Question

I went, therefore, to the shelf where the histories stand and took down one of the latest, Professor Trevelyan's History of England. . . . A very queer, composite being thus emerges. Imaginatively [a woman] is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the slave of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger. Which sentence best states the idea that this excerpt helps to develop

Answer 1

Imaginatively [a woman] is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant.


This statement sums up the meaning of this overall paragraph. It is saying that the idea of women is one of the most important features of society, but in reality they have no rights or freedoms. The rest of the paragraph supports this statements from different examples of writing: poetry and fiction. 

Answer 2

Answer:

In England, women were seen more as objects of affection than as capable people. (APEX)