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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. With whom does Valmont conspire to trick and humiliate a new acquaintance?
(a) Émilie.
(b) Cécile.
(c) Madame de Volanges.
(d) Merteuil.

2. How does Valmont's tale of seduction end?
(a) With a kidnapping.
(b) With a duel.
(c) With an orgy.
(d) With a pregnancy.

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

4. What is the first action Valmont takes to make Madame de Tourvel look favorably upon him?
(a) He pays a peasant family's back taxes.
(b) He disarms a burglar at the estate.
(c) He expresses interest in a position in the Church.
(d) He leaps to his aunt's aid when she falls.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What else does David Coward, author of the Introduction, insist is a factor in libertine novels?

2. What does Cécile think are pretty much the same thing?

3. What does Merteuil call the woman Valmont wishes to seduce?

4. What event does Madame de Volanges' sudden illness threaten?

5. What does Danceny refuse to do, despite Madame de Volanges' request?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the general response to _Les Liaisons Dangereuses_ in the 20th century?

2. What does Merteuil suggest, in different forms, to Cécile and Valmont?

3. What causes Cécile to become worried and sad about her upcoming marriage?

4. How does the Publisher's Foreword introduce the novel?

5. What subterfuge does Valmont use to come into possession of Madame de Tourvel's letters?

6. How does Madame de Tourvel respond to Valmont's first love letter?

7. How does Valmont describe Madame de Tourvel?

8. How does Cécile describe her feelings about Danceny to Sophie in letter 55?

9. Summarize Prévan's "legendary" feat of seduction according to Valmont.

10. What are Merteuil and Valmont's plans for Danceny and Cécile at the beginning of Part II?

(see the answer keys)

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