Question

How, then, could it [Shakespeare’s genius] have been born among women whose work began, according to Professor Trevelyan, almost before they were out of the nursery, who were forced to it by their parents and held to it by all the power of law and custom? Yet genius of a sort must have existed among women as it must have existed among the working classes. Now and again an Emily Brontë or a Robert Burns blazes out and proves its presence.

–A Room of One’s Own,
Virginia Woolf

Which statement best explains how a rhetorical device supports the central idea?

An allusion is used to refer to the central idea.
Parallel structure is used to imply the central idea of the passage.
A rhetorical question suggests the central idea.
Understatement emphasizes the importance of the central idea.

Answer 1

A rhetorical question suggests the central idea.

Woolf’s opening question ("How, then, could it...") highlights the seeming impossibility that Shakespeare‑level genius could arise under restrictive conditions for women, prompting the reader to see how social forces block literary achievement—then she notes occasional exceptions.