Jacob Burckhardt’s view that Renaissance European women stood on

I tried this passage again with unlimited time. Came up with following passage map and got all but 1 question correct.

It took me 14 mins to solve this which is definitely way too much time.

Now I try to summarize the logic of this passage, can somebody tell me whether there’s wrong in this logic????



Burckhardt: too optimistic
Kelly: too negative
only consider (in line(20) ) upper class Italian women




Feminist scholar: in line(15)-
stress difference、’’complicate’’ the generalization both
B&K made on…upper class women
Here’s my question, in line(21) the trend(does it mean that feminist scholar’s trend???) is also ….in works focusing on
those middle- and upper- class European women

so we could infer that feminist scholar also studied middle and upper class women, as well as other classes…, however, the author just want to present an idea that ‘’if you only focus on this small number、minority group, it’s risky to take their experiences as ‘’typical’’ of ‘’female experience’’ in general sense,( is it also a point that the author wants to oppose to B&K, since their study only focus on upper-class women???)








Krontiris: in 600. we know that Krontiris incorrectly( since
Krontiris is an example of those feminist scholar, so he shouldn’t assume thus, rather he should stress difference, like those feminist scholar)‘’assume that social difference &literacy (line(34) isn’t important, and view women as a homogeneous group’’
Also, like B&K, in line(29)-(31) the sentence states that Krontiris study six women writer, so we could infer that Krontiris only consider upper-class(602.)women who could
write, too,and thus their perceptions are more likely to be accessible to historians than other women

Krontiris is as much as like B&K’s study which only focus
on this minority-upper-class women
however, the difference between B&K and Krontiris is that
Krontiris made a ‘’cautious assessment’’ to these women’s
achievement, compare to Burckhardt’s too optimistic and
Kelly’s too negative

I got down to A and B. Both seemed similar to me and I ended up marking A. How did you eliminate A?

THIS is hard passage. we focus on idea transition to understand structure of the passage. for each passage , there is one or two sentence showing idea transition. sometimes, it is hard to realize those sentences.
the first sentence of the second paragraph is an idea transition sentence. we reread the idea transition sentence many times to find out the main idea of the passage.

Paragraph:

Jacob Burckhardt’s view that Renaissance European women “stood on a footing of perfect equality” with Renaissance men has been repeatedly cited by feminist scholars as a prelude to their presentation of rich historical evidence of women’s inequality.
>> JB’s view that Renaissance European women are equal. It has been rejected by feminist scholars who had plenty of evidence to rule this out.

In striking contrast to Burckhardt, Joan Kelly in her famous 1977 essay, “Did Women Have a Renaissance?” argued that the Renaissance was a period of economic and social decline for women relative both to Renaissance men and to medieval women.
>> JK’s view: women have not even any value to consider regarding equality.- too negative

Recently, however, a significant trend among feminist scholars has entailed a rejection of both Kelly’s dark vision of the Renaissance and Burckhardt’s rosy one.
>> recently, there was trend that made feminist scholars to reject above 2 views. The trend to focus on narrow scope group.

Many recent works by these scholars stress the ways in which differences among Renaissance women—especially in terms of social status and religion—work to complicate the kinds of generalizations both Burckhardt and Kelly made on the basis of their observations about upper-class Italian women.
>> scholars stress the ways that there were differences among women and B and JK have considered only about upper-class Italian women.—too narrow scope.

The trend is also evident, however, in works focusing on those middle- and upper-class European women whose ability to write gives them disproportionate representation in the historical record.
>> Trend of concluding based on a narrow scope was relevant middle- and upper-class European women ( above scope only on upper-class Italian women) , but( note however) these middle and UP women get disproportionate representation as compared to upper-class Italian women ( written by JB and JK)

Such women were, simply by virtue of their literacy, members of a tiny minority of the population, so it is risky to take their descriptions of their experiences as typical of “female experience” in any general sense.
>>why they got more visibility because they were literate. These women represent tiny minority of the population, so author says it is risky to consider these experience as well.


