LSAT 120 – Section 4 – Question 18

LSAT 120 - Section 4 - Question 18

October 2005

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Request new explanation

Target time: 1:06

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT120 S4 Q18
+LR
+Exp
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
3%
158
B
91%
162
C
2%
154
D
3%
155
E
1%
153
125
136
147
 +Easier 146.628 +SubsectionMedium

Kevin’s explanation

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

It has been a staple of drama to feature an innocent young protagonist, eager to make a mark on the world, who is stymied by an indifferent or hostile society. Since the playwrights of such works wished the audience to empathize with the protagonist, historians do not regard these plays as serious revelations of what the societies presented in the plays were really like.

"Surprising" Phenomenon

Drama playwrights were motivated to have audiences empathize with their protagonists when those protagonists were obstructed by society. In view of these motivations, why do historians think that such plays are non-serious, unrealistic, or unreliable portrayals of those societies?

Objective

The correct answer will support the historians’ viewpoint. It will offer some reason why a playwright’s desire to garner empathy for her protagonist would lead that playwright to portray society in a way that historians find unreliable.

A
The historians believe that playwrights tend to be more critical of their own societies than of other societies.

How critical a playwright might be of any given society says nothing about whether that playwright portrays society in a reliable way. Because (A) does not address how playwrights portray society or the reliability of those portrayals, it cannot be the right answer.

B
The historians believe that playwrights tend to exaggerate the weaknesses of a society for the sake of dramatic effect.

This explains why historians regard dramas as unreliable portrayals of a society. They believe that drama playwrights exaggerate society’s weaknesses. If society’s weaknesses are overstated, then that portrayal of society is at least somewhat less realistic or reliable.

C
The historians believe that plays tend to provide useful information about the time and society in which they were written.

This doesn’t provide a reason for historians to not regard dramas as serious revelations. If anything, this just magnifies the core question—if historians believe plays provide useful info about society, why are they so skeptical of dramas?

D
The historians believe that plays often contain serious revelations of what the societies presented in those plays were like.

This doesn’t provide a reason for historians to not regard dramas as serious revelations. If anything, this just magnifies the core question—if historians believe plays often contain serious revelations, why are they so skeptical of dramas?

E
The historians believe that only the most popular plays within a society accurately portray that society.

We don’t know how popular the types of plays discussed in the stimulus were, so (E) cannot help explain the historians’ viewpoint on those plays.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 120 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply