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ACT Reading 1.10 Humanities Passage 269 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?

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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

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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