Those examples of poetic justice that occur in medieval and

Question

Those examples of poetic justice that occur in medieval and Elizabethan literature, and that seems so satisfying, have encouraged a whole school of twentieth-century scholars to "find" further examples. In fact, these scholars have merely forced victimized characters into a moral framework by which the injustices inflicted on them are, somehow or other, justified. Such scholars deny that the sufferers in a tragedy are innocent; they blame the victims themselves for their tragic fates. Any misdoing is enough to subject a character to critical whips. Thus, there are long essays about the misdemeanors of Webster's Duchess of Malfi, who defied her brothers, and the behavior of Shakespeare's Desdemona, who disobeyed her father.

Yet it should be remembered that the Renaissance writer Matteo Bandello strongly protests the injustice of the severe penalties issued to women for acts of disobedience that men could, and did, commit with virtual impunity. And Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Webster often enlist their readers on the side of their tragic heroines by describing injustices so cruel that readers cannot but join in protest. By portraying Griselda, in The Clerk's Tale, as a meek, gentle victim who does not criticize, much less rebel against the persecutor, her husband Walter, Chaucer incites readers to espouse Griselda's cause against Walter's oppression. Thus, efforts to supply historical and theological rationalizations for Walter's persecutions tend to turn Chaucer's fable upside down, to deny its most obvious effect on readers' sympathies. Similarly, to assert that Webster's Duchess deserved torture and death because she chose to marry the man she loved and to bear their children is, in effect, to join forces with her tyrannical brothers, and so to confound the operation of poetic justice, of which readers should approve, with precisely those examples of social injustice that Webster does everything in his power to make readers condemn. Indeed, Webster has his heroine so heroically lead the resistance to tyranny that she may well inspire members of the audience to imaginatively join forces with her against the cruelty and hypocritical morality of her brothers.

Thus Chaucer and Webster, in their different ways, attack injustice, argue on behalf of the victims, and prosecute the persecutors. Their readers serve them as a court of appeal that remains free to rule, as the evidence requires, and as common humanity requires, in favor of the innocent and injured parties. For—to paraphrase the noted eighteenth-century scholar, Samuel Johnson—despite all the refinements of subtlety and the dogmatism of learning, it is by the common sense and compassion of readers who are uncorrupted by the prejudices of some opinionated scholars that the characters and situations in medieval and Elizabethan literature, as in any other literature, can best be judged.

1. According to the passage, some twentieth-century scholars have written at length about

(A) Walter's persecution of his wife in Chaucer's The Clerk's Tale
(B) the Duchess of Malfi's love for her husband
(C) the tyrannical behavior of the Duchess of Malfi's brothers
(D) the actions taken by Shakespeare's Desdemona
(E) the injustices suffered by Chaucer's Griselda

2. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) describe the role of the tragic heroine in medieval and Elizabethan literature
(B) resolve a controversy over the meaning of "poetic justice" as it is discussed in certain medieval and Elizabethan literary treatises
(C) present evidence to support the view that characters in medieval and Elizabethan tragedies are to blame for their fates
(D) assert that it is impossible for twentieth- century readers to fully comprehend the characters and situations in medieval and Elizabethan literary works
(E) argue that some twentieth-century scholars have misapplied the concept of "poetic justice" in analyzing certain medieval and Elizabethan literary works

3. It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers Chaucer's Griselda to be

(A) an innocent victim
(B) a sympathetic judge
(C) an imprudent person
(D) a strong individual
(E) a rebellious daughter

4. The author's tone in her discussion of the conclusions reached by the "school of twentieth-century scholars" in the highlighted text is best described as

(A) plaintive
(B) philosophical
(C) disparaging
(D) apologetic
(E) enthusiastic

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes that most people respond to intended instances of poetic justice in medieval and Elizabethan literature with

(A) annoyance
(B) disapproval
(C) indifference
(D) amusement
(E) gratification

6. As described in the passage, the process by which some twentieth-century scholars have reached their conclusions about the blameworthiness of victims in medieval and Elizabethan literary works is most similar to which of the following?

(A) Derivation of logically sound conclusions from well-founded premises
(B) Accurate observation of data, inaccurate calculation of statistics, and drawing of incorrect conclusions from the faulty statistics
(C) Establishment of a theory, application of the theory to ill-fitting data, and drawing of unwarranted conclusions from the data
(D) Development of two schools of thought about a factual situation, debate between the two schools, and rendering of a balanced judgment by an objective observer
(E) Consideration of a factual situation by a group, discussion of various possible explanatory hypotheses, and agreement by consensus on the most plausible explanation

7. The author's paraphrase of a statement by Samuel Johnson (in the highlighted text) serves which of the following functions in the passage?

(A) It furnishes a specific example.
(B) It articulates a general conclusion.
(C) It introduces a new topic.
(D) It provides a contrasting perspective.
(E) It clarifies an ambiguous assertion.

8. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) reconciling opposing viewpoints
(B) encouraging innovative approaches
(C) defending an accepted explanation
(D) advocating an alternative interpretation
(E) analyzing an unresolved question

Show Spoiler

JOURNAL ARTICLE
The Victim's Side: Chaucer's "Clerk's Tale" and Webster's "Duchess of Malfi"
Harriett Hawkins
Signs
Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1975), pp. 339-361
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173051
Page Count: 23

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Show Answer Question #1

Official Answer

D

Show Answer Question #2

Official Answer

E

Show Answer Question #3

Official Answer

A

Show Answer Question #4

Official Answer

C

Show Answer Question #5

Official Answer

E

Show Answer Question #6

Official Answer

C

Show Answer Question #7

Official Answer

B

Show Answer Question #8

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D

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AdityaHongunti · Accepted Answer

"The honor to be the first to solve an official question

" Para summary 1 - a theory "poetic justice" is presented. Irnoically this theory led to a development of school of though which downplayed the victims of an era by stating that whatever happened to them was KARMA. Works by the scholar supporting the thot are presented. Purpose : Introduction of line of though with respect to "poetic justice" para summary 2- Other scholar ( not supporting the school of thot) present their views in support of the victims. They say that the victims were infact innocent . Their thought are presneted . the tone of the author can be understood from the first line of the second para. The author is sympathetic and in agreement to the second line of thot. purpose : provide alternative/second school of thot and mildly approve of it para summary 3 - the author then summarises the works of the second para scholars and then makes a general conclusion with the help of an example (samuel) by stating that the characterisation of a person in the texts should be unprejudiced. purpose : summarise the second line of thot and provide author's POV main idea : The school of thot which emerged from earlier examples of poetic injustice are somewhat not right. The alternative school of thot actually puts in the real situations and then presents a more sympathetic pov. Primary purpose : provide an alternative/second view on one of the line of thot, and summarise the alternative POV and provode own POV.

Nikhil · Answer

1. According to the passage, some twentieth-century scholars have written at length about

(A) Walter's persecution of his wife in Chaucer's The Clerk's Tale
(B) the Duchess of Malfi's love for her husband 
(C) the tyrannical behavior of the Duchess of Malfi's brothers
 (D) the actions taken by Shakespeare's Desdemona 
(E) the injustices suffered by Chaucer's Griselda

The best answer is D because lines 12-16 state that "long essays" have been written by scholars about the "behavior 9f Shakespeare'~ Desdemona."

2. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) describe the role of the tragic heroine in medieval and Elizabethan literature
(B) resolve a controversy over the meaning of "poetic justice" as it is discussed in certain medieval and Elizabethan literary treatises
(C) present evidence to support the view that characters in medieval and Elizabethan tragedies are to blame for their fates
(D) assert that it is impossible for twentieth-century readers to fully comprehend the characters and situations in medieval and Elizabethan literary works
 (E) argue that some twentieth-century scholars have misapplied the concept of "poetic justice" in analyzing certain medieval and Elizabethan literary works

The best answer is E. The author argues in the passage that a school of twentieth-century scholars has inappropriately applied the concept of poetic justice to a number of medieval and Elizabethan literary figures, including the Duchess of Malfi, Desdemona, and Griselda. Thus the first paragraph describes these scholars as having "merely forced victimized characters" (line 6) into the framework of poetic justice, the second paragraph presents specific examples of the misapplication of poetic justice, and the third paragraph argues that it is readers' 'uncorrupted by the prejudices of some opinionated scholars" (lines 60-61) who can best judge medieval and Elizabethan literature.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers Chaucer's Griselda to be

(A) an innocent victim  
(B) a sympathetic judge 
(C) an imprudent person 
(D) a strong individual 
(E) a rebellious daughter

The best answer is A because lines 25-30 indicate that the author considers Griselda to be "a meek, gentle victim" who does not even criticize her husband, and thus is an innocent victim of his "oppression."

4. The author's tone in her discussion of the conclusions reached by the "school of twentieth-century scholars" in the highlighted text is best described as

(A) plaintive
(B) philosophical 
 (C) disparaging  
(D) apologetic 
(E) enthusiastic

The best answer is C. The whole thrust of the author's argument is that the "school of twentieth-century scholars" referred to in line 4 has come to the wrong conclusions about a number of medieval and Elizabethan works. Thus she describes these scholars as having' 'merely forced victimized characters" into a framework (lines 6-7); "somehow or other" justified injustices (lines 7-8), subjected characters to "critical whips" (line 12), confounded poetic justice with social injustice (lines 39-41), and been corrupted by prejudices (line 60). In all these ways the author establishes a tone of disparagement toward these scholars and their work.

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes that most people respond to intended instances of poetic justice in medieval and Elizabethan literature with

(A) annoyance 
(B) disapproval 
(C) indifference 
(D) amusement 
 (E) gratification

The best answer is E, because lines 1-3 indicate that the examples of poetic justice that do occur in medieval and Elizabethan literature are very "satisfying" to the readers of that literature.

6. As described in the passage, the process by which some twentieth-century scholars have reached their conclusions about the blameworthiness of victims in medieval and Elizabethan literary works is most similar to which of the following?

