parenthetical observation, subplot, shift in style

Brandon ClaytonElliot Somers

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.

“Now wheter it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scrupleOf thinking too precisely on th’event-A thought which, quartered, hath but one

part wisdomAnd ever three parts coward-I do not knowWhy yet I live to say ‘This things’s to do.’-Hamlet

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.

Much Ado about Nothing by Shakespeare Claudio and Hero Benedick and Beatrice

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

“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.”