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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Merteuil do to get herself in the mood for sex with her lover?

3. What does Madame de Tourvel offer Valmont?

4. To whom does the Marquise de Merteuil confide her plots?

5. How does Merteuil respond to Valmont's warning about the man who wants to pursue her?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What were Laclos' general views on politics and gender relations?

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. What serious warning does Valmont give Merteuil?

10. Describe Cécile's relationship with Merteuil.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the changes in Cecile's character throughout the novel. What characteristics define her in the beginning, middle, and end of the story? Closely analyze Cécile's letters to Sophie, looking for language and phrasing which indicates how she feels about her relationships with others. This includes her thoughts on marriage, her relationship with her mother, her feelings for Danceny, and her friendship with Merteuil. How does her language and her style of writing help define Cécile's character? Why does she stop writing to Sophie? Why is Cécile's voice almost completely absent through the last portions of the novel? What does this conspicuous absence say about her identity, or lack thereof? What control, if any, does Cécile retain over her own life? How does she use this control, or how do others (specifically Valmont) control her?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the theme of male solidarity in the novel. Consider the following situations: the three men involved with Prévan's legendary seduction bond together to ruin all three women who are also Prévan's targets; Valmont convinces Madame de Tourvel's confessor, Father Anselme, to allow Valmont access to Madame de Tourvel; Valmont and Danceny, after dueling, bond together to ruin Merteuil. Are there similar instances of female solidarity in the novel? How does this influence your interpretation of gender roles in the novel? How are "communities," or even friendships, gendered in the text?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of nature and artifice, especially with reference to Cécile, Danceny, Merteuil, and Valmont. What are the natural personalities, interests, motivations, and moralities of these characters? How do they consciously or unconsciously change themselves to show their own or others' various desires? Are nature and artifice associated with any kind of moral message in the novel? How does Merteuil's letter 81, in which she offers the story of her youth and her sexual education, complicate the distinctions between nature and artifice? When do Cécile and Danceny exhibit artificial behavior? How are nature and artifice made ambiguous in Valmont's seduction of Madame de Tourvel?

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