PrepTest 110, Section 4, Question 9
Tragic dramas written in Greece during the fifth(450 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(16 more words not shown)
- AThe tragic protagonist(12 more words not shown)
- BThe tragic protagonist(9 more words not shown)
- CThe tragic protagonist(10 more words not shown)
- DThe tragic protagonist(10 more words not shown)
- EThe tragic protagonist(8 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Rivier's protagonist thinks through the problem but ends up recognizing that there is only one real option. Divine forces constrain the person externally and internally. The tragic feature is the absence of a genuinely independent choice, not simply that the outcome is sad.
Working the answers
- A
This adds deception by the gods. Rivier says they constrain the decision, not that they trick the protagonist into believing it is free. In fact, deliberation ends in recognizing the lack of alternatives.
- B
There is no struggle to claim a kind of heroism belonging to the gods. We are discussing freedom to choose.
- C
Rivier criticizes Snell's notions of autonomy and responsibility, but that doesn't mean the protagonist wrongly seeks responsibility. This invents something the character tries to do.
- DCorrect
A decision free of divine compulsion is unavailable. Paragraph 2 describes an “internal compulsion” as well as external forces, ending with divine necessity dictating the path. That is the constraint we predicted.
- E
Punishment for evading responsibility isn't the account Rivier gives. It may sound like a possible tragic plot, but it doesn't describe his explanation of tragedy.
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