To some scholars, the European baroque is not merely an aesthetic styl

To some scholars, the European baroque is not
merely an aesthetic style characterized by extravagant
forms and elaborate ornamentation, but also a political,
social, and cultural mentality prevalent in Europe from
(5) approximately 1600 to 1680. This larger view was held
by the late Spanish historian Jose Antonio Maravall,
whose writings trace aspects of the modem worlde
specially the principle of individual liberty in
opposition to the state's power-back to the baroque
(10) era as it unfolded in Spain.

Maravall argues that the baroque period was
characterized by "monarchical absolutism"; monarchs,
having suppressed the worst excesses of aristocratic
disorder, could now ally themselves with their
(15) nobilities to defend traditional order and values in
societies unsettled by the Renaissance's liberating
forces of criticism and opposition. These forces
appeared especially threatening because deteriorating
economic conditions heightened contlict among
(20) different elements of society. For Maravall, baroque
culture was the response of the rnling class (including
crown, Church, and nobility) to the European social
and economic crisis, although that crisis was more
acute, and the social structure more frozen, in imperial
(25) Spain than elsewhere. Maravall regards the baroque
as a culture of control and containment, or, more
dynamically, as a directive culture, designed to
reintegrate and unite a society living under the shadow
of social and intellectual disruption.

(30) Maravall suggests that even though all the political
controls were centralized in the monarchical system,
this system of authority was not simply repressive. It
was also enticing, promoting a public delight in
grandiose artifice by means of devices that ranged from
(35) fireworks displays to theater to religious festivals.
Operating upon an uroan culture that already possessed
characteristics of modem mass culture, these
enticements deflected the desire for novelty into areas
of life where it represented no challenge to the political
(40) order. Maravall concludes that every aspect of the
baroque emerged from the necessity, as public opinion
grew increasingly important, of manipulating opinions
and feelings on a broad public scale.

Perhaps, however, Maravall's interpretation is
(45) overly influenced by his quest for baroque
foreshadowings of "modernity" and by his experience
of living under the Spanish dictator Franco. He tends to
exaggerate the capacity of those in authority to
manipulate a society for their own ideological ends. A
(50) look at the seventeenth-century courts of Charles I in
England or Philip IV in Spain suggests that efforts.at
manipulation were at times wholly counterproductive.
In England and Spain during the 16308, the rul~rs .
themselves, not the subjects, succumbed to the 111usl0ns
(55) carefully sustained by ceremony, theater, and symbol.
The result was that members of the ruling class became
dangerously isolated from the outside world, and as the
gulf between illusion and reality widend, the
monarchy and aristocracy fell headlong mto a
(60) credibility gap of their own creation.

1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Until recently, the baroque has been regarded simply as an aesthetic style; however, Maravall has shown that it was a cultural mentality serving to reinforce monarchical absolutism.
(B) Maravall views baroque culture as a strategy for dissipating opposition and managing public opinion; however, he overestimates the strategy's success.
(C) Maravall interprets European baroque culture as an expansion of the social and intellectual developments of the Renaissance; however, his view of the seventeenth century is colored by his focus on Spain.
(D) MaravaU's theory about the intent of the ruling class to control society via baroque culture is refuted by the examples of specific baroque-era monarchies.
(E) According to the historian Maravall, baroque culture was a political construct designed essentially to control society and repress dissent.


2. Which one of the following phrases, in the context in which it occurs, most accurately indicates the author's attitude toward MaravaU's concept of baroque culture?

(A) "This larger view" (line 5)
(B) "grandiose artifice" (line 34)
(C) "tends to exaggerate" (lines 47-48)
(D) "own ideological ends" (line 49)
(E) "wholly counterproductive" (line 52)


3. Which one of the following words best expresses the meaning of "directive" as that word is used in line 27 of the passage?

(A) straightforward
(B) evolving
(C) codified
(0) guiding
(E) compelling


4. It can be inferred from the passage that Maravall regarded monarchs of the baroque era as

(A) increasingly indifferent to unfavorable public opinion
(B) concerned with the political threat posed by the aristocracy
(C) captivated by the cultural devices designed to control their subjects
(D) somewhat successful in countering the disruptive legacy of the Renaissance
(E) preoccupied with the goal of attaining cultural preeminence for their respective countries


5. In Maravall's view, baroque theater was intended to

(A) spur economic growth
(B) echo the consensus of public opinion
(C) entertain and divert the urban population
(D) express the emerging principle of individual liberty
(E) terrify the citizenry with the threat of monarchical repression


6. The main purpose of the passage is to

(A) contrast two competing theories and offer an evaluation
(B) challenge a widely accepted viewpoint by means of a counterexample
(C) explicate an interpretation and introduce a qualification
(D) articulate opposing arguments and propose a reconciliation
(E) explain the unprecedented consequences of a political construct


7. Which one of the following pieces of evidence if it existed. would most weaken Maravall's interpretation of baroque culture?

(A) confirmation that Maravall himself participated in opposing Franco's authoritarian regime
(B) the discovery that baroque-era nobility commissioned far more works of art than did the monarchs
(C) an analysis of baroque art that emphasizes its idealized depiction of the monarchy and aristocracy
(D) documents indicating that many baroque-era works of art expressed opposition to the monarchy
(E) documents indicating a conscious attempt on the part of Franco to control Spanish society by cultural means