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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. According to Dolmance, what is the most preferable type of virtue?

2. What role models does Dolmance detest vocally regarding his virtue-vice argument?

3. When does Madame de Saint-Ange say a women must tell her husband she is taking lovers?

4. In the Fourth Dialogue, Eugenie says her new god is what?

5. In the beginning of this section, Dolmance recommends Eugenie get what?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the beginning of this section, what argument does Dolmance make regarding virtue?

2. What arrangement does Dolmance create with Chevalier in the Fourth Dialogue?

3. How does Madame de Saint-Ange recommend a married woman carry out her infidelity?

4. What sexual acts are covered in this section of the book?

5. Describe Dolmance's defense of incest.

6. What methods does Madame recommend for avoiding pregnancy?

7. How is Madame de Saint-Ange acquainted with Eugenie?

8. What pattern of sexual arrangements emerges in the Third Dialogue?

9. What is the relationship between Madame de Saint-Ange and the Chevalier?

10. How does Eugenie respond to finding Dolamnce in the boudoir in the Third Dialogue?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on the topic of phalli in The Bedroom Philosophers. Discuss the order in which phalli are introduced in the narrative and how one tops the other. How are Dolmance, Chevalier, Augustin and Lapierre's phalli all put to different uses? What are the women's reactions to each? Analyzing the use of phalli in the text, determine what they represent in the world of the novel? Excess? Pleasure? Death?

Essay Topic 2

The Bedroom Philosophers is presented in the form of a series of dialogues in two rooms, almost like a play. In a three-part essay, discuss the use of offstage characters to relate information. In what for do these unseen characters appear? What do we learn from these characters? Why are they not present in the boudoir?

Part 1) V.

Part 2) Eugenie's father.

Part 3) The unnamed pamphleteer.

Essay Topic 3

In The Bedroom Philosophers, the abstract idea of nature is used as a central justification for libertine philosophy. Write an essay about the use of nature as a guiding principle in the novel. What elements of nature are inspiring to the libertines? Does nature follow a set of moral guidelines? What connection does nature have to the human race? What does the human impulse to hurt and conquer have in common with nature?

(see the answer keys)

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