I thought of that old gentleman ... who declared that it
was impossible for any woman, past, present, or to come,
to have the genius of Shakespeare. He wrote to the papers
about it. He also told a lady who applied to him for
information that cats do not as a matter of fact go to
heaven though they have, he added, souls of a sort. How
much thinking those old gentlemen used to save one!
How the borders of ignorance shrank back at their
approach! Cats do not go to heaven. Women cannot write
the plays of Shakespeare.
-A Room of one's own,
Virginia Woolf
Which statement best explains how the rhetorical
device supports the central idea?
The author uses a rhetorical question to make the
old gentleman seem ridiculous.
The author uses an allusion to refer to a well-known
expert, showing that the central idea is valid.
The author reinforces the central idea by
understating the wise thoughts of the old
gentleman.
The author emphasizes the central idea by showing
the old man's foolishness through his use of
overstatement