Tina Krontiris, for example, in her fascinating study of six Renaissance women writers, does tend at times to conflate “women” and “women writers,” assuming that women’s gender, irrespective of other social differences, including literacy, allows us to view women as a homogeneous social group and make that group an object of analysis.
>> Further explanting about Tina Krontiris as an example of the onging trend that focus only on narrow scope group , author mentions that she studied six Renaissance women writers misinterpreted “women” and “women writers as one and assumed that women whether any social difference or literacy doesn’t make any difference. (six Renaissance women writers referring back to middle- and upper-class European women who were literate writers. Now it makes sense to expand the idea initiated in the 2nd para and makes clear what is trend and why author mention K’s example)


Nonetheless, Krontiris makes a significant contribution to the field and is representative of those authors who offer what might be called a cautiously optimistic assessment of Renaissance women’s achievements, although she also stresses the social obstacles Renaissance women faced when they sought to raise their “oppositional voices.”
>> previous line, was negative about K’s assumption , here ( note : Nonetheless) she makes significant contribution and represented cautiously optimistic assessment of women achievements. Moreover she also mentioned about oppositional voice women face when they tried to raise their voices.

Krontiris is concerned to show women intentionally negotiating some power for themselves (at least in the realm of public discourse) against potentially constraining ideologies,
>> explaining further idea, K was reluctant to show that some women negotiated some power atleast in public eyes against inequality ideology. (Topic is about inequality)
K mentioned some work that showed social obstacles and at same time didn’t highlight cases when women negotiated power.


But in her sober and thoughtful concluding remarks, She suggests that such verbal opposition to cultural stereotypes was highly circumscribed; women seldom attacked the basic assumptions in the ideologies that oppressed them.

But here refer to that even some women able to negoatire but she did mention that verbal opposition is circumscribed and woment don’t oppress any ideology.

>> In conclusion, Krontiris, misinterpreted about women as 1 group for analysis, still her work had contribution about highlighting women’s achievements based on other writers and she also mention about resistance when women raised voices. Some women had negotiated powers ,however, she didn’t talk openly about women were against ideologies .

RC00313-01. The author of the passage discusses Krontiris primarily to provide an example of a writer who
>>author brings Krontiris as example of highlighting of narrow scope considering in representing women status by middle and UC women.

A.is highly critical of the writings of certain Renaissance women
>> is representative of those authors who offer what might be called a cautiously optimistic assessment of Renaissance women’s achievements

B.supports Kelly’s view of women’s status during the Renaissance
>> 2nd para already rejected JK and JB views

C.has misinterpreted the works of certain Renaissance women
>> not misinterpreted ; she misinterpreted all women class as one group

D.has rejected the views of both Burckhardt and Kelly-CORRECT
>> Certainly as extended in 2nd para.

E.has studied Renaissance women in a wide variety of social and religious contexts
>> No, she just studied study of six Renaissance women writers,


RC00313-02.According to the passage, Krontiris’s work differs from that of the scholars mentioned in highlight text in which of the following ways?

a significant trend among feminist scholars scholars stress the ways in which differences among Renaissance women work to complicate the kinds of generalizations both Burckhardt and Kelly made on the basis of their observations about upper-class Italian women.

Basically scholars work don’t focus on single class group of women
K focus on literate women group

A.Krontiris’s work stresses the achievements of Renaissance women rather than the obstacles to their success.
>> is representative of those authors who offer what might be called a cautiously optimistic assessment of Renaissance women’s achievements, although she also stresses the social obstacles
She doesn’t stresses achievements, she just represent work of other women.
Secondly, she also stresses the social obstacles

B.Krontiris’s work is based on a reinterpretation of the work of earlier scholars.
>> reinterpretation of the work could be of those 6 scholars. But definitely not earlier scholar- easy option to reject

C.Krontiris’s views are at odds with those of both Kelly and Burkhardt.
>> K view was neither agree with K nor agrees with B. Was her view at odd with them? If I see K’s facts mentioned in passage, she was representing the status and suggesting current status but she didn’t have view as I couldn’t see in passage. If view, words could have been, opposite or favor or in my view etc., nothing is mentioned any key word about view-reject

D.Krontiris’s work focuses on the place of women in Renaissance society.
>> she assume all women as group of one unit, and talked about women status .but scholars were also doing the same focus on same equality-inequality issue , so this option is not valid

E.Krontiris’s views are based exclusively on the study of a privileged group of women.-CORRECT
>> Her work represented other work of other women and this is difference aswith other scholars.


