We have changed our privacy policy. In addition, we use cookies on our website for various purposes. By continuing on our website, you consent to our use of cookies. You can learn about our practices by reading our privacy policy.

ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

AP English Literature and Composition 1.8 Passage Drill 5 218 Views


Share It!


Description:

AP English Literature and Composition 1.8 Passage Drill 5. Line 9 is best understood as all of the following except what?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here’s your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Fate. There’s no escaping it.

00:07

Unless you have MacGyver and Chuck Norris on speed dial.

00:18

Line 9 is BEST understood as all of the following EXCEPT… what?

00:23

And here are the potential answers…

00:29

Had enough of Line 9? We didn’t think so…

00:33

This question wants us to interpret the line and determine which of the answer choices

00:36

is INcorrect.

00:38

Note the “EXCEPT” in the question. They even “all caps”ed it for us.

00:42

Okay, first let’s take one last look at Line 9:

00:45

Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men

00:48

Yikes. Doesn’t seem like we could squeeze four pieces of factual information out of

00:52

such a short line…

00:53

…but the question tells us that there’s only one rotten egg in the bunch…

00:57

Let’s… start sniffin’…

00:59

We’ll start with A – Death is often subject to the whims of man.

01:02

Well… kings are men, last we checked. And “desperate men” are tacked onto the end there.

01:08

So yeah – Death is a slave to kings and desperate men, who often make the decision

01:12

to take lives.

01:13

It’s good to be the king. B – Death is but a consequence of luck or war.

01:18

It’s hinted at a little more indirectly… but sure. The “kings and men” we mentioned

01:22

aren’t always just walking up to randoms and knifing them in alleyways.

01:26

War is where kings and men do a lot of their dirty work…

01:28

…and “fate” takes care of the “luck” part.

01:30

C – Death has no mastery of someone who willingly takes his life.

01:34

Nothing directly stated about suicide in this line either… but it goes without saying

01:38

that if a “desperate man” kills himself, Death can’t really do anything about it.

01:42

So C is out. D – Death is avoided by fate.

01:45

Ah – here’s our black sheep. Fate determines death, it doesn’t avoid it.

01:50

Just to be sure… E – Death is unpredictable.

01:52

Yup. The author is implying that death can occur randomly… so there’s certainly some

01:56

unpredictability in the mix. Answer: D

01:58

As in, “Dead giveaway.”

Related Videos

AP English Literature and Composition 1.2 Passage Drill 4
842 Views

AP English Literature and Composition 1.2 Passage Drill 4. As which of the following is the object being personified?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 3
515 Views

AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 3. How is Burne's view of pacifism best characterized in lines 57 through 67?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5
245 Views

AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5. Death is primarily characterized as what?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.7 Passage Drill 5
239 Views

AP English Literature and Composition 1.7 Passage Drill 5. Which line indicates the turn or shift in this poem?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.9 Passage Drill 4
259 Views

AP English Literature and Composition 1.9 Passage Drill 4. Lines 32-34 are best understood to mean what?