(A) Derivation of logically sound conclusions from well-founded premises
(B) Accurate observation of data, inaccurate calculation of statistics, and drawing of incorrect conclusions from the faulty statistics
 (C) Establishment of a theory, application of the theory to ill-fitting data, and drawing of unwarranted conclusions from the data 
(D) Development of two schools of thought about a factual situation, debate between the two schools, and rendering of a balanced judgment by an objective observer
(E) Consideration of a factual situation by a group, discussion of various possible explanatory hypotheses, and agreement by consensus on the most plausible explanation

The best answer is C. The author describes the twentieth- century scholars as using a few clear examples of poetic justice as models for analyzing other literary works (lines 1-5). Their "discoveries," the author implies, were cases that fit the model poorly, for she describes the scholars as having' 'to 'find' further examples" (lines 4-5), and as forcing characters into a moral framework (lines 6-7). The results of these activities, the author points out, are that these scholars deny obvious effects (lines 33-34), and "confound the cooperation of poetic justice" (lines 39-40). Thus the author portrays these twentieth-century scholars as establishing a theory, applying it to ill-fitting data, and then drawing from this data unwarranted conclusions.

7. The author's paraphrase of a statement by Samuel Johnson (in the highlighted text) serves which of the following functions in the passage?

(A) It furnishes a specific example.
 (B) It articulates a general conclusion.  
(C) It introduces a new topic.
(D) It provides a contrasting perspective. 
(E) It clarifies an ambiguous assertion.

The best answer is B. The author's point is that a group of scholars has misjudged a body of literature by holding too tenaciously to their preconceived theory about the prevalence of poetic justice in medieval and Elizabethan literature. In so doing they are unable to act as the authors of this literature intended their readers to act, and it is left to the average reader to serve" as a court of appeal that remains free to rule, as the evidence requires, in favor of the innocent and injured parties" (lines 52-55). The quote from Samuel Johnson serves to articulate this conclusion with precision, for it contrasts "opinionated scholars" (line 61) with " the common sense and compassion" (line 59) of average readers.

8. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) reconciling opposing viewpoints
(B) encouraging innovative approaches
(C) defending an accepted explanation
 (D) advocating an alternative interpretation  
(E) analyzing an unresolved question

The best answer is D. The author begins by criticizing the use of the theory of "poetic justice" by a group of twentieth-century scholars, in particular condemning them for having to "blame the victims themselves for their tragic fates" (lines 10-11). In contrast, the author offers an alternative explana- tion, best expressed in lines 49-51: "Thus, Chaucer and Webster, in their different ways, attack injustice, argue on be- half of the victims, and prosecute the persecutors." She ana- lyzes two specific cases, Chaucer's Griselda and Webster's Duchess of Malfi, to substantiate this claim. She concludes with a paraphrase of Samuel Johnson that she uses to chastise the twentieth-century scholars and to reiterate her own alternative interpretation.

gullyboy09 · Answer

In Q6, option C, what theory is being "established"? IMO, they tried to fit examples (ill-fit) into what is poetic justice (which already existed). I am okay with the later part of the option and its the best out of all the other options. But can someone comment on this establishing part?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

An explanation is posted  here , let us know if this make sense.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hello gullyboy09

You are right, the scholars did not invented the idea of poetic justice. It already existed. They believed that medieval and Elizabethan literature often shows poetic justice, where good is rewarded and evil is punished. So they started with this theory and tried to find more examples.

Sa800 · Answer

can someone explain question 6 more....? i still dont get how the scholars established a theory....It seems like the scholars were just making bad judgements and drawing bad conclusions from stories and essentially victim blaming...

guddo · Answer

6. As described in the passage, the process by which some twentieth-century scholars have reached their conclusions about the blameworthiness of victims in medieval and Elizabethan literary works is most similar to which of the following?

The passage says these scholars start with a moral theory about poetic justice, then force the plays and characters into that theory. Instead of letting the evidence drive the judgment, they make the evidence fit their framework and then blame the victims.

(A) Derivation of logically sound conclusions from well-founded premises

This is the opposite of what the passage claims. The passage says their framework is forced and their conclusions are not justified by the texts.

(B) Accurate observation of data, inaccurate calculation of statistics, and drawing of incorrect conclusions from the faulty statistics

Nothing about statistics or calculation appears in the passage, so this is not the right kind of analogy.

(C) Establishment of a theory, application of the theory to ill-fitting data, and drawing of unwarranted conclusions from the data

This matches exactly. The scholars already have a theory, then they apply it where it does not fit and reach conclusions the passage says are forced.

(D) Development of two schools of thought about a factual situation, debate between the two schools, and rendering of a balanced judgment by an objective observer

The passage is not describing a balanced debate and neutral judge. It is criticizing one group for biased method.

(E) Consideration of a factual situation by a group, discussion of various possible explanatory hypotheses, and agreement by consensus on the most plausible explanation

Again, this suggests an open minded process. The passage describes the opposite: starting with the answer and pushing the evidence into it.

Answer: (C)

Those examples of poetic justice that occur in medieval and

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Those examples of poetic justice that occur in medieval and

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