RC00313-03. According to the passage, feminist scholars cite Burckhardt’s view of Renaissance women primarily for which of the following reasons?

>> To reject B’s view against some evidence that feminist scholars had.

A.Burckhardt’s view forms the basis for most arguments refuting Kelly's point of view.
>>refuting K’s view was not the main purpose to cite B’s view by scholars

B.Burckhardt’s view has been discredited by Kelly.
>>B’s view was +ve, K view was negative –but we need to see why scholars cite B’s view. discredited by Kelly or not is not talked in passage,

C.Burckhardt’s view is one that many feminist scholars wish to refute.-CORRECT
>> B’s site was too positive which scholars didn’t agree and they mentioned it to refute it.

D.Burckhardt’s work provides rich historical evidence of inequality between Renaissance women and men.
>> not B’s work didn’t provide any historical evidence.

E.Burckhardt’s work includes historical research supporting the arguments of the feminist scholar
>>The passge didn’t talk about how B’s made his research .

RC00313-04. It can be inferred that both Burckhardt and Kelly have been criticized by the scholars mentioned in highlight text for which of the following?
>> it is mentioned because focus of their subhects was too narrow.

A.Assuming that women writers of the Renaissance are representative of Renaissance women in general
>> that could be applicable to K, but definitely not for JB and JK

B.Drawing conclusions that are based on the study of an atypical group of women-CORRECT
>> atypical ( narrow group) – yes based on Italian upper class women. Lets check other options as well

C.Failing to describe clearly the relationship between social status and literacy among Renaissance women
>> again , it is referring to K’s work

D.Failing to acknowledge the role played by Renaissance women in opposing cultural stereotypes
>> again , referring back to K’s work not for JB and JK

E.Failing to acknowledge the ways in which social status affected the creative activities of Renaissance women
>>nothing mentioned about social status affecting any creative activities.



RC00313-05. The author of the passage suggests that Krontiris incorrectly assumes that
>> all women are part of one unit

A.social differences among Renaissance women are less important than the fact that they were women-CORRECT
>> yes social difference are not important

B.literacy among Renaissance women was more prevalent than most scholars today acknowledge
>> no comparison is talked about

C.during the Renaissance, women were able to successfully oppose cultural stereotypes relating to gender
>>she assume it correctly , we need to find an option what she assumed incorrectly.

D.Renaissance women did not face many difficult social obstacles relating to their gender
>> she knew women faced difficulties. So she didn’t assume about it incorrectly.

E.in order to attain power, Renaissance women attacked basic assumptions in the ideologies that oppressed them
>>she didn’t assume incorrectly that Renaissance women attacked basic assumptions.


RC00313-06. The last sentence in the passage serves primarily to

women seldom attacked the basic assumptions in the ideologies that oppressed them
>> she stressed about voice against force and didn’t highlight about negotiations of power. Her view point seems to be mild +ve.


A.suggest that Krontiris’s work is not representative of recent trends among feminist scholars
>>her work was an example of recent trend that was going on

B.undermine the argument that literate women of the Renaissance sought to oppose social constraints imposed on them
>> very close option; women were intentionally negotiating some power for themselves. K didn’t talk about it openly. But she didn’t undermine ( destroy reject ) any such claim.

C.show a way in which Krontiris’s work illustrates a “cautiously optimistic"assessment of Renaissance women’s achievements-CORRECT
>>this choice is too hard to choose unless you read the option very very carefully: show a way in which ( some example)Krontiris’s work illustrates a “cautiously optimistic" assessment ( she was cautious ) of Renaissance women’s achievements ( here it mentioned about negotiations)
She didn’t highlight too much about negotiation women were doing. She just mentioned that such kind of resistance seldom take place. Because usually all such voices would be circumcised.

D. Summarize Krontiris’s view of the effect of literacy on the lives of upper- and middle-class Renaissance women
>> not purpose of last few lines and effect is not mentioned

E. Illustrate the way in which Krontiris’s study differs from the studies done by Burckhardt and Kelly
>>K’s study was based on a group of women but she highlighted some specific issues women were facing .
>> 1. Burckhardt and Kelly view point were extremes but K’s view point is balanced one according to current situation.
>>but the last line primarily was not used to show this difference between various studies.so we can reject this option. This option was too close as well.


