Dear Frank,
First of all, may I express sympathy for your dilemma.
The clearest point I would make is that the question required you to
explore what might have been meant in the context of the day, by a
"cruel necessity". You were then required to give reasons why you did
or did not agree with the assertion to further demonstrate your
understanding.
Unfortunately for you, the question of whether or not it was ever actually
said is, strictly speaking, irrelevant - although in my view you would
have earned extra marks for raising this interesting side-issue, perhaps
in your concluding comments.
The most important clue to the direction you should take was therefore
the question, "do you agree (that it was a cruel necessity)?".
Best wishes,
Lesley Whitworth
|