Re: The action and characters in a melodrama can be so
[#permalink]
02 Dec 2025, 02:01
Analysis of the Sentence
The sentence describes the nature of melodrama that allows the audience to react in a specific, unified way:
"The action and characters in a melodrama can be so immediately (i) _______ that all observers can hiss the villain with an air of smug but enjoyable (ii) _______ ."
1. Blank (i) Analysis: The melodrama's characteristics must be so clear or obvious that all observers immediately understand who the villain is and how they should feel.
- spurned: Rejected (Does not describe the clarity of characters.)
- classified: Grouped or categorized (Implies the roles are clearly defined.)
- plausible: Seeming reasonable or probable (Melodrama is often implausible, but its roles are clear.)
- The best fit is classified. In a melodrama, characters are immediately and clearly classified into good (hero/heroine) and bad (villain).
2. Blank (ii) Analysis: The observers hiss the villain "with an air of smug but enjoyable (ii) ______ ." This feeling must result from the clear classification in Blank (i) and be compatible with "smug" and "enjoyable." When the hero and villain are clearly defined, the audience feels morally superior to the villain.
- boredom: (Contradicts "enjoyable.")
- skepticism: Doubt (Contradicts the unified, immediate reaction of "all observers" who hiss the villain.)
- self-righteousness: Conviction, stemming from the belief that one's own beliefs or conduct are superior to others.
- The best fit is self-righteousness. The audience gets "smug but enjoyable" satisfaction from their moral superiority as they hiss the obviously bad villain.