RC00313-07.The author of the passage implies that the women studied by Krontiris are unusual in which of the following ways?

>>they were literate , belong to particular class and have disproportionate representation in the record.

A.They faced obstacles less formidable than those faced by other Renaissance women.
>> not compared

B.They have been seen by historians as more interesting than other Renaissance women.
>>how historians see not talked about

C.They were more concerned about recording history accurately than were other Renaissance women.
>> we don’t know accurately or not

D.Their perceptions are more likely to be accessible to historians than are those of most other Renaissance women.
>>yes, matches our pre-thinking

E.Their concerns are likely to be of greater interest to feminist scholars than are the ideas of most other Renaissance women.
>>not compared

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma EMPOWERgmatVerbal Could you all please help explain all questions of this reading? This reading is one of the toughest and I still do not find any good explanation. Thanks again for your support.

Can someone explain me this para?
Jacob Burckhardt’s view that Renaissance European women “stood on a footing of perfect equality” with Renaissance men has been repeatedly cited by feminist scholars as a prelude to their presentation of rich historical evidence of women’s inequality

So, did scholars cite this to showcase that women had a long historical evidence of inequality and hence we achieved equality in Renaissance and therefore cited Jacob Burckhardt in the introduction?
Or they wanted to disprove it and hence cited equality of Jacob Burckhardt and later proved inequality among women?

GMATNinja karishma - Please help

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

please explain question 1,6 & 7

Also please write what was purpose of passage

mikemcgarry Could you please explain this passage for us, readers? We're struggling with this passage.

Did you try reading an attachment (Difficult Passge_LineByLine.docx) : https://gmatclub.com/forum/jacob-burckh ... l#p2534671

I see a lot of discontent in this RC. Honestly, it is not as difficult as some other passages I have seen. Let's run through it.

JB's view - Renaissance European women “stood on a footing of perfect equality” with Renaissance men
Kelly's view - Renaissance was a period of economic and social decline for women relative both to Renaissance men and to medieval women

Recent feminist scholars view - Both above views are wrong. Renaissance women were different based on social status etc so you cannot make such generalisations.
Same trend is also evident in works on Renaissance women writers. They were a small minority so it is risky to take their descriptions of their experiences as typical of “female experience” in any general sense.

One such e.g. is Krontiris who in her study merges women with women writers - basically whatever women writers' experience, she says is the women's experience.
Still, Krontiris makes a significant contribution to the field and is representative of those authors who offer what might be called a cautiously optimistic assessment of Renaissance women’s achievements

Go through this to understand the passage. Now let's look at the questions one at a time.

RC00313-01. The author of the passage discusses Krontiris primarily to provide an example of a writer who
A.is highly critical of the writings of certain Renaissance women
B.supports Kelly’s view of women’s status during the Renaissance
C.has misinterpreted the works of certain Renaissance women
D.has rejected the views of both Burckhardt and Kelly
E.has studied Renaissance women in a wide variety of social and religious contexts

Krontiris gives a "cautiously optimistic assessment". She rejects both JB and Kelly.
Answer (D)

RC00313-02.According to the passage, Krontiris’s work differs from that of the scholars mentioned in highlight text in which of the following ways?
A.Krontiris’s work stresses the achievements of Renaissance women rather than the obstacles to their success.
B.Krontiris’s work is based on a reinterpretation of the work of earlier scholars.
C.Krontiris’s views are at odds with those of both Kelly and Burkhardt.
D.Krontiris’s work focuses on the place of women in Renaissance society.
E.Krontiris’s views are based exclusively on the study of a privileged group of women.

Feminist scholars say that you cannot generalise based on a few privileged women's experience.
Krontiris merges women with women writers and does generalise based on the experience of women writers. This is how her work differs from the work of feminist scholars.
Answer (E)

RC00313-03. According to the passage, feminist scholars cite Burckhardt’s view of Renaissance women primarily for which of the following reasons?
A.Burckhardt’s view forms the basis for most arguments refuting Kelly's point of view.
B.Burckhardt’s view has been discredited by Kelly.
C.Burckhardt’s view is one that many feminist scholars wish to refute.
D.Burckhardt’s work provides rich historical evidence of inequality between Renaissance women and men.
E.Burckhardt’s work includes historical research supporting the arguments of the feminist scholars.

