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ACT Reading 1.5 Prose Fiction. Which of the following is the best definition for the word "posthumous" in line 67?
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ACT Reading 1.7 Humanities Passage 262 Views
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Description:
ACT Reading: Humanities Passage Drill 1, Problem 7. Which of the following characters is specifically mentioned as a personification of "horror and dismay" in Shakespeare's later tragedies?
Transcript
- 00:04
Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Lady Macbeth. Co-founder of Macbeths,
- 00:09
a restaurant chain that strives to violently dethrone McDonalds as the king of fast food.
- 00:42
Which of the following characters is specifically mentioned as a personification of "horror and dismay" in Shakespeare's later tragedies?
- 00:57
Unless we remember this one off the tops of our heads, we might have to go back to the passage to get it right.
- 01:02
All of these characters could be seen as horrible and dismaying, so we might want to be sure
Full Transcript
- 01:06
we're in tune with Professor Bradley's opinion on the matter.
- 01:09
Let's take a look at (C).
- 01:11
Richard the third does all kinds of bad stuff to get the throne of England and doesn't
- 01:15
sit on it too long before he gets... skewered.
- 01:18
However, the passage mentions none of these details. Instead, it specifically mentions
- 01:23
the fact that Richard III was one of Shakespeare's earliest tragedies.
- 01:27
We're sure it doesn't fit the bill here, because we know from the question that we're
- 01:31
looking for one that came later.
- 01:33
Does (D) have it right?
- 01:35
Brutus does conspire with a bunch of other dudes to kill his pal Caesar, because he feels
- 01:39
it was the right thing to do.
- 01:41
Still, though, this is not the character Bradley is referring to.
- 01:44
Let's take a look at choice (B)
- 01:47
Claudius from Hamlet kills his brother by pouring poison in his ear, then takes his
- 01:52
brother's throne and marries his brother's wife.
- 01:55
Yet again, this apparently isn't horrible and dismaying enough for Professor Bradley.
- 02:01
In lines 86 through 88, the Professor specifically mentions Lady Macbeth as an example of Shakespeare's "super bad guys."
- 02:09
According to the Professor, she's so evil that we don't sympathize with her at all.
- 02:16
This makes choice (A) the correct answer.
- 02:18
Bradley should probably be careful saying this kind of stuff about Lady M.
- 02:21
She's really not someone you want on your bad side...
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