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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 event does Madame de Volanges' sudden illness threaten?
(a) Cécile's secret meeting with Danceny.
(b) Danceny's meeting with Madame de Tourvel.
(c) Cécile's meeting with Valmont.
(d) Merteuil's meeting with Valmont.

2. What idea does Merteuil plant in Cécile's head after the revelation of her and Danceny's love?
(a) Seeing Danceny in secret.
(b) Becoming a nun.
(c) Running away with Danceny.
(d) Shifting her desire to Valmont.

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

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

5. How does Valmont contrive to grope the woman he wants to seduce?
(a) By carrying her across a ditch.
(b) By helping her mount a horse.
(c) By pretending to stumble into her.
(d) By grabbing her from behind.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Merteuil call the woman Valmont wishes to seduce?

2. Which place in the social hierarchy did Laclos' family occupy?

3. Whom does Cécile's mother intend for her to marry?

4. What advice does Cécile's friend offer regarding Danceny's letter?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What subterfuge does Valmont use to come into possession of Madame de Tourvel's letters?

3. What serious warning does Valmont give Merteuil?

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

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

6. Describe Cécile de Volanges.

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

8. What was Choderlos de Laclos' position in society? Describe his family life.

9. How does Merteuil respond to Valmont's warning?

10. What does Merteuil assert is the reason women become "victims" of seduction?

(see the answer keys)

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