Variations from the norm

Once the expectation of iambic pentameter is set up, the reader or audience may notice when Shakespeare departs from this pattern and the effects that this produces.

Irregularly stressed lines

When Leontes is struggling with his terrible feelings of jealousy, (Act I scene ii) the lines of his speeches depart very noticeably from the regular iambic pentameter, sometimes containing more strong beats than usual and often beginning with a strong beat:

Many of Leontes' lines in his soliloquies are far from regular. Not only do they have stressed syllables where we might expect unstressed ones, but they are full of mid-line pauses – known as caesuras – which suggest his fraught mental state.

Smooth lines

In contrast, we can hear the smoothness and more regular stresses of Hermione's speeches to the court in III. ii, where she is determined that all shall hear her declaration of her own innocence:

Shakespeare makes Hermione's speeches in this scene even smoother by adding an extra unstressed syllable to the end of several lines (as underlined in the above example); this is known as a feminine ending and has the effect of softening the end of the line. He also uses enjambement – a technique whereby the sense is carried on without pause to the next line, as we see in several of the lines quoted above.

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