A punctuation question about a title tests whether it says which work you mean or adds extra information. Read the words before the title and check whether the passage has already picked out one work. Then cross out the title and ask whether the remaining words still say which one. Essential information takes no commas; extra information in the middle of a sentence takes a full pair. Find the subject and its verb, because a lone comma can't separate them.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the words before the blank and the way the essay's subject is described. Ask whether a particular play has already been picked out.
- Hint 2
Try reading the claim with the play's title removed. Does it still tell you which play is meant?
Step-by-step
Decide whether the title says which play
Step 1Check what the passage already identifies
The phrase the characterizations in the leads into a play and its title, so we're deciding whether commas should set that title apart. Does the passage already pick out one play? The essay is about Shakespeare's historical drama, which names a broad subject rather than one work. The word the before the blank also doesn't identify one particular play.
- Step 2
Cross out the title and test the meaning
What changes if we cross out Richard II? The words the characterizations in the would then lead into an unnamed play, so the sentence would still be grammatical but the title is needed to say which play. Information that says which one is essential and takes no commas. The version with a comma only after play wrongly marks the title as extra information but has no closing comma. The version with commas around Richard II uses a full pair, but it still treats a needed title as extra.
- Step 3
Connect the full subject to its verb
What reveals these anxieties? It's the characterizations, so those words and the phrase naming the play form the subject of reveal. The version with a comma only after Richard II would split that subject from its verb, with no opening comma to make a pair. The version play Richard II lets the full subject run straight into the verb without an unnecessary mark. Choice C.