Look at the first sentence of the passage:
Jacob Burckhardt’s view that Renaissance European women “stood on a footing of perfect equality” with Renaissance men has been repeatedly cited by feminist scholars as a prelude to their presentation of rich historical evidence of women’s inequality.

Feminist writer's cite JB's view as a prelude to present how inaccurate it is.
Answer (C)

RC00313-04. It can be inferred that both Burckhardt and Kelly have been criticized by the scholars mentioned in highlight text for which of the following?
A.Assuming that women writers of the Renaissance are representative of Renaissance women in general
B.Drawing conclusions that are based on the study of an atypical group of women
C.Failing to describe clearly the relationship between social status and literacy among Renaissance women
D.Failing to acknowledge the role played by Renaissance women in opposing cultural stereotypes
E.Failing to acknowledge the ways in which social status affected the creative activities of Renaissance women

Feminist scholars say that one cannot draw conclusions based on a small privileged group and that is why they reject both JB and Kelly. So the scholars criticise both for drawing conclusions from an atypical group.
Answer (B)

RC00313-05. The author of the passage suggests that Krontiris incorrectly assumes that
A.social differences among Renaissance women are less important than the fact that they were women
B.literacy among Renaissance women was more prevalent than most scholars today acknowledge
C.during the Renaissance, women were able to successfully oppose cultural stereotypes relating to gender
D.Renaissance women did not face many difficult social obstacles relating to their gender
E.in order to attain power, Renaissance women attacked basic assumptions in the ideologies that oppressed them

Note this sentence from the passage:
Tina Krontiris, for example, in her fascinating study of six Renaissance women writers, does tend at times to conflate “women” and “women writers,” assuming that women’s gender, irrespective of other social differences, including literacy, allows us to view women as a homogeneous social group and make that group an object of analysis

The passage says that Krontiris assumes that because they are women, irrespective of their social differences, their view allows us to view women as a homogeneous group.

Answer (A)

RC00313-06. The last sentence in the passage serves primarily to
A.suggest that Krontiris’s work is not representative of recent trends among feminist scholars
B.undermine the argument that literate women of the Renaissance sought to oppose social constraints imposed on them
C.show a way in which Krontiris’s work illustrates a “cautiously optimistic"assessment of Renaissance women’s achievements
D.summarize Krontiris’s view of the effect of literacy on the lives of upper- and middle-class Renaissance women
E.illustrate the way in which Krontiris’s study differs from the studies done by Burckhardt and Kelly

Check this out:
Krontiris is concerned to show women intentionally negotiating some power for themselves (at least in the realm of public discourse) against potentially constraining ideologies, but in her sober and thoughtful concluding remarks, she suggests that such verbal opposition to cultural stereotypes was highly circumscribed; women seldom attacked the basic assumptions in the ideologies that oppressed them.

Krontiris offers a cautiously optimistic assessment. The last sentence says that Krontiris shows women negotiating power but Krontiris also says that they seldom attacked the basic assumptions that oppressed them. This illustrates cautiously optimistic assessment.

Answer (C)

RC00313-08.The author of the passage implies that the women studied by Krontiris are unusual in which of the following ways?
A.They faced obstacles less formidable than those faced by other Renaissance women.
B.They have been seen by historians as more interesting than other Renaissance women.
C.They were more concerned about recording history accurately than were other Renaissance women.
D.Their perceptions are more likely to be accessible to historians than are those of most other Renaissance women.
E.Their concerns are likely to be of greater interest to feminist scholars than are the ideas of most other Renaissance women.

The women studied by Krontiris were writers so literate and could express their experiences. So their perceptions are more likely to be accessible.
Answer (D)

It is a logical structure question (why @@ was mentioned). Therefore,
First, identify Krontiris appeared in Main Idea or Sub Idea. : Korntiris was mentioned in SI.
Second, find cloest MI connected with that SI. : “so it is RISKY to take ~ as TYPICAL of ~ in any GENERAL sense.”
So, we can see that the author mentioned Krontiris to support his MI about a writer who agrees that generalization is wrong.
Also B and Kelly = generalization.
Voilà you got the idea.

