Question

Text 1

In 1916, H. Dugdale Sykes disputed claims that The Two Noble Kinsmen was coauthored by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. Sykes felt Fletcher's contributions to the play were obvious—Fletcher had a distinct style in his other plays, so much so that lines with that style were considered sufficient evidence of Fletcher's authorship. But for the lines not deemed to be by Fletcher, Sykes felt that their depiction of women indicated that their author was not Shakespeare but Philip Massinger.

Text 2

Scholars have accepted The Two Noble Kinsmen as coauthored by Shakespeare since the 1970s: it appears in all major one-volume editions of Shakespeare's complete works. Though scholars disagree about who wrote what exactly, it is generally held that on the basis of style, Shakespeare wrote all of the first act and most of the last, while John Fletcher authored most of the three middle acts.

Based on the texts, both Sykes in Text 1 and the scholars in Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement?

A. The Two Noble Kinsmen belongs in one-volume compilations of Shakespeare’s complete plays.
B. John Fletcher’s writing has a unique, readily identifiable style.
C. Philip Massinger’s style in the first and last acts of The Two Noble Kinsmen is an homage to Shakespeare’s style.
D. The women characters in John Fletcher’s plays are similar to the women characters in Philip Massinger’s plays.

Answer 1

Both H. Dugdale Sykes and the scholars likely agree that John Fletcher's writing has a unique, identifiable style, as noted in their discussion of The Two Noble Kinsmen. The correct answer is option b.

Step-by-step explanation:

Based on Text 1 and Text 2, the statement that both H. Dugdale Sykes and the scholars would most likely agree with is that John Fletcher’s writing has a unique, readily identifiable style. This is evident as Sykes believed Fletcher's contributions to The Two Noble Kinsmen were obvious due to his distinct style, while the scholars accept that Fletcher authored most of the three middle acts based on style. There is no support for the claims that the works belong in one-volume compilations of Shakespeare’s plays, that Philip Massinger has a style similar to Shakespeare’s in the first and last acts, or that the character depiction of women by Fletcher resembles those by Massinger.