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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. What does Danceny resolve to do at the end of the novel?
2. What did the person whom Valmont sent to Madame de Tourvel do?
3. Whom does Merteuil target for her next seduction?
4. What does Cécile do that surprises her mother?
5. By letter 148, whom has Danceny taken as a lover?
Short Essay Questions
1. What is Merteuil's next plan for seduction? How does Valmont react?
2. What is the general content of the letter Azolan, Valmont's valet, writes to Valmont?
3. What is Madame de Rosemonde's advice to Madame de Tourvel regarding her feelings for Valmont?
4. Summarize the problem Madame de Tourvel sees preventing her and Valmont from having a relationship, and how Valmont circumvents her hesitation.
5. What is the content and tone of Danceny's letters to Merteuil?
6. What news of Valmont does Madame de Rosemonde give Madame de Tourvel, and how does Madame de Tourvel react?
7. Describe how Madame de Tourvel changes after being abandoned by Valmont.
8. Summarize Bertrand's letters to Madame de Rosemonde.
9. How does Merteuil respond to Cécile's news about Valmont's actions?
10. Describe Merteuil's end in the novel.
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
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 2
Discuss the theme of innocence in the novel. How does the author describe "innocence" or "ignorance" and what connotations are attached to these words or ideas? In the novel, is innocence automatically ignorance? Who is impressionable in the novel?How do other characters take advantage of this? Which characters act innocent or ignorant in the novel? Are Madame de Volanges, Madame de Tourvel, and/or Madame de Rosemonde "innocents," in any way? What becomes of Cécile and Danceny's innocence? How are innocence and experience opposed in the novel?
Essay Topic 3
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?
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This section contains 1,242 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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