Hope it helped!

Posted from my mobile device

OE
Q1. The author of the passage discusses Krontiris primarily to provide an example of a writer who
A. is highly critical of the writings of certain Renaissance women
B. supports Kelly’s view of women’s status during the Renaissance
C. has misinterpreted the works of certain Renaissance women
D. has rejected the views of both Burckhardt and Kelly
E. has studied Renaissance women in a wide variety of social and religious contexts
Evaluation
This question focuses on the author’s reason for mentioning Krontiris’s work. The passage states that Krontiris, in her discussion of six Renaissance women writers, is an example of scholars who are optimistic about women’s achievements but also suggest that these women faced significant obstacles. She is a writer who, in other words, agrees with neither Kelly’s negative views nor Burckhardt’s positive approach.
A. The passage indicates that Krontiris uses the Renaissance women writers’ works as historical evidence, not that she offered any criticism of the works themselves.
B. Krontiris’s work, according to the author, is cautiously optimistic about women’s achievements during the Renaissance. This contradicts Kelly’s view that the status of women declined during this time.
C. The author suggests that Krontiris may have erred in taking her six subjects as representative of all women during the Renaissance, not that she made any misinterpretations of their actual writing.
D. Correct. The author uses Krontiris as an example of those feminist scholars who have rejected the overgeneralized approaches of both Kelly and Burckhardt.
E. The author makes clear that Krontiris’s study focuses on literate Renaissance women, who constituted a small minority.
The correct answer is D.

Q2. According to the passage, Krontiris’s work differs from that of the scholars mentioned in line 12 in which of the following ways?
A. Krontiris’s work stresses the achievements of Renaissance women rather than the obstacles to their success.
B. Krontiris’s work is based on a reinterpretation of the work of earlier scholars.
C. Krontiris’s views are at odds with those of both Kelly and Burkhardt.
D. Krontiris’s work focuses on the place of women in Renaissance society.
E. Krontiris’s views are based exclusively on the study of a privileged group of women.
Supporting idea
This question asks what the passage directly states about the difference between Krontiris’s work and the feminist scholars mentioned in the first paragraph. The feminist scholars mentioned in the first paragraph explore differences among Renaissance women, particularly their social status and religion, and thus complicate Burckhardt’s and Kelly’s generalizations. Krontiris’s work, on the other hand, focuses on Renaissance women writers, who are a distinctly privileged and small social group.
A. The second paragraph makes clear that Krontiris addresses the obstacles faced by Renaissance women.
B. The passage does not suggest that Krontiris is reinterpreting or drawing on reinterpretations of the work of earlier scholars.C. The second paragraph shows that Krontiris’s work does complicate both Burckhardt’s and Kelly’s views, but in this, she is in agreement with the feminist scholars mentioned in the first paragraph.
D. Both Krontiris and the feminist scholars mentioned in the first paragraph are concerned with the place of women in Renaissance society.
E. Correct. The feminist scholars mentioned in the first paragraph are concerned with women of different social classes and religions, whereas Krontiris’s work focuses on a limited social group.
The correct answer is E.

Q3. According to the passage, feminist scholars cite Burckhardt’s view of Renaissance women primarily for which of the following reasons?
A. Burckhardt’s view forms the basis for most arguments refuting Kelly’s point of view.
B. Burckhardt’s view has been discredited by Kelly.
C. Burckhardt’s view is one that many feminist scholars wish to refute.
D. Burckhardt’s work provides rich historical evidence of inequality between Renaissance women and men.
E. Burckhardt’s work includes historical research supporting the arguments of the feminist scholars.
Supporting idea
This question asks what the passage says explicitly about why feminist scholars reference Burckhardt’s view of Renaissance women. The first paragraph states that Burckhardt’s view is that Renaissance women enjoyed perfect equality with men, and then follows that by noting how feminist scholars have repeatedly cited this view to contrast it with extensive evidence of women’s inequality during the Renaissance.
A. The passage does not indicate that any feminist scholars cite Burckhardt to refute Kelly’s view. It uses Krontiris as an example of scholars who refute Kelly’s point of view to a certain degree, but Krontiris does not use Burckhardt’s view as her basis for doing so; Krontiris argues against Burckhardt as well.
B. According to the first paragraph, Kelly’s work was in certain ways inconsistent with Burckhardt’s view, but that is not a reason why Burckhardt’s view is cited by feminist scholars. Rather, according to the passage, they cite it in order to argue against it.
C. Correct. Many feminist scholars wish to refute Burckhardt’s view that Renaissance women and men were equal.
D. As the first paragraph makes clear, Burckhardt’s work emphasizes equality, not inequality, between Renaissance women and men.
E. The passage does not discuss the historical research on which Burckhardt based his work.
The correct answer is C.

