View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How does Cécile initially feel about Danceny?
(a) She feels ambivalent about him and he bores her.
(b) She likes him and wants to please him with her musical abilities.
(c) She falls deeply in love with him.
(d) She hates his strict style of teaching.

3. What is the main rule of Valmont's and Merteuil's seductions?
(a) Nothing to incriminate themselves should exist in writing.
(b) Seductions of impressionable teens are the only worthwhile seductions.
(c) They cannot interfere in one another's schemes.
(d) Married people are off-limits.

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

5. Where does Cécile live before coming home to Paris?
(a) On the streets.
(b) With her elderly aunt.
(c) At a convent.
(d) With a family friend.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Merteuil call Danceny in letter 38?

2. Who wrote the Publisher's Foreword to _Les Liasons Dangerueses_?

3. How does Valmont force Madame de Tourvel's maid to help with his plans?

4. How does Valmont's tale of seduction end?

5. Who notified Madame de Volanges of Cécile and Danceny's romance?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Cécile describe Danceny to her friend Sophie?

3. What does the author of the Introduction say is particularly engaging about Laclos' use of the epistolary form?

4. What does the author of the Introduction say about potential political messages of social commentary in Laclos' novel?

5. What are the general contents of Valmont's love letters to Madame de Tourvel?

6. Describe Cécile's relationship with Merteuil.

7. How does Madame de Tourvel respond to Valmont's first love letter?

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

9. Who is Merteuil's "knight," and what does she think of him?

10. How does Cécile describe her feelings about Danceny to Sophie in letter 55?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 860 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample