View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. By letter 148, whom has Danceny taken as a lover?

2. Whom does Valmont's valet count on to get him access to Madame de Tourvel?

3. What news does Bertrand bring to Madame de Rosemonde?

4. What does Merteuil advise Valmont to tell Madame de Tourvel?

5. What does Valmont tell Danceny in letter 89?

Short Essay Questions

1. What arguments does Valmont use to convince Madame de Tourvel to see him?

2. Whom does Valmont enlist to help him communicate and meet with Madame de Tourvel? How does this person respond?

3. How does Valmont thwart Merteuil with regards to Danceny?

4. How does Merteuil respond to Cécile's news about Valmont's actions?

5. Summarize Merteuil's tale of her ruination of Prévan's.

6. What is the reward Valmont claims from Merteuil, and how does Merteuil respond to this?

7. What is Merteuil's next plan for seduction? How does Valmont react?

8. Describe Merteuil's warning to Valmont about his reputation in Paris.

9. What is the general content of the letter Azolan, Valmont's valet, writes to Valmont?

10. What happens between Valmont and Madame de Tourvel that shocks and angers Valmont, and why does he react so strongly?

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 types of mediation present in the novel. This could include: characters who mediate other characters' thoughts, actions, and feelings; the "editor" of the novel mediating the reader's interaction with the story by his arrangement of letters and placement and wording of notes; and plot itself being mediated through the letters. In some instances, the plot twists back upon itself, repeats itself, or offered through different perspectives. What is the effect and significance of such mediation on the themes, symbolism, character development, and the response of the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the theme of women's sexuality in _Les Liaisons Dangereuses_. How is desire, in particular, expressed in the female characters? How do Cécile's, Merteuil's, and Madame de Tourvel's different experiences with sex, rape, seduction, courtship, initiation, and betrayal affect their character development, their roles in the plot of the novel, and their interactions with other male and female characters? What connections to contemporary French ideas of morality and gender roles do the sexuality of the female characters have? How is feminine sexual awareness or sexual activity opposed to masculine sexual awareness or sexual activity? How do other characters, or contemporary French high society, view women who are sexually experienced? Can you apply modern feminist critical theory to this discussion?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,281 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample