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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the ultimatum Valmont offers Merteuil?
(a) He resolves to be either her lover or her enemy.
(b) He demands that she publish her collection of letters, or he will.
(c) He demands that she submit to him or die.
(d) He offers a life of pleasure or a life of regret.

2. By letter 148, whom has Danceny taken as a lover?
(a) Rosalind.
(b) Julie.
(c) Cécile.
(d) Merteuil.

3. How does Merteuil increase sympathy for herself?
(a) She pretends to be ill.
(b) She keeps quiet and the mystery deepens.
(c) She asserts that Prévan robbed her.
(d) She claims to have been raped.

4. What does Danceny fear after reading Valmont's report?
(a) That Cécile no longer loves him.
(b) That Cécile needs to go back to the convent.
(c) That Cécile loves Valmont.
(d) That Cécile dies.

5. Whom does Cécile enlist as help in her escapades with her lover?
(a) Her old nurse.
(b) Her mother's cook.
(c) The house porter.
(d) Valmont's butler.

6. What does Madame de Tourvel reveal to Valmont in letter 90?
(a) That she loves him.
(b) That she hates him.
(c) That she is dying.
(d) That she needs to leave the country.

7. How does Danceny respond upon learning of Valmont's treachery?
(a) By calling for Valmont's arrest.
(b) By telling Cécile.
(c) By challenging Valmont to a duel.
(d) By despairing and killing himself.

8. How does Merteuil's story end?
(a) She travels the Continent to seduce more men.
(b) She becomes celebrated, adored, and idolized.
(c) She is bankrupt, disfigured, and shunned.
(d) She goes into hiding and assumes a false name.

9. What does Danceny resolve to do at the end of the novel?
(a) Collect the letters from everyone and publish them.
(b) Continue to love Cécile from afar until his dying day.
(c) Take vows as a member of the Knights of Malta.
(d) Pine away and die a lonely, pitiful death.

10. Why is Merteuil's maid trustworthy?
(a) Merteuil threatened to kill the maid if she betrays Merteuil.
(b) Merteuil pays the maid an exorbitant salary for her cooperation.
(c) Merteuil knows her maid's greatest secret.
(d) The maid is Merteuil's daughter.

11. Upon what does Merteuil instruct Danceny in letter 121?
(a) Upon his lovemaking technique.
(b) Upon his duties to his order of knights.
(c) Upon improving his contrived writing style.
(d) Upon his communications with Madame de Volanges.

12. What does Merteuil think is dull above all else?
(a) Men who attract women through their intellect, not their personalities.
(b) Men who only use one method of seduction over and over.
(c) Women who sleep with men only because they can't say "no."
(d) Women whose coyness borders on rude dismissiveness.

13. What does Madame de Rosemonde offer Madame de Tourvel in her return letter?
(a) Happiness, joy, and congratulations.
(b) Confusion, curiosity, and ignorance.
(c) Understanding, forgiveness, and hope.
(d) Censure, chastisement, and disappointment.

14. What does Merteuil advise Cécile to do after being raped by Valmont?
(a) Give into pleasure and take Valmont as a lover.
(b) Keep the event secret from Danceny and elope with him.
(c) Confess everything to her mother and ask for forgiveness.
(d) Give into despair.

15. What does Danceny entrust to Madame de Rosemonde?
(a) All of the lyric poetry he wrote for Cécile.
(b) The secret of Valmont and Madame de Tourvel's relationship.
(c) Cécile's honor as Madame de Rosemonde's ward.
(d) Valmont's entire correspondence with Merteuil.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the reason for Valmont's seduction of Madame de Tourvel, according to what Valmont tells Merteuil in letter 133?

2. What does Madame de Tourvel confess to Madame de Rosemonde?

3. What does Madame de Tourvel regret in letter 124?

4. What action does Valmont propose to Cécile to facilitate their secret correspondence?

5. How did Merteuil become adept at controlling her facial features?

(see the answer keys)

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