Q3. It can be inferred that both Burckhardt and Kelly have been criticized by the scholars mentioned in line 12 for which of the following?
A. Assuming that women writers of the Renaissance are representative of Renaissance women in general
B. Drawing conclusions that are based on the study of an atypical group of women
C. Failing to describe clearly the relationship between social status and literacy among Renaissance women
D. Failing to acknowledge the role played by Renaissance women in opposing cultural stereotypes
E. Failing to acknowledge the ways in which social status affected the creative activities of Renaissance women
Inference
Line 12 refers to feminist scholars who have rejected both Kelly’s and Burckhardt’s views of the status of Renaissance women. The next sentence states that the feminist scholars use class and religious differences among Renaissance women to argue against Kelly’s and Burckhardt’s generalizations, which were based on upper-class Italian women.
A. The second paragraph suggests that Krontiris at times conflates Renaissance women writers and women in general, but the passage does not indicate that the feminist scholars believe this of Kelly or Burckhardt.
B. Correct. The feminist scholars mentioned study different types of Renaissance women and so reject Kelly’s and Burckhardt’s conclusions that were based on a group that was not in fact typical.
C. Krontiris, not Kelly and Burckhardt, is the scholar who, according to the passage, fails to address the relationship between literacy and social status.
D. The passage provides no grounds for determining whether Kelly, Burckhardt, or the feminist scholars mentioned in the first paragraph dealt with Renaissance women’s opposition to cultural stereotypes; Krontiris’s work is concerned with this question.
E. The first paragraph suggests that feminist scholars criticized Kelly and Burckhardt for failing to acknowledge the ways in which social status complicates any generalizations that can be made about Renaissance women’s lives, not their creative activities specifically.
The correct answer is B.

Q4. The author of the passage suggests that Krontiris incorrectly assumes that
A. social differences among Renaissance women are less important than the fact that they were women
B. literacy among Renaissance women was more prevalent than most scholars today acknowledge
C. during the Renaissance, women were able to successfully oppose cultural stereotypes relating to gender
D. Renaissance women did not face many difficult social obstacles relating to their gender
E. in order to attain power, Renaissance women attacked basic assumptions in the ideologies that oppressed them
Inference
The first statement the author makes about Krontiris, in the second paragraph, concerns what the author characterizes as a problem with Krontiris’s work. Krontiris takes the Renaissance women writers she studies as representative of all Renaissance women; the author says that designating women as the most important grouping fails to consider whether other social differences might make for differences in experience.
A. Correct. The author indicates that Krontiris’s error lies in assuming that women’s identity as women trumps social and other differences.
B. The author does not suggest that Krontiris assumes inappropriate literacy levels among Renaissance women, but rather that Krontiris does not give sufficient consideration to the idea that women who could read and write most likely led lives very different from those of women who could not read and write.
C. The author says that Krontiris suggests that there were many cultural stereotypes that women were not able to oppose effectively.
D. Krontiris, according to the author, acknowledges the many social obstacles faced by women on the basis of their gender.
E. According to the author, Krontiris’s concluding remarks suggest that Renaissance women seldom attacked the basic assumptions in the ideologies that oppressed them.
The correct answer is A.

