View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What action does Valmont propose to Cécile to facilitate their secret correspondence?

2. What is Madame de Tourvel's mindset in letter 161?

3. What does Danceny entrust to Madame de Rosemonde?

4. Whom does Merteuil target for her next seduction?

5. What does Merteuil think is dull above all else?

Short Essay Questions

1. What news of Valmont does Madame de Rosemonde give Madame de Tourvel, and how does Madame de Tourvel react?

2. What is Merteuil's next plan for seduction? How does Valmont react?

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

4. Describe Madame de Tourvel's dictated, unaddressed letter which Madame de Volanges sends to Madame de Rosemonde.

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

6. How does Danceny explain his behavior to Madame de Rosemonde?

7. What happens between Valmont and Madame de Tourvel that shocks and angers Valmont, and why does he react so strongly?

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

9. Summarize the content of the "letter" that Merteuil dictates to Valmont about his apparent love of Madame de Tourvel.

10. What is Madame de Rosemonde's advice to Madame de Tourvel regarding her feelings for Valmont?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the ending of the novel and the various fates assigned to each character. Does the ending and Madame de Volanges' final message fulfill the "requirements" of a moral novel? Could the endings of, arguably, the two most important characters (Valmont's death and Merteuil's disgrace) be considered "Deus ex machinas?" Why or why not? Do you find any symbolism in each character's fate? Where do ideas of morality and justice emerge from the ending of the novel? Does the ending resolve anything, leave any issues ambiguous, or become undercut by the vastness of the immorality in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the uses of irony throughout the novel. Your discussion may include: instances of satire, for instance of contemporary literary works or public figures; anything from the sarcastic tone often taken by Merteuil and Valmont in their letters to each other; the many instances of figurative language in the text such as puns and double entendres; the instances of certain characters' hypocrisy or denial; or the dramatic irony through which the reader or character knows something that another character does not. How does Laclos achieve irony? What language, tone, and style of writing indicate irony in the text? How do certain situations where characters find themselves tend toward the ironic?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,319 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample