Question

It can be inferred from the passage that Shaw would probably agree with all of the following statements about Shakespeare EXCEPT:

• A. He wrote out of a moral passion.
• B. He was the most profound and original thinker of his epoch.
• C. He was a greater artist than Marlowe.
• D. His Lear gives full and final form to the philosophy of his age.

Answer 1

The correct option is B

He was the most profound and original thinker of his epoch.

This is really a tough question. It is an inference question and also an ‘except’ question.
First we need to find out which are the options Shaw would probably agree.
Option (a) : look at the 4^th line of the passage “the artist writes out of moral passion”.
Shakespeare is an artist. So Shaw would agree to (a).
Option (c) : Look at these lines in the second paragraph -
“that the first great artist who comes along after a renewal gives to the new philosophy full and final form, that subsequent artists, though even more gifted, can do nothing but refine upon the master without matching him. Shaw, whose essential modesty is as disarming as his pose of vanity is disconcerting, assigns to himself the role, not of the master, but of the pioneer, the role of a Marlowe rather than of a Shakespeare”
He indirectly points out that Marlowe is a pioneer and Shakespeare is a master. He also says that the master cannot be matched. So he will agree to option (c).
Option (d): Look at these lines in the last paragraph “No one, says Shaw, will ever write a better tragedy than Lear”
So Shaw will agree to option (d) also.
So option (b) is the correct answer.