AP English Literature : Excerpt Meaning in Context
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Example Question #31 : Excerpt Meaning In Context
Adapted from Othello by William Shakespeare (1604)
IAGO: Three great ones of the city,
In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he; as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion,
Nonsuits my mediators; for, 'Certes,' says he,
'I have already chose my officer.'
And what was he?
Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toga’d consuls can propose
As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practise,
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and calm'd
By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster,
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
And I—God bless the mark!—his Moorship's ancient.
In context, the bolded and underlined phrase “had the election” is best interpreted to mean __________.
had been granted the postion
retained his dignity
won the vote
had been chosen
rigged the plebiscite
had been granted the postion
The correct answer is “had been granted the position.” Here the speaker (Iago) refers to the officer, Michael Cassio, who was chosen over the speaker for a military position. The "he" here refers to Cassio who had (in Shakespearean English "had" is often used to mean "received") the position, or the election to the position.
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