Many scholars are puzzled about who created the seventeenth-century abridgment of Shakespeare's Hamlet contained in t...

Mehran on September 18, 2018

@djayasinghe this is a Must Be True question so we are looking for the answer choice that is directly supported by the information in the stimulus.

Remember, while this is a "most supported" as opposed to "must be true" question, we treat these as Must Be True questions since "most supported" is simply the LSAC's way of guarding against an off-the-wall objection to the correct answer.

Let's take a look at the answer choices here:

(A) Nothing in the stimulus supports this statement. In fact, this seems to conflict with the first fact, i.e. that the person who undertook the abridgment clearly did not possess a copy of Hamlet.

(B) Nothing in the stimulus supports this statement as making Hamlet easier to produce on stage is not even mentioned.

(C) This is support by the second fact that the abridgment contains a very accurate rendering of the speeches of one of the characters, but a slipshod handling of all the other parts. The idea here is the reason the abridgment contains a very accurate rendering of the speeches of one of the characters is that the person who created the abridgment played that role in Hamlet.

(D) Nothing in the stimulus supports this statement.

(E) Again, nothing in the stimulus supports this statement. We know nothing about the motivation of the person who produced the abridgment.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Balwant on June 4, 2020

Hello,
I read the explanation above, but I still don't understand why C is correct and D is incorrect?
Are we supposed to assume that the actor doesn't possess a copy of the play?

I chose D as the correct answer because I assumed that a spectator would only have an accurate rendering of the speeches of one of the characters and not have a copy of the play?

Please let me know.
Thanks

Ryn on January 15, 2022

hello please answer balwant's question. I have this question as well.

Jordan-Schlinger on January 17, 2022

Hey @ryn!

That is correct. As to why the actor did not, it would be tough to say. Perhaps he was only given the lines for his role, or he wrote it after the play when the scripts were retaken. Now the question is how to differentiate D and C. The problem with D is that an audience member would see ALL the speeches, and likely would have made the abridgement with them all in mind. A cast member, on the other hand, would be able to recall almost word for word his lines, so it would make sense for those lines to be perfect and the rest to be a true abridgement. The roles he didn't play likely would see their lines drastically reduced.

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask we are here to help!

Thanks,

Jordan