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ACT Reading 1.10 Humanities Passage 270 Views
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ACT Reading: Humanities Passage Drill 1, Problem 10. Which of the following is the best explanation of the term "tragedy of thought" in line 58?
Transcript
- 00:04
Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Oxford University.
- 00:08
The more respected sister school of Cowford Tech.
- 00:39
Which of the following is the best explanation of the term "tragedy of thought" in line 58?
- 00:50
When the ACT references a line, we know we'd better go back and check it out... or else
- 00:54
we may live to regret it. We can see that the Professor specifically
Full Transcript
- 00:57
notes that both Julius Caesar and Hamlet are plays that can be considered "tragedies of thought"...
- 01:03
...quite unlike tragedies of stupidity, like the sad saga of the flan we tried to make last night.
- 01:11
The professor specifically says that neither Macbeth nor Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy
- 01:15
of thought -- same as Julius Caesar and Hamlet -- so we can eliminate both (C) and (D).
- 01:21
(D) name-drops Macbeth and (C) gives a shout-out to those two Verona teens, so we're sure
- 01:28
that these answer choices can go. But what about (A)? Does it jibe with the
- 01:31
Professor's lecture?
- 01:33
Nah, Bradley tells us that a guy named Schlegel <<shlay-guhl>> placed the "tragedy of thought"
- 01:37
brand on Hamlet, and a professor named Dowden branded Julius Caesar that way.
- 01:42
All these smart guys agree that this type of tragedy occurs when a protagonist's intellect
- 01:46
brings him or her down.
- 01:48
We can take (A) out of the running because neither Bradley, Dowden, nor Schlegel say
- 01:51
anything about people being smart enough to perceive when something's tragic.
- 01:55
Honestly, it's usually pretty obvious.
- 01:58
This leaves only (B), which perfectly describes Bradley, Dowden, and Schlegel's idea of "tragedy of thought."
- 02:03
Does anybody else think that "Bradley, Dowden and Schlegel" would be a great name for a bagel place?
- 02:08
Assuming Schlegel doesn't branch off on his own with "Schlegel's Bagels"...
- 02:11
which would be a complete slam dunk...
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