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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 is the first subheading of Frenchmen, Some More Effort if You Wish to Become Republicans?

2. What is the central lie regarding laws that the author of Frenchmen, Some More Effort if You Wish to Become Republicans dissects in this section?

3. In this section, when does Eugenie state that she notices particular harshness in Dolmance?

4. What is Augustin's first request regarding Eugenie in the Fifth Dialogue?

5. According to Dolmance in this section, a thing cannot be criminal if it has what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the author of the pamphlet reject the notion of laws as important to order?

2. According to the author of the pamphlet, what is the value of suicide?

3. What proclamation regarding crime does Dolmance make at the beginning of this section?

4. What trepidations does Augustin have at the beginning of the Fifth Dialogue?

5. How does Eugenie's reaction to her mother in the beginning of the Final Dialogue reflect a change in her character?

6. What transpires at the end of the Fifth Dialogue?

7. What is the only true connection between two people, according to Dolmance in this section?

8. Why does the author of the pamphlet favor the Olympian gods?

9. What argument does Dolmance regarding the human heart in the beginning of this section?

10. What arrives for the libertines in the Sixth Dialogue?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Write an essay about the character of the Chevalier. What is his connection to Dolmance, and what role does he play in the education of Eugenie? Discuss his part in plotting the various outrages against her virtue. How is he instrumental in bringing all of the major characters together into one boudoir? Discuss, also, the Chevalier's surprising outrage at the lack of compassion Dolmance displays? How does he become the most loving of the libertines?

Essay Topic 3

There are many characters - both present and referenced - that could be construed as surrogates for the author in The Bedroom Philosophers. Write an essay about three of them: Dolmance, Madame de Saint-Ange and the unnamed author of the pamphlet. What component of Sade's worldview does each represent, and how is this viewpoint presented? Is it enacted in the action or simply discussed at length?

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