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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does Cécile live before coming home to Paris?
(a) With a family friend.
(b) On the streets.
(c) At a convent.
(d) With her elderly aunt.

2. What does Cécile tell Danceny in letter 49?
(a) That she wants to continue their relationship.
(b) That she will meet him at a secret location to consummate their love.
(c) That her duty to God and her future husband prevent her from being with him.
(d) That Merteuil convinced her to continue writing to him.

3. Against whom does Valmont warn Merteuil in letter 70?
(a) Prévan.
(b) Bertram.
(c) Danceny.
(d) Azolan.

4. What does Danceny's letter 28 accuse Cécile of?
(a) Being heartless and pitiless toward him.
(b) Being rude and condescending in her letters.
(c) Being ignorant about his feelings.
(d) Being flirtatious with other men.

5. How does Valmont contrive to grope the woman he wants to seduce?
(a) By helping her mount a horse.
(b) By pretending to stumble into her.
(c) By grabbing her from behind.
(d) By carrying her across a ditch.

6. In letter 20, what does Merteuil promise Valmont upon the success of his seduction of Madame de Tourvel?
(a) That she will introduce him to another young lady.
(b) That she will admit he is better at seductions than she.
(c) That she will never speak to him again.
(d) That she will sleep with him.

7. Why must Cécile's marriage be postponed?
(a) Cécile plans to travel and further her education.
(b) Cécile has second thoughts about marriage.
(c) Her fiancé is gravely ill.
(d) Her fiancé is away with his regiment.

8. What message does the Publisher's Foreword give?
(a) It asserts the reality and truth of the novel's events.
(b) It encourages readers to thoroughly enjoy the novel
(c) It offers a comic summary of the novel.
(d) It warns the readers that this is a dangerous novel.

9. What does Danceny refuse to do, despite Madame de Volanges' request?
(a) Marry another woman.
(b) Burn his letters.
(c) Travel abroad to forget Cécile.
(d) Return Cécile's letters.

10. How does Merteuil respond to Valmont's warning about the man who wants to pursue her?
(a) She ignores his warning and forgets the man.
(b) She decides to pursue the man.
(c) She resolves to reform the man's libertine ways.
(d) She takes Valmont's advice to beware.

11. What literary tradition does Coward see as applicable?
(a) Sentimentality.
(b) Elegiac poetry.
(c) Romanticism.
(d) Don Juanism.

12. In letter 15, what does Valmont call Merteuil about her attentions to her current lover?
(a) He calls her a slave to another's pleasure.
(b) He calls her selfish and callous.
(c) He calls her gentle and caring.
(d) He calls her an attention seeker.

13. Which place in the social hierarchy did Laclos' family occupy?
(a) The lowest form of nobility.
(b) The clergy.
(c) The peasant class.
(d) The highest form of the gentry.

14. What common subjects of social satire is the novel clearly lacking, according to Coward?
(a) Innocent young women and men.
(b) Adult males, financiers, and clergymen.
(c) Servants and peasants.
(d) Artists, musicians, and stage actors.

15. How does Valmont trick Madame de Volanges into receiving his second letter?
(a) He throws it on her lap while company visits, forcing her to grab it and hide it.
(b) He slips it under her door at night.
(c) He glues it inside her favorite book.
(d) He hides it in one of her letters, which she has asked him to return.

Short Answer Questions

1. What advice does Cécile's friend offer regarding Danceny's letter?

2. What does Madame de Tourvel offer Valmont?

3. How does Valmont avoid detection of his and the Vicomtesse's dalliance?

4. How does Valmont give Cécile her letter from Danceny?

5. What is an "epistolary novel?"

(see the answer keys)

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