#5 - Many scholars are puzzled about who created the

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (C)

As is typically the case for logical reasoning stimuli, this stimulus expects us to accept the premises
at face value. The premises here are that the person who abridged Hamlet did not possess a copy of
Hamlet and rendered the speeches of one character much more accurately than those of all of the
other characters. Any explanation or inference regarding the identity of the person who undertook
the abridgement should be drawn from both premises.

Answer choice (A): It is highly implausible that Shakespeare did not possess a copy of Hamlet or
that he would only be able to abridge the speeches of one character accurately. There is no support
for this inference.

Answer choice (B): It is unclear how not having a copy of Hamlet and having inaccurate renderings
of the speeches from all but one of the characters would simplify the stage production of the play.
Therefore, the two characteristics of this abridgement noted in the stimulus do not support this
inference.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. This is the obvious implication of the
second premise, since the actor would be much more familiar with the speeches from his own
character than those from the other characters. Also, due to repeated rehearsals and performances, an
actor might know the play well enough to attempt an abridgement even without a copy of it. While
this is not the only possible inference from the stimulus, it is both consistent and plausible with the
premises above.

Answer choice (D): Unlike an actor, there is no reason to assume that a spectator would be
particularly familiar with the speeches of only one character. Also, it is unlikely that a spectator of a
singular performance of Hamlet would attempt even a slipshod abridgement.

Answer choice (E): It is probably easiest to find the flaws in this answer by comparing it to answer
choice (C). First, this answer only describes an actor without specifying that the actor played a role
in Hamlet. Thus, this provides no explanation for the accurate rendering of only one character’s
speeches. Second, while improving a play is certainly a plausible motive for abridging it, the
stimulus describes the abridgement as containing a slipshod handling of nearly all of the parts. If this
were the abridger’s intent, it seems to have been a failure. For both reasons, this answer should be
considered a Loser and rejected.

[mokkyukkyu]

I was not sure between C and D.
I thought D could be true because maybe they favored a certain character more than the other charactors. This would explain why the abridgement contains a very accurate rendering of the speeches of one of the characters.
Why is D wrong?

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi mokkyukkyu,

First, thanks for explaining your reasoning; it helps us provide a much more tailored answer for you!

Remember that you aren't look for an acceptable answer, you're looking for the best answer. Here, D is minimally acceptable. However, once you get it down to C and D, the question to ask yourself is, "Why would a spectator have basically memorized a single part?" Even if they liked the character a whole lot, that doesn't really explain it. C makes much more logical sense, and so it is the better of the two answers.

[bli2016]

Hello, I chose answer D because the stimulus states that "the person who undertook the abridgment clearly did not possess a copy of Hamlet". If the abridgment was produced by an actor, I would assume that he would have a copy of Hamlet (otherwise how could he memorize his script?). Could someone clarify why C is the right answer and not D? Thanks!

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi bli2016,

The actor presumably memorized his script with a copy of Hamlet, but no longer had access to the copy when creating the abridgment. With that possibility, C is much, much stronger than D. Hope that helps!

[jax]

Hiya,

Doesn't [C] also require for us to make an unproven assumption that an actor would not have a copy (like the one that was posted above: "his script with a copy of Hamlet, but no longer had access to the copy when creating the abridgment"), the same way that we would make an assumption for [D] to work, e.g., the spectator memorized the lines of a particular character?

Let me know if there is anything you need me to clarify. Thank you!

[AthenaDalton]

Hi Jax,

You're right that both answers (C) and (D) require making an inferential leap -- the difference is that the inference for answer choice (C) is much more reasonable than the inference for (D).

For answer choice (C), we would have to infer that an actor memorized his lines then lost his script. This would account for both (1) the author of the quarto not having the script and (2) the author of the quarto having a much better memory of one character's lines than the others. That's why answer choice (C) is the correct answer.

For answer choice (D), we would have to infer that an audience member memorized almost an entire play, but somehow did a great job of memorizing one character's lines but a poor job of remembering other characters' lines. It's a real stretch to believe that an audience member actually memorized Hamlet, as it's quite a long play. In any case, answer choice (D) accounts for the author of the quarto not having the script but really doesn't address the second half of the author's statement, that the author somehow remembered the lines of one character very well but forgot the rest. An audience member who achieved the feat of memorizing Hamlet most likely would have remember all the characters' lines equally well or poorly.

In sum, both answer choices (C) and (D) would require us to assume that someone memorized a particular character's lines. Isn't it more likely than an actor playing a particular character would be more likely to memorize that character's lines than an audience member?

This question does require us to make some assumptions, we just need to determine what the most reasonable assumption is.

Hope this helps!

Athena Dalton