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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Oxford University.

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The more respected sister school of Cowford Tech.

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Which of the following is the best explanation of the term "tragedy of thought" in line 58?

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When the ACT references a line, we know we'd better go back and check it out... or else

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we may live to regret it. We can see that the Professor specifically

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notes that both Julius Caesar and Hamlet are plays that can be considered "tragedies of thought"...

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...quite unlike tragedies of stupidity, like the sad saga of the flan we tried to make last night.

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The professor specifically says that neither Macbeth nor Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy

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of thought -- same as Julius Caesar and Hamlet -- so we can eliminate both (C) and (D).

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(D) name-drops Macbeth and (C) gives a shout-out to those two Verona teens, so we're sure

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that these answer choices can go. But what about (A)? Does it jibe with the

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Professor's lecture?

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Nah, Bradley tells us that a guy named Schlegel <<shlay-guhl>> placed the "tragedy of thought"

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brand on Hamlet, and a professor named Dowden branded Julius Caesar that way.

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All these smart guys agree that this type of tragedy occurs when a protagonist's intellect

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brings him or her down.

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We can take (A) out of the running because neither Bradley, Dowden, nor Schlegel say

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anything about people being smart enough to perceive when something's tragic.

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Honestly, it's usually pretty obvious.

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This leaves only (B), which perfectly describes Bradley, Dowden, and Schlegel's idea of "tragedy of thought."

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Does anybody else think that "Bradley, Dowden and Schlegel" would be a great name for a bagel place?

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Assuming Schlegel doesn't branch off on his own with "Schlegel's Bagels"...

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which would be a complete slam dunk...

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