Question

which excerpt from chapter 23 of the adventures of huckleberry finn most clearly illustrates that the duke is someone who does not take responsibility for his actions and would rather blame others if something does not go well?

so the duke said these arkansaw lunkheads couldnt come up to shakespeare; what they wanted was low comedy —and maybe something rather worse than low comedy, he reckoned.

then the duke he lets the curtain down, and bows to the people, and says the great tragedy will be performed only two nights more, on accounts of pressing london engagements, where the seats is all sold already for it in drury lane.

\walk fast now till you get away from the houses, and then shin for the raft like the dickens was after you!\

\greenhorns, flatheads! i knew the first house would keep mum and let the rest of the town get roped in; and i knew theyd lay for us the third night, and consider it was their turn now.\

Explanation:

To determine the correct excerpt, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: The duke blames the "Arkansaw lunkheads" for not appreciating Shakespeare, shifting responsibility for the failure of his performance to them instead of taking responsibility for maybe misjudging the audience or the performance itself.
• Option 2: This is about the duke's marketing tactic for the play, not about blaming others.
• Option 3: This is a directive to Huck, not about blaming.
• Option 4: The duke is talking about his expectation of the townspeople's actions, not blaming them for a failure.

So the excerpt in option 1 shows the duke blaming others (the Arkansaw people) when things don't go well (audience doesn't like Shakespeare as he wanted) instead of taking responsibility.

Answer:

A. So the duke said these Arkansaw lunkheads couldn't come up to Shakespeare; what they wanted was low comedy—and maybe something rather worse than low comedy, he reckoned.