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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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 timid and shy.
(d) He was harsh and abusive.

2. What does Madame de Volanges threaten to do to Danceny?
(a) Ban him from her house.
(b) Have him arrested.
(c) Bankrupt him.
(d) Publicly expose him.

3. How does Valmont give Cécile her letter from Danceny?
(a) He tosses it in her lap.
(b) He reads it aloud.
(c) He gives it to her on a walk in the countryside.
(d) He slips it under her bedroom door.

4. To whom does the Marquise de Merteuil confide her plots?
(a) Danceny.
(b) Valmont.
(c) Madame de Tourvel.
(d) Madame de Volanges.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Cécile initially feel about Danceny?

2. How does Valmont contrive to grope the woman he wants to seduce?

3. What literary tradition does Coward see as applicable?

4. Where is Madame de Tourvel staying while her husband is away?

5. On what issue does Cécile ask Merteuil's advice in letter 27?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Merteuil suggest, in different forms, to Cécile and Valmont?

2. What causes Cécile to become worried and sad about her upcoming marriage?

3. What concession does Madame de Tourvel give Valmont, and what are the results?

4. What does Madame de Volanges say about Valmont to warn Madame de Tourvel against becoming too friendly with him?

5. What action does Valmont take to make Madame de Tourvel love him, and what are the results?

6. How does the Publisher's Foreword introduce the novel?

7. What defines or designates the "libertine" literary tradition?

8. What is the content of Danceny's letters to Cécile?

9. What event causes Cécile and Danceny to despair? What are the immediate results?

10. Summarize Prévan's "legendary" feat of seduction according to Valmont.

(see the answer keys)

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