Question:
Vain and prone to violence, Caravaggio could not handle success: the more his (i)__________ as an artist increased, the more (ii)__________ his life became.
Explanation:
We know that what follows the colon defines and/or describes what comes before it. We know that Caravaggio could not handle success. Therefore the sentence fragment after the colon should describe this state of affairs.
the more his (i)__________ as an artist increased, the more (ii)__________ his life became.
We know that he was vain, and this was one of the reasons for this failure to handle success. Since this factor (vanity) is often related to success, we can say that:
"the more he become successful as an artist, the more his life became miserable".
And the only word or the first blank which will suggest an increase in his success is
eminence, that is the correct choice.
Temperance indicates moderation, so we can safely eliminate it. We eliminate
notoriety because an increase in notoriety does not indicate an increase in success (which he could not handle), but an increase in eminence does indicate an increase in success.
And the word that comes closest to indicating a life becoming miserable or getting worse, is
tumultuous. Becoming
dispassionate or
providential does not look like the byproduct of not being successful.
_________________