How, then, could it [Shakespeare’s genius] have been born among women whose work began, according to Professor Trevelyan, almost
before they were out of the nursery, who were forced to it by their parents and held to it by all the power of law and custom? Yet genius of a sort must have existed among women as it must have existed among the working classes. Now and again an Emily Brontë or a Robert Burns blazes out and proves its presence. Which statement best explains how a rhetorical device supports the central idea? A. An allusion is used to refer to the central idea.
B. Parallel structure is used to imply the central idea of the passage.
C. A rhetorical question suggests the central idea.
D. Understatement emphasizes the importance of the central idea.
the answer is C
C. A rhetorical question suggests the central idea.
Explanation:
In this text, we learn that a rhetorical question suggests the text's main idea. In this text, we are asked how a genius like Shakespeare could have emerged in a female if women were not given free time or liberty to pursue intellectual activities. The question is not meant to be answered. Instead, its purpose is to encourage us to think about the implications it suggests, and thus motivate us to think about the inequalities that limited women's lives at that time.
