
(a) He disarms a burglar at the estate.
(b) He expresses interest in a position in the Church.
(c) He pays a peasant family's back taxes.
(d) He leaps to his aunt's aid when she falls.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the tone of Cécile's letter 55 to Sophie?

2. How does Valmont give Cécile her letter from Danceny?

3. How does Cécile initially feel about Danceny?

4. What does Madame de Tourvel promise to Madame de Volanges in letter 11?

5. What ruse does Valmont use to attempt to secretly rifle through Madame de Tourvel's letters?

(see the answer keys)

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