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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What advice does Valmont give to Madame de Tourvel?
(a) Succumb to desire and she will pay the price.
(b) Desert her husband, in order to marry Valmont.
(c) Love, and her fears will vanish.
(d) Tell others of his love for Valmont, and they will understand.

2. What event does Valmont tell Madame de Tourvel secured his love for her?
(a) Looking into her eyes on a starlit evening.
(b) Hearing of her piety from Madame de Rosemonde.
(c) Meeting her for the first time.
(d) His charitable actions toward the peasants.

3. What was Laclos' relationship with his own wife and children?
(a) He was cold and distant.
(b) He was warm and loving.
(c) He was harsh and abusive.
(d) He was timid and shy.

4. What has Merteuil tricked Cécile into doing?
(a) Refusing to marry the Comte de Gercourt.
(b) Sleeping with Valmont.
(c) Telling Madame de Volanges about her love for Danceny.
(d) Meeting with Danceny alone.

5. What does Danceny refuse to do, despite Madame de Volanges' request?
(a) Marry another woman.
(b) Burn his letters.
(c) Travel abroad to forget Cécile.
(d) Return Cécile's letters.

6. What common subjects of social satire is the novel clearly lacking, according to Coward?
(a) Innocent young women and men.
(b) Servants and peasants.
(c) Artists, musicians, and stage actors.
(d) Adult males, financiers, and clergymen.

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

8. What advice does Cécile's friend offer regarding Danceny's letter?
(a) Cécile should reply immediately and assure Danceny of her love.
(b) Cécile should reply and chastise Danceny for taking such a liberty.
(c) Cécile should not respond.
(d) Cécile should show the letter to her mother.

9. With what circumstance is Danceny most frustrated?
(a) The weather prevents him from traveling.
(b) Valmont's apparent silence on Danceny and Cécile's affair.
(c) His inability to express his feelings to Cécile.
(d) The inconvenience of being stuck in Paris for business matters.

10. What does Madame de Volanges say about Valmont to Madame de Tourvel in letter 9?
(a) Valmont has an addiction to gambling.
(b) Valmont is trustworthy and honest.
(c) Valmont has an excellent reputation around town.
(d) Valmont is dangerous and deceitful.

11. What does Merteuil tell Cécile when they attend the opera together?
(a) It is perfectly acceptable to have many lovers at once.
(b) On her wedding night, a young woman must be prepared for certain things.
(c) When a woman marries, she must love only her husband.
(d) Marriage is a futile institution that oppresses women.

12. According to the author of the Editor's Preface, what is the value of a work of literature?
(a) The opportunity it offers its readers to escape their dull, daily lives.
(b) Its moral obligation to society.
(c) The price it can be sold at; the wealth it can bring its author.
(d) Its usefulness to society and/or the pleasure it gives its readers.

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

14. How does Valmont act toward Madame de Tourvel, as reported in letter 11?
(a) He regales her with licentious tales.
(b) He makes no attempt to conceal his lust.
(c) He is gentlemanly and attentive.
(d) He ignores her and barely speaks to her.

15. How does Valmont spy on Madame de Tourvel?
(a) He peeps through the keyhole of her room.
(b) He climbs a balcony to look through her window.
(c) He hides behind a tapestry in her room.
(d) He uses a listening device in the room next to hers.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whom does Merteuil want to manipulate into a relationship with Cécile?

2. What is Valmont and Danceny's relationship as of letter 57?

3. Who is the author of the Editor's Preface?

4. What idea does Merteuil plant in Cécile's head after the revelation of her and Danceny's love?

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

(see the answer keys)

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