1) When it comes to Shakespeare our truncated attention spans might make it difficult to understand the complex structure and language within his work.
2) A contemporary of Shakespeare's may have understood the language in his works because they lived at the same time as him.
3) Many readers like the phantasmagoric scenes in Shakespeare's plays because they are dreamlike or surreal.
4) We get a vicarious thrill out of reading fiction because it provides us with imagined interpretations.
I don't know what story this is from or what is really happening; however, from what I can tell, the author uses the phrase "the annals of parental vigilance" to heavily imply that Daisy's parents are extremely rigid in how they raise her, in an orthodox fashion. "Annals" is defined as yearly record keeping, and "parental vigilance" means that the mother is one that is always watching and correcting her child (from what I can tell.
In 'The Portrait of a Lady' by Khushwant Singh, the narrator depicts his grandmother as someone that displays immeasurable love and selflessness.
She spends her life by taking care of the narrator during his youth and even though he grows and keeps his distance, she remains loving and letting him pursue his interests.
The narrator has a great feeling of respect for his grandmother and though she is not physically beautiful, he describes her inner beauty by comparing her to the purity of nature. The narrator also remarks that she was a lady to the last.
1. First, Shakespeare wrote his plays in blank verse featuring iambic
pentameter because that was the style of the day. Think of it as a way
for an author to show off--and it really is quite impressive if one
thinks about it. There are very few authors who can create characters
and plots as rich as Shakespeare's and write their lines in a consistent
meter.
2. Secondly (I think that this might be what you are asking), when
Shakespeare's characters speak in verse (iambic pentameter), they are
usually the noble (aristocratic) characters, and their speech represents
their high culture and position in society. If you simply look at one
of Shakespeare's plays, you can often tell when the commoners are
speaking because their lines will go from margin to margin (this is
true, too, of nobles who are acting like commoners--whether they're
involved in evil schemes, losing their minds, or are drunk!). In
contrast, Shakespeare's other characters' lines should sound and look
different to you--they should sound "sing-songy" and should look like
poetry with uneven lengths.
A good example of this is from Othello. When Iago is speaking to his
peers or to those in position of authority over them, his speech is in
verse, but when he is plotting and talking to Roderigo (especially at
the play's beginning), his lines are not in iambic pentameter--this
represents the bawdy nature of his speech and, in truth, the baseness of
his character.
