The author suggests which one of the following about the dramatic works that most influenced Webster's tragedies?

Ravi July 10, 2019

@Julie-V,

Happy to help.

The question says, "The author suggests which one of the following
about the dramatic works that most influenced Webster’s tragedies?"

(A) says, "They were not concerned with dramatizing the conflict
between good and evil that was presented in morality plays."

This is suggested in the passage; this was the primary point of the
contrast between Italian works and morality plays (and we know that
Italian works were what influenced Webster). Unlike morality plays'
simple good vs. evil dichotomy, the Italian works were much more
morally complicated. Thus, (A) is the correct answer choice.

(B) says, "They were not as sophisticated as the Italian sources from
which other Elizabethan tragedies were derived."

The passage never suggests to us that other works that were influenced
by Italian sources were more sophisticated than the works of Webster,
so this is out.

(C) says, "They have never been adequately understood by critics."

The problem with (C) is the word "never." It's simply too strong. We
only know that the critics have overlooked the influence with regards
to Webster's tragedies, so we can get rid of (C).

(D) says, "They have only recently been used to illuminate the
conventions of Elizabethan drama."

The passage never tells us that the Italian works have recently been
used to examine and analyze Elizabethan drama, so (D) is out.

(E) says, "They have been considered by many critics to be the reason
for Webster’s apparent artistic incompetence."

The problem with (E) is that it misses the purpose of the passage.
Morality plays (which did not influence Webster) were why the critics
thought Webster was incompetent. Thus, we can get rid of (E).

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions!

amf December 10, 2019

The phrase "not concerned with" in A seemed a little strongly worded - them being more morally complicated wouldn't seem to totally exclude them from dramatizing the conflict of good and evil presented in morality plays. Are there any other indicators why this is correct to help distinguish this without eliminating it initially?

shunhe January 9, 2020

Hi @amf,

Thanks for the question! First of all, definitely a good habit to be getting into to keep track of strong phrases like "not concerned with." However, here, we can use it because it's not that they're not concerned with good and evil, it's that they're not concerned with DRAMATIZING the conflict of good and evil. We can conclude this from their more complex moral structures, and compared to the other choices, it's the best one. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any further questions you may have.