Question the-fo
The following text is from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, first performed in 1611. Miranda has lived on an island with her father, Prospero, since she was three years old. Prospero has stated that Miranda likely does not remember anything other than her life on the island.
MIRANDA: ’Tis far off,
And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had we not
Four or five women once that tended me?
PROSPERO: Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?
If thou remember’st ought ere thou camest here,
How thou camest here thou mayst.
In the text, which point does Prospero most directly make about Miranda and her memories?
Miranda’s reminiscences about her early childhood have a melancholy quality that betrays her discontented view of her current circumstances.
Miranda’s doubts about the accuracy of one recollection of a place other than the island are clouding her judgment and seem to be making her reluctant to explore her recollection of traveling to the island.
Miranda’s ability to summon details of an experience she had before arriving on the island suggests that she may also be able to summon details of her arrival on the island.
Miranda’s impression of a scene is vague because she is remembering a scenario she had daydreamed about as a child rather than a scenario that had occurred in reality.
The following text is from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest , first performed in 1611. Miranda
Hard-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Central Ideas and Details — Function of a sentence in context. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice C is the best answer because it presents a point that Prospero makes about Miranda. The text begins with Miranda responding to Prospero’s claim that she probably doesn’t remember her life before the island. She describes a distant memory, asking if she had "four or five women" caring for her. Prospero confirms this ("thou hadst") and then asks what else she can recall, stating that because she remembers one thing from the time before she lived on the island ("ought ere thou camest here"), she might also remember arriving on the island ("how thou camest here"). That is, Prospero indies that Miranda’s ability to summon details of an experience from before her arrival on the island suggests that she may also be able to summon details of her arrival.
Choice A is incorrect because Prospero doesn’t say anything about how Miranda presents her early childhood memory of having several people care for her—he indies only his surprise that she remembers something from so long ago ("the dark backward and abysm of time") and his thought that she may also be able to recall another childhood event: her arrival on the island. Further, Prospero doesn’t suggest that he believes Miranda is discontent in her current circumstances. Choice B is incorrect. Although Miranda suggests some doubt about her recollection of a place other than the island, in that she describes it as "like a dream" she can’t be certain of, Prospero doesn’t mention her uncertainty—though he himself wonders how it is possible that she correctly recalls something from so long ago ("abysm of time"). Rather than indiing that doubt is making Miranda reluctant, Prospero simply states that Miranda may have the ability to remember traveling to the island. Choice D is incorrect. Although Miranda describes a vague impression of several people who cared for her as a young child and states that it is "rather like a dream" instead of something she is certain is real, Prospero doesn’t indie that Miranda is remembering a childhood daydream. Instead, he confirms that what Miranda remembers actually happened, answering her question about having had caregivers with "thou hadst," and asks her what else she can remember from long ago.
More Central Ideas and Details practice questions
- The following text is from Shyam Selvadurai’s 1994 novel Funny Boy. The
- Elizabeth Asiedu has identified a negative correlation between the share of developing
- The following text is from David Barclay Moore’s 2022 novel Holler of the Fireflies
- In 1934 physicist Eugene Wigner posited the existence of a crystal consisting entirely of
- To protect themselves when being attacked, hagfish-jawless marine animals that resemble
- The painter María Izquierdo played an important role in the development of
- The following text is adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 story
- Xin Wang and colleagues have discovered the earliest known example of a flower bud
Browse all Information and Ideas practice questions or return to the full SAT question bank.