Q14

[RichardN82]

Hello All,

Can somebody please explain the difference between answers B and D on this question? I picked B.I think the wording on B, "highly conventional," may be a little strong.

Thanks

[ohthatpatrick]

The Main Point / Purpose of this passage is to defend Webster against criticism, mainly by clarifying a misconception.

Critics evaluate W's works, thinking that W is trying to make the same sort of Elizabethan morality play that his contemporaries were making.

The author is saying, "No ... W wasn't trying to make that sort of play (where characters are either good or evil) ... instead, W was making Italian-style plays where morality is complicated and characters are both good and evil."

From knowing this, we can easily get rid of (A) and (C), which are the opposite of what the author's main point would be.

Lines 11-16 provide support AGAINST picking (E), since the author says that W's version of tragedy is pretty well aligned with the classical conception.

(B) and (D) are opposites: was W's tragedy "highly conventional" or "somewhat unconventional"?

There's no great line reference, but the Main Point is that Webster was NOT doing what most of his contemporaries were doing. (THEY were doing black-and-white morality plays ... HE was doing complicated shades-of-gray tragedies)

So (B) would also sort of go against the Main Point of the passage.

Our author's main point is that critics have gotten confused ... they've applied the "conventional" lens of morality play to W's works, but W wasn't making conventional morality plays.