Q5. The last sentence in the passage serves primarily to
A. suggest that Krontiris’s work is not representative of recent trends among feminist scholars
B. undermine the argument that literate women of the Renaissance sought to oppose social constraints imposed on them
C. show a way in which Krontiris’s work illustrates a “cautiously optimistic” assessment of Renaissance women’s achievements
D. summarize Krontiris’s view of the effect of literacy on the lives of upper-and middle-class Renaissance women
E. illustrate the way in which Krontiris’s study differs from the studies done by Burckhardt and Kelly
Evaluation
The function of the final sentence of the passage is to indicate how Krontiris’s work takes neither a completely positive nor completely negative view of Renaissance women’s experiences—i.e., how her work is representative of those authors who are cautiously optimistic about the achievements of Renaissance
women.
A. The passage discusses Krontiris’s work as an example of the trend described in the latter part of the first paragraph and mentioned in the first line of the second paragraph. The last sentence in the passage shows that Krontiris’s work is in fact representative of recent trends among feminist scholars.
B. The last sentence in the passage states that Renaissance women’s opposition to cultural stereotypes was circumscribed, but it also suggests that these women did gain some power for themselves. Thus, the sentence does not serve primarily to undermine the argument that the women sought to oppose social constraints.
C. Correct. Krontiris’s work illustrates the “cautiously optimistic” view by embracing both the idea that Renaissance women could gain a certain amount of power and the idea that the extent of their opposition was limited.
D. The last sentence in the passage summarizes Krontiris’s view, but that view does not, according to the passage, take into account the effect of literacy on the members of a particular social class.
E. The main function of the final sentence of the passage is to take up the idea of the cautiously optimistic assessment offered in the penultimate sentence. This does mark a significant departure from both Burckhardt and Kelly, but the distinction between their work and that of other feminist scholars is marked more clearly earlier in the passage.
The correct answer is C.

Q6. The author of the passage implies that the women studied by Krontiris are unusual in which of the following ways?
A. They faced obstacles less formidable than those faced by other Renaissance women.
B. They have been seen by historians as more interesting than other Renaissance women.
C. They were more concerned about recording history accurately than were other Renaissance women.
D. Their perceptions are more likely to be accessible to historians than are those of most other Renaissance women.
E. Their concerns are likely to be of greater interest to feminist scholars than are the ideas of most other Renaissance women.
Inference
The women Krontiris studied are unusual, the author suggests, because they were literate, thus putting them among the minority of Renaissance women. That they could write, however, means that their written reflections are part of the historical record, whereas the direct impressions of experiences had byRenaissance women who could not write about their lives are lost to history.
A. The author implies that the obstacles faced by Krontiris’s subjects may have been different from those faced by other women, not that they were less formidable.
B. The author does not imply that the women studied by Krontiris are seen as more interesting; rather, the author indicates that their work is that which is available for study.
C. The women Krontiris studies were able to record their own history because they, unlike most other Renaissance women, were literate. This does not imply that they were more concerned with recording history accurately.
D. Correct. Because Krontiris’s subjects were literate, they were able to write down, and thus preserve for historians, their perceptions in a way that most other Renaissance women were not.
E. The author does not suggest that feminist scholars in general are more interested in the concerns of middle-and upper-class literate women than they are with women of other classes.
The correct answer is D.

As I have always found with RC questions, if you can fully comprehend the passage, then you can answer the questions with ease. I struggled with the comprehension part and I think it's worth being explicit about the aspects that make this passage challenging. In my opinion it was the following three aspects:

1) Paradoxical information presented in the first paragraph (difficult because there was not context to start with)
2) Multiple bits of seemingly unconnected information is presented (in first paragraph) and there are no inferences made or conclusions drawn
3) After the main idea has been established (at the beginning of the second paragraph), the passage then adds further ideas and supporting examples (Krontiris). It's not immediately clear how these further ideas relate to the already established main idea, but upon reflection, we can find that whilst Jacob Burckhardt and Joan Kelly's views are at extreme opposites, Krontiris' views are "cautiously optimistic".

It's worth being aware of what makes difficult passages challenging so that we're not thrown off when we spot these techniques in future RC questions and so that we don't engage in inefficient behaviour (e.g. staring blankly, re-reading) that wastes precious time. This emphasises the importance of reading passages extremely carefully, because we need to be aware of the techniques that the test makers adopt when writing these passages.

Hope this helps