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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. For what does Cécile blame herself the most?

2. How does Danceny respond upon learning of Valmont's treachery?

3. What does Cécile assert to Danceny after his letter reveals his suspicions?

4. How long has Valmont spent seducing Madame de Tourvel?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What event causes Madame de Tourvel to think Valmont does not love her? How does Valmont's respond?

2. Describe how Madame de Tourvel changes after being abandoned by Valmont.

3. Summarize the problem Madame de Tourvel sees preventing her and Valmont from having a relationship, and how Valmont circumvents her hesitation.

4. What does Valmont vow about his seduction of Madame de Tourvel, and how does he plan to carry out his plan?

5. Whom does Valmont enlist to help him communicate and meet with Madame de Tourvel? How does this person respond?

6. What is the reward Valmont claims from Merteuil, and how does Merteuil respond to this?

7. Summarize Bertrand's letters to Madame de Rosemonde.

8. Describe what Valmont does when he gets the key to Cécile's room.

9. What is the general content of the letter Azolan, Valmont's valet, writes to Valmont?

10. Summarize Merteuil's tale of her ruination of Prévan's.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze Merteuil's relationship with Cécile. What does the older woman do to influence the younger woman? How does Merteuil define Cécile? What are Merteuil's motivations in making Cécile her "protégé?" How does Merteuil manipulate and control Cécile's life and her personal character in ways both visible and invisible to Cécile, to her mother, and to Danceny? Use evidence from Cécile's letters to and about Merteuil, and Merteuil's letters to and about Cécile, to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 2

Examine the role of servants, doctors, confessors, and others of lower social standing as they seem in the novel. Do these barely visible characters have a voice, or any agency? What portions of the plot do they fill? Are there differences in Laclos' presentation of them through their letters, or through their reported interactions with more vocal characters? What potentially political role could they have in the novel--that is, can one interpret their presence, or lack thereof, as opposed to the presence and characterization of the high-society characters, as a political statement? How do members of the upper-class treat, speak to, or refer to members of the servant and lower classes?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the theme of women's sexuality in _Les Liaisons Dangereuses_. How is desire, in particular, expressed in the female characters? How do Cécile's, Merteuil's, and Madame de Tourvel's different experiences with sex, rape, seduction, courtship, initiation, and betrayal affect their character development, their roles in the plot of the novel, and their interactions with other male and female characters? What connections to contemporary French ideas of morality and gender roles do the sexuality of the female characters have? How is feminine sexual awareness or sexual activity opposed to masculine sexual awareness or sexual activity? How do other characters, or contemporary French high society, view women who are sexually experienced? Can you apply modern feminist critical theory to this discussion?

(see the answer keys)

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