Parenthetical Observation, Subplot, Shift in Style

1. Parenthetical Observation, Subplot, Shift in Style Brandon Clayton Elliot Somers

2. Parenthetical Observation • When the author temporarily shifts from the initial structure in a new direction. • It is a brief interruption during which the character or the narrator reflects on a minor point that seizes his attention.

3. Example “Now wheter it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on th’event- A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom And ever three parts coward-I do not know Why yet I live to say ‘This things’s to do.’ -Hamlet

4. Subplot • Secondary stories that parallel or contest with the main plot. • Characters in the subplot may have a major impact on the characters in the main plot, or they may simply mirror some aspect of it, in either precise or distorted form.

5. Example • Much Ado about Nothing by Shakespeare • Claudio and Hero • Benedick and Beatrice

6. Shift in Style • A narrative may also shift structure by introducing a marked change in style, usually accompanied by corresponding alteration in tone.

7. Example • “If my right ear itched, then something good was being said about me by somebody…If I covered a mirror when storm was raging, the lighting would not strike me…If I walked in my sleep, then God was trying to lead me somewhere to do a good deed for him.” • “Anything seemed possible, likely, feasible, because I wanted everything to be possible…Because I had no power to make thing happen outside of me in the objective world, I made things happen within. Because my environment was bare and bleak, I endowed it with unlimited potentialities, redeemed it for the sake of my own hungry and cloudy yearning.”